I though you guys might be interested in this little brake mod I've just fitted. It's a master cylinder brace that prevents the firewall from flexing under heavy braking. It bolts to the side of the strut tower using existing bolts and has a bolt and locknut that you wind out to meet the end of the master cylinder.

These are pretty popular in Japan but I've never seen one on RX-7 forums. It's the same principle as stainless brake hoses; less flex in the system means more effort at the rotor and more feel through the pedal. It's made a small but noticable difference, but you have to push pretty hard to feel it. It would probably be more noticable when combined with stainless brake lines (on my to-do list).

I picked this up for NZ$40 (~US$25) from a local auction site. The seller said he took it off an FC imported from Japan. I have no idea what company made it or where you could get one, or even if they're available for LHD FC's. I just though I'd share.

 

Cusco used to make them, but the red and blue anodizing implies R.E. Amemiya?

No, they are only for RHD and will not fit for a LHD US-Spec FC.

Some guy was making them for LHD, but it looks like a cheapie bent L-bracket with a nut & bolt at the end...


-Ted

 

I have thoght of getting one of those, but the ones i have seen available arn't that nice.. like this link

http://www.aerodyne.net/RX7.htm


Thats perty thow....


gil

 

^ that looks like it can be bought at home depot lol ...

i think welding one up would be better, cause you can add a support bar lol make it look good.

 

I built myself one with the scrap left over from making my lower arm brace last summer.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...8&page=1&pp=15
(shameless slef promotion)

I just took a piece of 1.5" square steel tube and drilled a couple holes in one side, one hole on the other. I then bolted it to the strut tower using a couple botls and some large washers on the other side of the strut tower, then put a large bolt in the other hole secured with nust and adjusted it untill it butted up to the end of the maseter cylinder, then I tightened the nuts and voila, it's done!

It was super easy to do, and it made a noticable difference in the pedal stiffness and feel, especially with the engine off. With the engine running the difference is much less, but you can notice it. The next problem is how to stop the strut tower from flexing, as when you press the pedal the firewall still deflects a bit and pushes on the strut tower, causing it to flex. If I had a welder I could probably make up a better solution, but this seems to work just fine, and I don't think it's worth the effort to do anything else with it.

I had one guy who was teching my car for an autocross compliment me on my stiff pedal, and that's with stock lines and single piston calipers, so that goes to show how much better it is with the brace.

When I get home from university I'll see if I can remember to take some pictures and do a how-to writeup and post it all on the forum.

 

cool. I was never sure if those would actually work. but if they do, I guess I'll have to make myself one!