When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Anyone know of a strut bar that will clear a raised engine. I have Xcessive motor mounts coupled with a Banzai oil pan brace and it's pushing the engine up so my Greddy strut bar won't clear the Greddy elbow. I've heard the Improved Racing bar will clear. Is that confirmed and are there any others that might clear?
Had the same problem a few years ago. I should have milled the steel motor mount arms 3/16" as suggested here https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...-brace-755290/ . Was a suggestion that the Cusco cleared. I ended up picking up a Mazdaspeed bar for cheap and it cleared my Greddy elbow slightly better than the stock brace. I also had some 1/8" sheet plastic that I made a gasket out of to go under the driver's side brace mount. My hood insulator is aftermarket and made of neoprene type of material. It's formed to the brace and doesn't wear.
I have the same mounts combined with a bacon sports pan. I have a cusco and it doesn't clear (hits Efini y pipe which is solid) so I've had to just run without one for a year.
Both my Autoexe (on my 95 BB car) and my Cusco Titanum (on the 20B car) have quiet a bit of clearance, certainly more than OEM. I have a pair of 4mm spacer plates in a box somewhere that are a good solution.... that's about 1/6th an inch. if you need up to triple that, I'd say it's time for either new thinner motor mounts (IRP has them on Black Friday sale right now) or bite the bullet and join Smokey as the 'We Don't Need No Stinkin' Front Strut Tower Bar' crew
Your motor mounts are too tall. Engine with our oil pan brace and mounts (which are stock height), plenty of clearance with stock bar and every other bar.
Cusco bar
Last edited by Banzai-Racing; 11-27-16 at 06:40 PM.
Your motor mounts are too tall. Engine with our oil pan brace and mounts (which are stock height), plenty of clearance with stock bar and every other bar.
The mounts are fine as is the brace, the problem is the combination of the two
Originally Posted by Smokey The Talon
I have the same mounts combined with a bacon sports pan. I have a cusco and it doesn't clear (hits Efini y pipe which is solid) so I've had to just run without one for a year.
That's a bummer about the Bacon pan. Thought that might work
Oh well maybe i'll have something fabricated if there's not enough interest in getting IR to make a run
Car with stock mounts and no OPB has more than an inch of clearance. Our brace is 3/16" thick, which means stock height mounts only raise the engine the 3/16"", leaving plenty of clearance. Those mounts must be an inch taller than stock.
No brace/stock mounts
Here is one of our shop cars which has our brace and stock mounts
Last edited by Banzai-Racing; 11-28-16 at 09:25 AM.
All I can say is measure them, I am not going to get into an argument over a part I do not use.
I can however post up countless examples of different configurations where there are no clearance issues, leaving the height of the mounts as the only X factor.
Doesn't Improved Racing make one for the LSX/20B guys? Maybe it'll work. I know it sits a bit higher and has more clearance.
I'm in the middle of a rebuild and almost bought that oil pan brace while the engine is out. I did some research, though, and I didn't want to have to deal with cutting up my brand new IRP motor mounts to make the brace work.
It'd be killer if they offered a kit. Brace and mounts that work together. I would have bought it without a 2nd thought.
While looking into it, I found more than one thread with people having clearance issues. I didn't want to deal with the 3/16" cut that is recommended. Plus I wanted softer mounts because I drive my car on the street a lot.
I had to cut my mounts because I switched to a 13b-re setup which is quite a bit taller. It was extremely easy to cut the pucks with a table saw, I mean EASY.
That's a bummer about the Bacon pan. Thought that might work
Oh well maybe i'll have something fabricated if there's not enough interest in getting IR to make a run
I originally wasn't sure if my issue was related to the pan or the mounts, but sounds like maybe the mounts are taller than stock (even though they claim to not be). Sucks because I really like the mounts.
The pan is nice, but it's also made to work with the FFE mounts best which are sweet...but not exactly cheap either.
I also don't want to pull the motor or subframe to try to change mounts again if I don't have to, so for now I'll just deal with it and not run a bar if we can't get the IR ones made.
11-23-16, 07:53 PM
