At the last drift practice I was at I notice my strut bar (mazdatrix/tc sportline) was hitting the my radiator cap to the point where it was enough to nudge it lose and coolant would splash/spill out. The car is an S4 NA, engine is stock minus headers/high flow cat/cat back

So I took the bar off and continued the day. So my question is can I do anything with this current bar to fix it or should I look into a new bar? If choosing the later what suggestions do you guys have? I was looking into the Tein bar.

Thanks.

 

corksport bar is super cheap and super awesome

 

Your strut tower brace was hitting the radiator cap?
How is that even possible?

 

Oh wait, nevermind...you have a turbo, right?

 

Nope Clokker, OP said it was an NA. So your "how is that possible?" post is very much valid since I also want to know since I cant even picture it unless he's talking about the one on the water neck.

 

picture time

 

Yeah that's the one I'm referring to, sorry for the misunderstanding lol.

I need to stop posting at 4am lol.

 

So now that this is cleared up, anyone have suggestions on a replacement or solution?

 

The Mazdatrix tri-point bar would probably work.
This one is on a S5 but clearance on a S4 should be good...

 

Where can you get that bar from?

 

you can't. mazdatrix discontinued them several months ago.

 

my guess, motor mounts, mine will hit the strut bar too sometimes, but its motor mount related. and my strut bar is stupid close to the cap.

 

That's too bad, although I'm not surprised.
It was expensive (+ $300 w/engine brace, IIRC) and probably not a big seller.

Prior to installing this my car had two other, more normal, strut tower braces and I never felt any difference whether they were on or off but this one made a noticeable improvement.
Specifically, interior creaks (especially the dash) almost totally disappeared, which I assume means that body stiffness was increased.
No empirical data to support this assumption but I still consider this brace to be one of the more successful additions I've made.

Especially since I got it for $100 used.

 

I have one of those Mazdatrix bars, I was so proud of it but my f'ing alternator was too close so I had to modify it, still have not mounted it on yet, this is after I already ground off the torque tab

 

Yeah that thought crossed my mine. But my TC Sportline bar is stupid close to my cap regardless.

Anyone have the Tein bar?

 

WOW your engine bay looks great

 

try putting washers underneath the strut bar... worked on my friends sc300 it kept rubbing on the top part of the engine

 

He uses Elizabeth Taylor's personal photographer.

 

lol, I use a 10+ year old point and shoot sony camera

 

Would that affect the performance fo the bar?

 

Time for motor mounts. Trust me this happened to me too. Your engine is bouncing around and the cap is hitting the strut bar.
I went hockey pucks, holding up strong.

 

That's what I'm thinking. Suggestions on what to get? Car is a DDD, Daily Driven Drifter lol.

 

hockey pucks are cheap.. i did 1 and a half on each side and then found a suitable bolt. but i think 2 hockey pucks each side is probably ideal with stock height. Less then 10 bucks for this setup. Some people may disagree with this method btw, but its an old hot rodders trick.

Theres some decent looking polyurethane mounts on ebay now.

I was breaking the nipple on the cap alot when it was hitting the strut bar and kept replacing that part *i got s4 water pump jacket , S5 dont have this problem*.

 

use Mazda comp mounts, you can get them at mazdatrix, $82 for the pair- no rigging needed

 

Part number? I was looking at the Super Now mounts.

http://www.rhdjapan.com/super-now-en...-51431?nflag=1