Hi All,
Been looking at Engine Bay Strut Bars for my MK1 Mx5 and noticed a huge difference in price between whats on ebay and what u get from MX5 Parts. Does this price difference reflect the quality and hence its worth paying the £100 from MX5 Parts or are they all very simiar.
Thanks,
This is a picture of the strut bar that came with my imported Enos Roadster. They are made from very strong steel tube and they all appear to have been painted yellow. Thay have an adustable scew and nut in the top of the bar too. The second picture shows what it now looks like with the yellow paint removed, all welding smoothed up and the whole bar polished up.
Wow, what a fantastic looking car, looks like you have spent some time on it. At least now I know what i’m looking for.
I’m finding that I could spend spend spend on these little cars.
Thanks for the advice, currently bidding on one just the same in yellow.
Just had a thought. Will the Strut Bar fit with my Pipercross Air Filter. I have the one that comes with the metal heat shield. Can anyone confirm?
The factory braces came in yellow, organge, painted silver and black. I replaced the factory S-Spec brace, with a triangulated RS-Aizawa brace, and noticed an immediate improvement over rought road surfaces. Additionally, it has an integrated brake master cylinder brace (main reason why I fitted it.
MX5s don’t have struts as such, so the brace works in a different way from say, old Escorts, where the brace stiffened MacPherson struts, and helped maintain alignment. In the MX5, shocktower braces merely serve to stiffen the body shell.
Triangulated braces would do this best; the RS Aizawa is made from aluminium. Moss make a copy, which is made from stainless steel, but is missing a few features (in addition to the brake stopper), leading, in some cars, to a NVH issue.
Why you might want a master cylinder stopper (brace):
Hi all,
I won the strut bar that I was bidding for on ebay, its like the one Polyana has on the pictures above.
I have just fitted it but now my bonnet wont close, what have i done wrong? Should it just fit?
Fit it the right way around.
Slacken off the adjuster, then fit.
Are the barackets that the strut fastens to the same as in this picture? (ignore the yellow arrows) And your car is the Mk1 is it not. Not sure if this is possible but, do you have the brackets fitted the correct way round?
will go look and check
I have just measured the distance between the top of the Cam Cover to the the underside of the strut and it measures 38mm.
If you have the standard air filter on as I do you can’t put the strut on the wrong way as it would catch the air filter body. But if it isn’t a standard filter it may be possible to fit it it the wrong way round and it may then catch the underside of the bonnet due to it sloping down wards. If all else fails, post a picture/s so I can see it please.
it looks the right way round i terms of it looks like the fiited picture above but my adjuster is at the opposite side to yours
sorted, as you said, i had it on the wrong way round.
just off for a spin, thanks everyone
Excellent, don’t you like it when something goes right for a change?
certainly do, car feel so much better, nice to have her back.
she’s been serviced, Mot’d, Timing Belt Changed, style bars and strut bars added today. Just need my leather seats to arrive now.
Thanks for the help
Hi
Can anyone tell me when you remove the two bolts at the top of the suspention leg ( not sure if its called that ) to fix the brace will anything drop down or become loose,also once it is fitted will you have to make any adjustment to the locking nuts
Nothing will drop down as the weight of the car is on the strut. Idealy the nuts should be torqued up afterwards (22 - 26 lb ft i believe) But most people just go by feel.
Just pop into any garage & give the guy a drink for borrowing his torque wrench for 2 minutes if you want peace of mind.
I can tell you what its called. NUTS & washers. But nothing will drop off as long as your not using the jack to lift the car up?