I'm looking for an affordable set of chassis stiffiners so I can illiminate some of the flex in my FD. The stiffiners are essentialy crossmembers attached under the car to different parts of the chassis. Where can I find set at an affordable cost? Anyone have them on their 7? If so, did they make a huge difference? Any freelance kits available out there?

-Rob

 

Mazdaspeed sells a set ($750...gulp!). Do you have a front shock tower brace yet?

 

That is just what I was looking for. Do you need to do any additonal drilling, welding to get this sucker to bolt on or does it use existing holes to mount up??

Did you do an install?? If you did, how hard was it??

 

I would think you could have a machine shop fabricate those for you out of comparable steel/aluminum for a fraction of the price.........

 

It looks like the above replaces the stock stiffeners.

 

I'm from the maxima.org and for our cars we have a company that actually fabricated a subframe connectors for our cars, now maxima don't have that much power that they bend frames, but when you lower them the frame is somewhat weak to handle it. here's a link to what they made, this is for 95-99 maxima, they also have them for other maximas and also altimas, but the concept and the design is the same, but you can go back and check those out also

http://www.warpspeedperformance.com/...pplication.htm

I was thinking when I buy a rx7 to make something like this, which seems to do a better job then the mazda speed one.

 

iwannarx7 that setup looks pretty good. Did you have to drill a bunch of holes? tell me how it altered the performance of the vehicle. The construction looks pretty simple so I know that there must be someone out there that has already fabricated an affordable chassis stiffiner kit. I want one but I'd rather spend 700 dollars on brakes, differential axles etc.

 

The FD has a very stiff body/chassis. What type of chassis flex do you think your experiencing?

Jeff

 

I'm just looking for an overall solid feel of the car. It seems to flex a bit during sharp turns and excelleration. It's not causing a problem but I can be picky right? I just want my car to feel as rock solid as possible (not that it's all the bad as is).

 

go to jt imports, jason sells those mazdaspeed frame braces. www.jt-imports.com

 

I was thinking that, too, but if you look at the rear end of the stiffeners, the stock (exhaust-banging) brace is still there. My stock brace in that position had been hitting my exhaust and even had one of the cross beams (the single piece has two beams that go across the bottom of the tunnel) broken. I wish someone made a replacement for that piece that gave more clearance for exhaust plumbing. And those Mazdaspeed braces look pretty nice, too.

-Max

 

no, no hole drilling, if you read the instructions the only thing you have to do is weld those plates to the frame and then weld the pipes right on them, to weld the cross sectional bars you just weld them to the same plates and there you have the cross support. the whole setup for Stage I & II is $200. how about the quality, I don't have one on my car, but I can point to NUMEROUS responses of people who put them on and they have rgreat results, and most of them are not rice boys that yell they have more hp from putting stickers, a lot of these guys take the cars racing and are very subjective to rating a modification. the usual response is that the car feels solid, when you go over the bump there are no noises from the inside and instead of the car flexing when you go over a bump or a pot hole , the frame is solid and the suspension does work.

if any of you live around Avoca, Arizona area, you can be a "test monkey" and they will build you one and then we'll have one for the rx-7 community.

good luck

 

That is what happened to my mustang when I put the sub-frame connectors on it. Noise went away and when you hit a speed bump, the whole car moved as a unit instead of flexing.

Older RX7's have the most to gain from this since the body is used to flexing, it gets worse with age. Mine is too noisy over bumps and not rigid enough in the turns under power (I do have a strut tower brace).

What would be the abolsute **** on this would be if they could incorporate a pan-hard bar that links the rear diff forward. Don't know if there is enough clearance because the cars are so low but that would probably give you a factor more traction out of the hole and transfer the weight under acceleration correctly. The chasis stiffner and a bar would give some ultimate performance gaines for handling!!

If you think about it, you wouldn't have to go all the way forward, you would only have to go up to the crossmember under the motor. Anyhow, something that would be nice to have.

 

how noticeable would the difference that mazdaspeed set makes be? what kind of difference would be experienced?

 

it could be made cheaply, as Iwannarx7 has demonstrated, and the effectiveness seems unquestionable. Are there any risks associated with doing this to you your chassis?

 

would it be similar to the improvement experienced when installing a strut tower brace, just to a higher degree?

 

Don't qoute me but I think Do-Luck or a similar company makes something "like" subframe connectors for the FD. I could have swore I just saw them on the web somewhere the other day.

 

http://www.do-luck-usa.com/assistbars_all.html#FD3S

Floor support bars? I know I saw them on another website installed on the FD but I forget where.

 

There is no Avoca, AZ. Are you on drugs or what?

Jeeez, the bullshit on this forum just keeps getting deeper and deeper - time for hip waders.

Oh, wait a minute. You're 22. You're excused.

 

To Max Cooper ,, Garfinkle made a steel cross brace that clears the exhaust in front of the xr1 . The hard part was the curve around the pipe . He used 3/8 thick 2inch wide steel .It will dot break. You can make one for sure, good skill .

 

GARFINKLE AGAIN

 

LOL

 

Are you sure it's not BULLWINKLE?

Or maybe ART GARFUNKLE?

How about GARFIELD?

 

I'm with Jeff on this. The FD already has a stiff chassis, and all those braces will add more weight. The engineers were very methodical and precise in their design. I'd be worried that the braces could affect chassis loading and alter the handling, and not necessarily for the better. A lot of people think more is always better, but that isn't always the case.

 

Engineers are also known for compromising their designs in order to reduce cost and target larger markets. I don't think that the target market is looking for a rock solid/ bumpy ride. I think the engineers may have made suddle compromises in order to make the ride bareable to the average commuter. The design was meticulous and compehensive but that doesn't mean that they did cut corners in the perfomance area of the design. I mean if they didn't aftermarket parts wouldn't sell the way that they do. I do however agree that some things should be left alone; I just am not sure that this is one of them.

Just my 2 cents. I appreciate your input.

respectfully, Rob