That bar I circled in yellow is very slightly bent.. In attempts to hoist the front of the car up quickly, I used an engine hoist and a chain to pull the front of the car up by that bar, and it bent a tiny bit right in the middle before I noticed and quickly put the car back down.

How important is this bar?.. is it integral to the rigidity of the car ?.. Should I either:
A)Have a second similar (straight mind you) bar welded in next to that one?
B)Have that one cut out and a new one welded in place?
C)Not worry about it?

THanks for any help.

 

How does the hood close? How bent is it? Probably not a problem just slightly bent it is a structural piece designed to keep the front end at a given spacing so if hood closes nicely then you probably didnt pull the fenders in too much, if you did then you may need to bend it back or replace it.

 

the hood closes fine.. so I guess I prpobalby don't really need to worry about it.
thanks for the help.

 

I don't have that in my car

if that helps

 

Never seen 1 without it. Are you sure? it is under the condenser.

 

yea.. there's some stuff hacked out of the front there.. normally that bar is kinda hidden..

 

i like the bronze valve covers...had those same ones on my 70 camaro z/28...whats the specs on that motor?

 

do you have a vert? the verts have extra framework to make up for the lack of roof

 

doesnt look to bent, you should be fine. oh yea... loving the motor you got in there

 

if you hack it out, it's best to replace it or relocate it somewhere still in front. that keeps the front end from flexing too much.

 

It's 350 SBC motor that is built up a decent bit, but still fairly mild..
My and my brother are kind of working on this as a joint project.. We invested too much $$ into some 882 heads with some decently high quality parts in it, they're pretty decent in any case, should flow just over 200cfm.. the pistons are 10.1:1 KB's, 010 4 bolt block, reground crank, and refurbished rods, Comp Cam w/ Solid lifters - fairly mild. DCR was calcuated to 8.1:1. We're running a rebuilt Holley 700 w/ mech. secondaries.. A Weiand Single-plane intake, Hedman headers..
All calculated out the engine SHOULD make close to 400HP/400ft.lbs @ the crank..

It's gonna be a fun beast. It should be quite the sleeper too.. we SHOULD be able to fit the engine under the hood with no modifications to the hood, and the car is a GX that we've swapped an LSD into from a GXL..

 

It's not a 'vert

 

that bar is part of your oil cooler bracketry.. if your using the stock fc oil cooler, check that it still mounts up.

 

The bar braces the front of the frame rails. I've seen plenty of RX-7s with that bar removed for front mount intercooler installs, so it's obviously not insanely super critical. Since yours is just a bit bent it's likely a nonissue.

However since you are working on the car why not heat it up a little and straighten it? Or weld in a new one from a junked RX-7?