Is there any benifitt to fittling a lower strut brace to the chassis in conjuction with the engine b

Technical Area Steering & Suspension
2

 I have a mk1 roadster with an engine bay brace (proper triangular job), is there any benifit to me fitting a lower strut brace as well? Or is this just over kill?

The car is lowered with Bill Stiens and stiff as hell with Hard dog roll cage, just thinking about making the front end as super stiff? Has anyone got the double brace in place? and want to comment on it??? 

 i notice i have a rear lower strut brace, but not on the front.

Would love to hear anyones comment or opinion before i go ahead!!!

 

Regards

 

JP

3

I fitted a front lower brace, but at the same time as a load of other other things so it’s hard to comment on how effect it is on it’s own.

I will say though that it’s a dead handy thing to rest the gearbox on if you’re doing a clutch change on your own. Also the bolts on mine were the lowest part of the car, so it was nice to know the scraping noise wasn’t anything serious.

4

 Thanks for your reply, never fails to amaze me who is out there to comment on these things!

Take your point that the brace would be very low to the ground, especially in a car that is on low springs.

Does yours also have an engine bay brace?

5

 The lower strut brace under the car became a Mazda standard fitment so yes, there is a benefit.

I fitted front then rear, engine bay then seat belt braces. The most effective was the front suspension brace under the car. The least effective was the engine bay brace. Both rear braces were equally as effective as each other. I’ve since done away with the engine bay brace, although I miss it, mainly for leaning on when cleaning the engine bay :slight_smile:

 

6

I’ve got an engine bay strut brace/brake brace, rear lower brace (mine is a '92 so had no bracing as standard) plus a roll cage and a permenantly fitted hardtop.

My car is stupidly low (the exhaust grounds out too now). I may jack it up a bit.

7

Shock tower brace (as its correctly termed) and subframe brace do different things; the former will help stiffen the shell (and a triangulated brace will do the most complete job). The latter will help the subframe from flexing (a STB will do nothing for this), so, yes, worth fitting as well. As for ground clearance; the BSP-copies sold by MX5parts will not present any issue, even on a lowered car.

8

Hey Captain, do you know where to get some lift spacers/shims for going on the lower perch? mine are non-adjustable KONI and I don’t want to buy new springs just to get 1/2-1" upwards.

my ride heights are 11.5" and 12.25" Front/rear. bit too much for me.