Hey guys

After some opinions. Car is 90% a track car now i.e. it gets towed to track days and not driven not he street anymore but may get the occasional lap around the block to keep everything moving and running or if I do one track it gets driven the 5minute driver there and back.
im at the point where I'm thinking about removing/replacing the stock reo bars.
Starting with the rear I was originally looking to replace the giant stock one with the JDM replacement and save about 2kg but the JDM reo is just so small that I don't see it doing anything in the event of a crash anyway so I'm thinking about just removing the rear all together. I actually remember reading somewhere that US cars didn't come with a rear reo. True?

The front i will definitely keep for the time being but eventually once i make/install my chassis mount splitter frame I intend to remove and make a bar similar to what is on the ASM racecar (aka single chromoly tune connecting the two rails.

but yeah I'm just looking for some opinions on whether you would remove the reos.
Maybe you have removed them and want to share your experience.

Thanks.

 

Are you talking about the bumper beams?

 

Yes they're called bumper reinforcement bars aka reos for short.
should probably have clarified that.

 

Ah, that makes sense. Well I personally wouldn't mess with them unless I had a full cage and I was okay with taking major damage from even small wall contact, but I'm kind of paranoid about safety. They are super heavy, though, so I understand the appeal of ditching them.

 

When my car went backwards into ARMCO a was glad mine where still on the car, so something to consider. We all say "it won't happen to me" but it can.

 

Yeah that's my concern and why they've stayed on the car for so long but then you see the JDM reinforcement bar and you just think what's the point of even having one? Wouldn't do squat in the event of a crash.

maybe I can make something up like they do on drift cars and have a bash bar of sorts. Could make it lighter than the stock one but could also make it to wrap around the sides a bit more as well

 

I've made lightweight aluminum bumper bars on a previous track car. It was probably just as strong or stronger than the stamped/spot welded steel beast that it replaced.

 

any pics of bars defsport? sounds like something i want to do

 

Just for reference, late model stock cars, which do a fair amount of pushing, use a bent 1.75" x .095" or .065" wall bar. They are cheapest to buy pre-bent to fit the nose, but builder with fancy tube bending equipment just make their own. They sell bent for $30. I'm guessing ti would be pretty simple to fab a mount for the tube to the S2k.



This is a mounted bumper, a little fancy with that bolted top link, in a pic to show the flexible radiator ducting. As I said, the push each other around a bit.