R1 strut brace
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I bought it from someone who got it as a gift and was using it as a wall piece until now. So I don’t know what it came off. Looks adjustable but what do you adjust for? Does it change the stiffness or is it just for fitment?
I adjusted mine after installation to be in slight compression to take out the slop in the assembly. It works fine like that.
When you install a strut bar, you're supposed to raise the car up so the shock towers spread apart, this adds compression to the bar when it's on the ground. With the adjustable bar you don't need to raise it up to install it, you can just extend the bar after it's installed.
When you install a strut bar, you're supposed to raise the car up so the shock towers spread apart, this adds compression to the bar when it's on the ground. With the adjustable bar you don't need to raise it up to install it, you can just extend the bar after it's installed.
I believe only the early model (92-93) strut bars were adjustable. I could be wrong but those are the only ones I have seen with adjustable from the factory. My 94 is not adjustable.
In the US, the 93 bar is adjustable while the 94-95 are non-adjustable, all in red. In Japan it looks like all the 92-95 are red adjustable bar, then black non-adjustable no badge bar from 96-02, with the exception of Spirit R which has the red non-adjustable bar like our R2.
Only the early bars were adjustable, went to a fixed bar when Mazda cut costs. They are rare, same transition happened in Japan.
Is it better? Only if you want to remove or install it without jacking up your car. I have no idea what the “best” amount of preload is, but theoretically the adjustable bar could do that, if we knew what it was.
I like it for the rarity, and if you have an early R1, it’s nice to be “correct”
Is it better? Only if you want to remove or install it without jacking up your car. I have no idea what the “best” amount of preload is, but theoretically the adjustable bar could do that, if we knew what it was.
I like it for the rarity, and if you have an early R1, it’s nice to be “correct”
According to brochures the Japanese have the adjustable bar from 92-95, that will make the non-adjustable red bar more rare because they only came in the US R2 and Spirit R. I don't know about other market like Europe and Australia etc.
Mine is a 94 JDM with a non-adjustable. All the other 94+ JDM cars were the same way when I was shopping.
The non adjustable bars are way more common. Do a search, take a look at Yahoo Japan. I just had a look around the shop I'm at, and out of the 8 OEM bars on cars there, only one is adjustable. The Japanese market put them on a lot more models after '95, FDs were made until 2002 and the later years had many many more "special" models with bars and other stuff added to them.
The non adjustable bars are way more common. Do a search, take a look at Yahoo Japan. I just had a look around the shop I'm at, and out of the 8 OEM bars on cars there, only one is adjustable. The Japanese market put them on a lot more models after '95, FDs were made until 2002 and the later years had many many more "special" models with bars and other stuff added to them.








