I guess some people cannot visualize how a cars chassis flexses under cornering loads......its lateral vibrations and movement that do hinder a car to turn in acurately and effeciently.
tri strut bar fittment issues
- Thread starter screaminglemon
- Start date
Yeah, about the ebay strut bar... its pretty true, I had the Megan Racing on the front before the CP Tri and even that made a difference... naturally i modded the Megan to fit the rear though once the CP was on 
lol
lol
Ne0z said:Yeah, about the ebay strut bar... its pretty true, I had the Megan Racing on the front before the CP Tri and even that made a difference... naturally i modded the Megan to fit the rear though once the CP was on
I was thinking of buying another ebay rear bar ( dont want to pay 200% more for a name on just a piece of AL.) and modify it...just cut it shorter....seems like a good idea!
What part did you cut? Did you have to rethread the strut bar itself or was the threading deep enough?
-J.M.
Ne0z said:
this was the megan racing strut bar, the solid aluminum brace ( not the ovalish round ebay one like mine right?)
so You just drilled the anker points ( the bolts that hold the bar into strut brace hats)??
have any pics?
-Jonathan
basically yeah, thats all i had to do, the wheelbase is the same on the front and the rear, took me a bit to get it to fit though, wish i woulda had a better way to measure for the holes... i will try and get pics in a bit
Adjuster
Supramania Contributor
This was discussed to death before.
Shawn (dude) took many measurements, and found there was little to be gained by tying the front strut towers together across the engine, but much to be gained by cross bracing the front strut towers to the cowl area. (He agreed the cowl was not very strong, but by spreading the force out over that area, would be strong enough.)
So, the CP X bar is using that information pretty well I think. (At 150.00, is a pretty good deal too.)
The ebay bars going from tower to tower don't acomplish much on a subframe suspended vehicle like the Supra. (I think the brace from the rear of both A arms underneath is a good mod, it would reduce flex in this "open" end of the cradle. Is it Cusco that makes that piece?)
I've thought that combining the Cusco lower bar, with the existing bolt in stock brace in a X design would provide better steering feel.
Short of a full welded in cage, or starting out with a hardtop car, your always going to have flex problems with the Targa. (In place or not.)
What I've seen done to improve "muscle" cars is welded in sub frame connectors, X brace strut bars that tie into the Cowl, and triangulate the engine bay. Also some X braces in the rear suspension area designed to reduce chassis flex. The old Mustang guys have some really cool stuff available. They had a stock cross brace going from the towers to the cowl, so the mounting points are factory. Then some kits use alloy tubes, heim joints and trick brackets to fully X brace the engine bay. (It makes a huge difference on the Mustang, so why not on a Supra?)
I think one of the ways the DoLuck RXB makes a difference is preload. If you just tie the bar into place, but don't preload the chassis, it will have less effect.
I know from building Limo's back in the 80's that short of a cage, you can add some strength by stitch welding the factory panel seams (Welds about 1" long every other inch.) This makes the most of the struture you have. Also some simple straps welded across open areas in X patterns can make a huge difference. We used mild steel 1 or 1.5" flat strap in various thicknesses. This was about the only way a large floor panel could be reinforced to handle 9 people crawling around on it without flexing too much.
I imagine that similar results would be found using these techniques with the Supra chassis, but more to improve the handling feel than hold 9 passengers LOL
The one mod that nobody is talking about much, but that would make the car much less inclined to flex or twist is a tunnel brace. If someone could close up the driveshaft tunnel, with a flat panel brace that turned the open "U" of the tunnel into a closed "O" it would reduce twist and flex across the open floor pan area of the Supra. (Targa or not.)
Just a few thoughts.
Shawn (dude) took many measurements, and found there was little to be gained by tying the front strut towers together across the engine, but much to be gained by cross bracing the front strut towers to the cowl area. (He agreed the cowl was not very strong, but by spreading the force out over that area, would be strong enough.)
So, the CP X bar is using that information pretty well I think. (At 150.00, is a pretty good deal too.)
The ebay bars going from tower to tower don't acomplish much on a subframe suspended vehicle like the Supra. (I think the brace from the rear of both A arms underneath is a good mod, it would reduce flex in this "open" end of the cradle. Is it Cusco that makes that piece?)
I've thought that combining the Cusco lower bar, with the existing bolt in stock brace in a X design would provide better steering feel.
Short of a full welded in cage, or starting out with a hardtop car, your always going to have flex problems with the Targa. (In place or not.)
What I've seen done to improve "muscle" cars is welded in sub frame connectors, X brace strut bars that tie into the Cowl, and triangulate the engine bay. Also some X braces in the rear suspension area designed to reduce chassis flex. The old Mustang guys have some really cool stuff available. They had a stock cross brace going from the towers to the cowl, so the mounting points are factory. Then some kits use alloy tubes, heim joints and trick brackets to fully X brace the engine bay. (It makes a huge difference on the Mustang, so why not on a Supra?)
I think one of the ways the DoLuck RXB makes a difference is preload. If you just tie the bar into place, but don't preload the chassis, it will have less effect.
I know from building Limo's back in the 80's that short of a cage, you can add some strength by stitch welding the factory panel seams (Welds about 1" long every other inch.) This makes the most of the struture you have. Also some simple straps welded across open areas in X patterns can make a huge difference. We used mild steel 1 or 1.5" flat strap in various thicknesses. This was about the only way a large floor panel could be reinforced to handle 9 people crawling around on it without flexing too much.
I imagine that similar results would be found using these techniques with the Supra chassis, but more to improve the handling feel than hold 9 passengers
LOLThe one mod that nobody is talking about much, but that would make the car much less inclined to flex or twist is a tunnel brace. If someone could close up the driveshaft tunnel, with a flat panel brace that turned the open "U" of the tunnel into a closed "O" it would reduce twist and flex across the open floor pan area of the Supra. (Targa or not.)
Just a few thoughts.
adjuster: these are some very interesting ideas... hmm...
and, yeah, fox bodies have an amazing aftermarket for chassis-stiffening goodies...
ne0z: pictures.
and, yeah, fox bodies have an amazing aftermarket for chassis-stiffening goodies...
ne0z: pictures.