Would putting washers on the strut studs to space strut bar upwards effect the performance of the strut bar and the handling?

The reason i ask is i have the jdm red Mazda RX7 strut bar on my fd which rubs the top of the intake manifold (lsx swap) slightly. I was thinking if i put some washers between the strut brace and body of the car where the strut bolts up to space the bar slightly upwards just enough to stop the rubbing.


any $0.02 is appreciated!

 

You would be better off with a piece that matches the shape of the end braces. The bending moment forces imparted on the end plates could cause them to deflect in the gap created between the plate and the shock tower by simple washers at the shock mount bolts. Could you tell the difference in handling? Probably not, but it's worth mentioning.

What subframe are you running? I had the same problem on my LS1 swap with a Hinson subframe. I notched the strut where it was interfering with the intake runner. You could argue I weakened the section modulus by removing material there, but you probably couldn't tell the difference in handling.

You can see where material was removed in the photo below:

 

rubbin's racin'!

 

im running the hinson sub frame as well. Ive thought about notching it but im trying to keep everything looking as clean as possible.

 

Here's your soln:
http://www.reganrotaryracing.com/gt35rpage4.htm
As mentioned above washers = bad juju. too much benfing load. yuo want that strut bar mount clamped flat to the tower.
Regards,
Crispy

 

thanks for the link!

 

This is an old thread, but I think it has some misleading information. That fancy looking strut bar in the link is not straight, and it will have some flex. Strength is not the issue - it is stiffness that matters. A strut bar that only ties the two towers together is going to have little benefit. If you want it to be effective, it needs to be triangulated to the firewall. My opinion is that a lot of people are wasting time and money for something that "looks cool", but offers little actual stiffness benefit.

My gearhead friends include some of the top stress engineers at the Boeing company, and they agree with me. Before anyone asks about me, the answer is yes, B.S. and M.S., aero engineering, university of Washington.

The strut brace I made for my 84 RX-7 is shown on page 1 here:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/646433/1984-mazda-rx-7

 

Washers under the strut brace won't make a difference at all.

I also agree that a strut brace won't make a noticeable difference in handling bit I do think the stock R1 brace looks great. It also has a tension adjustment spec in the FSM.