ive been talking about making the car stiffer for the past few weeks and here are some pics. no regrets with any of it, worth every penny and ought to have come from the factory like this, imo.

order of effectiveness:

1.swift front sway
2.cusco 3 floor
3.s2x stb
4.x brace

prob belongs in the gallery.


green=swift front sway/silver=s2x 4 pt asm type stb/gold=muz xbrace/faint blue in the back=cusco 3 piece floor bar:


under the car:

 

Great pics - thanks!

A couple of quick questions:

How is the 4 pt. STB fitment: Does it touch the hood or inner liner of the hood - just barely or interfere with closing hood? How are the bolts at shock tower: did you use any washers there or just the factory nuts (I've seen that the mounting is not totally flat)?

Where does one get a Cusco 3 piece floor bar?

I have Rick's X-Brace - on bumpy roads very noticable less shuddering; on regular roads quicker turn in too.

I am also going with Comptech 140-225 sway bar upgrade, front & rear (non-adjustable), to be installled soon.

What about rear braces? Stiffer rear tie/cross brace makes sense even though it has one already - was thinking about making my own by filling in the u bracket with high-structural strength filler. Also, which and where to get a rear STB?

Thoughts?

 

So, did you add each piece one by one and note your findings? I am only asking because if they were installed and tested collectively it would be difficult to isolate the effectiveness of each mod and would therefore negate your "Order of effectiveness" list.

BTW, do you happen to have additional pics of that strut tower bar? Looks interesting.

 

Sam (s2x) installed the 4 pt stb so im not sure about the bolts. it does touch the foam inside of the hood, but doesn't hurt it and def doesn't obstruct closing the hood.

bulletproof has the cusco floor bar, but beware, the shipping is very expensive.

i completely agree with you on the x brace, but the other mods are much more noticeable. the car feels much more in control than b4. i would add the x brace last like i said on the list.

adding the rear bracemay take away some of the effect of the front.

for some reason, i dont understand what the point of stiffening the rear is. i feel like the great stress on the car is in the front during initial turn in. the rear sort of just follows. and since the front is very stiff now, the cusco allows the rear to benefit from the front.

i have much to learn about the rear, please teach.

 

i added each one by one. so i am very confident in the order of effectiveness.

Jaeyuna's car with CAI:



ebeldesign powder coated it:



here's Sam's FS link with a TON of pics and info:

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...ic=414779&st=0

 

couldnt one of the previous mods affect the affect of the stiffness of the next mod you put on? so by the time you put on the xbrace it was already stiffened up there to the point where it would feel like the xbrace doesnt do much.

it would be best if you put only one on at a time and then rated how each one affected it

 

true, but im trying my best to be helpful.

i put the x brace on first. stb next. cusco floor next and sway last.

so that kinda goes against the theory. i should have rated the x brace the highest, etc.

one effect of the stb that i want to add is that it lets the engine rev smoother. esp noticable at high rpms. or rather, it doesn't change the engine in any way, but the car doesn't "shake or vibrate" as much at high rpms.

 

the 3 piece cusco floor doesn't look like it would help at all. If it's not bolted (or welded) along the bottom of the car it will do very little in support (in theory). Think of it like this, If you support a long broom handle by a chair on each end you can easily bend/bow the center of the broom handle. but if you add another chair in the middle it will be harder to bend. It's the same with the car, imagine where you bolted the floor brace as the 2 chairs, the center is just floating, there is no support.

It works off multiplied torque. In my opinion, the cusco floor needs to be mounted to the car somewhere along the span of the car also, not just the front and rear.

On a side note, the cusco roll bars also don't look like they work, they use bolts (that can shear) and there is no triangles to create structure.

To me cusco is more of an appearance mod.

 

hmm I wonder why, the engine has rubber engine mounts, so the brace shouldn't have anny effect on the engine. But good observation.

 

i get what ur saying about the engine, but you have to say that u do feel something when revving high. maybe it's all placebo, but doubtful since i didn't expect to feel a difference in that area.

i also understand your broom analogy. i dont know how the floor bar works, but i know it does something and it feels great. as for it being eye candy, i never get to see it.