Rear strut bar

I got this honda civic strut bar, cut and modded the henges, and slapped it in there. Whacha think? Gonna try the hills this weekend with it and see how it goes. Next year I'll upgrade it to a tri-bar.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/291000-291999/291681_112_full.jpg

Looks good! We had one in the race car made out of way too thick (.250 or so) round 1 3/4" tubing welded in place. Not sure how much it helped the stiffness, but I do know this, when I wrecked the car for the last time, and a car tried to jump in the back seat, that bar was the only thing that kept the entire back end from being destroyed... :laugh:

Man I miss that car...

How many bolts do you have holding the bar on each side??

looks nice but thats really all its going to be there for is looks.

ya i hate to be negative but i really dont see any benifit of the rear brace since the rear suspsnion load is all translated to the rear crossmember and the mounting points and not to the towers like the front it...

I was thinking that, since it's just shock mounts up there, not like Macpherson struts where if it flexes it changes your suspension geometery.

I'm not sure though, could it help in stiffening the chassis a little? Like subframe connectors but not quite as effective? In the race car, I don't know that it helped anything, but it kept the rear end from being sandwiched together flat as a pancake... :tongue:

as far as frame support ya it would stiffen the chasis especially if you have a triangular rear brace

so what options do we have in the form of a rear cross member for better handling?

Yah for our cars I think a rear bar would have to tie in underneath the unibody...up top would not do a whole lot, but it won't make it less stiff either...but I would worry about there being torsional twist if it only goes on with one bolt on each side...

so what options do we have in the form of a rear cross member for better handling?
There is a rear subframe kit for the Z31, and that should fit the S12...8)

If it was in a hatch the brace might be more usefull, the large hole that the boot leaves on the hatch could do with somthing accross it at least hehe. It's common to brace AE86s between the rear shock towers and also accross where the back seat usually goes.

AEs are also a solid diff ... not IRS

IRS should be braced at the bottom, Macs or otherwise.

And your car already is ... with a sway bar. Bigger rear sway bar would tie it together nicely.

But yeah, a rear bar on top is still going to be better than without.

The S12 chassis flexes pretty hard under hard cornering/acceleration (mine did at least *lol*).

Truly though, a cage and big bars front and back would make a lot more of a difference.

I've seen a z31 in an old Turbo magazine with a rear bar like rad racers.....there were small holes cut in the plastic trim pieces to run it across to the shock mounts. It must help a little.....I don't think Turbo Mag. would of published that picture otherwise.
Who knows!!

Well I did feel somewhat a difference on tight corners and it's a little controlable than it was before. As for the sway bar, where can I find one for a live axle?

But I ask again, how many bolts do you have holding the bar on each side????

just one but I have rubber bushing to support the weight transition.