If carbon reminds you of plastic tell me how a F1 car can handle over 3.5G's of lateral acceleration through a corner and not crack or break apart?

 

Absolutely. If i'm not mistaken, carbon fiber was developed by the aerospace industry and was first used in fighter aircraft. A solid carbon fiber strut tower brace would actually be stronger than steel. CF driveshafts are available, and I don't think they are metal and are CF wrapped.

 

Actually a solid bar would not be the way to go. A tube with a hollow center would actually be stiffer and lighter. You would probably only need 3-4 layers of carbon followed by a core material and then another 3-4 layers of carbon. And depending on the axial orientation of the layers you would have a VERY rigid tube.

 

Yeah, thats what I really meant to say.

 

I'm not sure about Cusco, but the I know for sure that the JIC is just carbon fiber wrapping. I asked the guy at SS4. He told me it would cost way to much to produce a solid carbon fiber bar.

Speaking of CF, I asked a shop how much it cost to make a carbon fiber deck for my 99 spec wing and it's gonna cost about $500 just to wrap it in CF. He said solid carbon fiber is gonna cost a lot.

 

here is another pic:

 

vacuum your "trunk"

 

Not like we have anything for our cars out of it but Dry CF is actually the stuff they use in aerospace not the stuff that CF hoods are made of.

 

just courious to know...is an aftermarket rear strut tower bar strong enough to support 5-pt harnesses, or is a roll bar necessary??

 

I would not use the strut bar. It would probably be fine in a low speed crash. But in a high speed crash I think that the bar would not be strong enough. M2 has a bolt in bar that is used for harnesses that bolts in place of the strut bar that is made of steel. That would be my choice, or a roll bar.

 

How well does the stock rear strut bar work? Is it worth upgrading or is it more for looks?

 

We have the Carbon bars in stock for the FD made by JIC, race proven quality and completely functional.

PM me for interest.

rishie

 

Just so everyone know, NO ONE HERE makes a carbon fiber strut tower bar. The ones at RE and anywhere else are carbon look.... Means sticker, or metal covered in carbon, just one layer.
Hope that helps

 

Also im in the military and have worked with carbon fiber for 8 years, and you can make the strut bar, but it would crack!!

 

I think Rishie can get the best prices on JIC products, especially for forum members.

 

That's so true. Autoimaging and I are the major distributors of JIC. He's eastcoast, I'm westcoast. I can take care of you if you're a forum member. Plus we love our rotaries. hehe.

Rishie

Thanks Mike for the plug. He got the Al front from us BTW.