Factory strut bar problem?
 

This was my engine bay before:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a4/...r/1d8ec141.jpg
This is my engine bay now.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a4/...r/03032008.jpg
When I close my hood, I notice that the hood on the left and right side of the center of the fenders, is sticking up a hair. I popped the hood again and saw that the strut bar is pushing against the inside of the hood and marking up the strut bar a little. Can someone tell me if the factory strut bar pushes against the hood when it is closed or is there something wrong. My old strut bar was a cusco and that did not hit the inside of the hood, but that is thinner then the factory strut bar. Is there a difference between the r1 and r2 strut bar?

Your strut bar looks really disformed on the passanger side.

When you say disformed, what do you mean exactly. Does it look like the strut bar is on a wrong angle?

https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...j/IMG_0201.jpg
Pic of mine.

your looks twisted on your passenger side.

Is yours the R1 strut bar and does it hit your hood on the inside

Yours sure looks bent, you might try taking a pic at a lower angle, and no the OEM bar does not hit the hood.

Paul

Ok, I didn't think the oem bar should be hitting underneath the hood. When I go home tonight, I will take a pic at a eye view level of the bar and post the pic. After that I will probably take it off if it is messed up and put my cusco bar back on.

Yeah I say go withe Cusco, because that bar is trashed. Did you get it off of a car that was hit?

I bought the bar over a year ago from someone that was selling it on this site. I had it powdercoated last year. It looked good when I got it from the seller, but I just had it put on a week ago, so I didn't see any problems with it. When I look at the pic now, the passenger side besides looking twisted, looks like it is raised up higher and starts to go down on the drivers side as you look to the right of the bar. It must have been involved in an accident. I'm gueesing the car was hit on the passenger front that this bar came from, because the gap that I get from the hood of my car is more on the passenger side center. I guess since it is hitting the hood when it is closing, it is pushing up the hood slightly. I'll just swap it out with my cusco bar. I would rather do that than damage my hood. Well that sucks. Oh well. Shit happens, right. It seems like I'm on a bad luck streak with my car lately. It was just broken into on valentines day. The passenger window was broken, but the glass did not fall inside because the tint held it together, so the person pride out the glass, and when the glass fell out, it scratched the whole passenger door, plus they stole my radio, interior molding is a little messed up, scratches on the front bumper around the hood latch, the drviers fender, passenger rear quarter panel. So having the bar messed up is just another thing to add to my list. No matter all the aggrevation, i'll never sell it.

I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't bent in shipping. It's amazing what UPS, etc., can screw up.

IMO, you could probably straighten it. It's not an item that would cause a dangerous situation, even if it were done wrong. The only thing you really have to be careful of is not screwing up the paint. Even hardened steel can be reshaped to some degree, and this does not look that bad. Using a press and some protective padding, I've straightened toe links, etc., for my racecar (and successfully used them) that were a lot worse than that strut bar.

I see you're from the Philadelphia area. If you are not confident that you could do it, I'd bet that someone in your area could. And if they can't, send it to me (cover the shipping both ways) and I'll do my best on straightening it for free.

I think mines stock...

Any oem strut bar shouldn't hit anything

There is a difference between the 93 and 94 strut bars.

93 bars have adjustable length, they should be adjusted so it is in the slightest amount of tension. The problem is some people adjust them so they are in compression, this forces the top of the bar up and it can hit the hood. I would loosen the adjuster bolt to make sure the bar is not in compression.

94 bars are not adjustable, FD3S-K pictured above has a 94 + type.

Thanks for the info. I did lossen the adjuster bolt to see if it would lower the passenger side, but it didn't. Everything is set right on it. The drivers side of the bar does not hit the hood. Only more towards the center and towards the passenger side of the bar hits the hood. I have pics of the bar I took at eye level. When I post it you will be able to see how it is slightly twisted and goes up higher on the passenger side. This bar must have came from a car that was involved in a car accident. I already removed it and will put mu cusco back on.

I thought the 94 bars were the ones that mazda made adjustable, not the other way around. Oh well guess I was wrong.

Here is an eye view level. You can definitely see this bar came from a car that was in an accident.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a4/...r/DSC00936.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a4/...r/DSC00937.jpg

Sorry to hear that dude. Personally I think the Cusco looks better in your engine bay.

hammer it back to original formbe sure to prtect paint

For now i'm just going to put it aside and clean up my cusco bar and put that back on.

IMHO that strut bar is not trash at first glance. If it is not kinked it can just be bent back. Slightly loosen the mounting bolts at the shock mounts. Push down with something that distributes the load like a small piece of wood and you will be able to bend it back to stock shape.

I think the R1 bar looks better than any aftermarket bar. It was certainly more expensive to build.

its possible for the bar to buckle under stress, how hard do drive?

I don't drive hard at all. I have fun driving it, but I don't beat on it. I bought the bar over a year ago. It was a red and I wanted something that would go better with the montego blue, so I had it powdercoated. I had it sitting in storage for a while, because I was planning to get my unorhtodox pulleys, alternator and pipes powder coated to match, which I did get done. The bar was just put on a week ago with all the other powder coated parts. When I drove home that day and popped my hood to take a pic of the engine bay, I pulled the latch to pop the hood and I could tell that the hood released harder like something forced it up. I will see if I can find someone to bend it back how it was, but for now i'm just putting it back in storage. After I took the bar off, I turned it upside down and the four holes that are on each side of the bar are clearly squashed together on the passenger side. Two of the holes are squashed together so bad that i do not think you could even put a piece of paper between them.

Darn! In that case, it may be very hard to correctly straighten it, and have it retain enough stiffness to do its job.

Dave

I think I will just use it as one big paper weight.

Well, that sucks. How did you not notice that the strut bar was warped before/after you bought it?

If you're interested I have an awesome condition polished R1 strut bar for sale. It's not an economical solution, but it looks incredible :)

My 7 is a touring edition so mine did not come with a strut bar. When I bought it I never put it on my car to see how it looked to make sure everything was ok. Looking at it it looked fine, but I never saw one in person so I didn't know what to look for. Doesn't really matter now. Just one of those mistakes that you learn from.

I'm not looking to spend any money right now, but how much were you looking to sell it for?

They both look good but I think the chrome bar looks great(better) with your engine bay. imho