Stripping down the entire car and seam-welding all the pieces would increase rigidity. But, that would obviously cost a fortune and cause problems if the car were to get bumped.

Are there less intensive ways to increase the body rigidity of this car, definitively? I just have Rick's X-brace for now and even that has been debated on this board whether or not it really helps rigidity substantially.

Are there mods that have been agreed upon by the majority that would tighten up the car?

The new CR has a rear brace in the soft top well. If I remove the spare, is there any way to jury-rig that brace on a MY03 and let the top in the well when I put it down? Or is this an impossibility? If not, are there equivalent braces that don't interfere?

Any braces in other key areas of the car possible?

Although it's a solid car for a cabrio, you can still feel the lack of torsional rigidity over uneven bumps, railroad tracks, overpass expansion joints that are not perfectly perpendicular, etc from the vibrating oscillations. Just wondering if we can tighten it up a bit.

 

Strut bar, X-brace, rear strut bar, sub-beam bars, one of those pricey rear suspension system things, etc, etc, etc.

Go to the JDM section, there are a ton of reinforcement pieces costing upwards of thousands of dollars yet doubtful do very much overall.

 

Hmmmm.... mine feels more rigid than any other car or truck I have ever owned.... sounds like unneeded weight + cost to me.

 

the cr bar would be pretty hard to the average person to do. i really looked into it for a while, but there are welded mounting points the non-cr models do not have. if you are really crafty, can weld, and have a machine for cutting/bending metal, go for it! the cusco rear subframe brace seemed to make the rear feel tighter, and a little more rigid.

 

Could I keep the soft top if that CR bar is installed? If so, maybe could have a welding place/body shop do the install.

How much does that Cusco piece weigh roughly, do you know?

Thanks.

 

i would say maybe 15 lbs but thats off the top of my head, i installed it a while back. and it would take some custom work to get that bar installed. i also dont believe it is possible to keep the soft top as the plastic molding, where the soft top lays when in the down position, gets in the way. however, i havent test fitted it myself, so its not 100%. but thats from looking at the pictures i gathered, and looking at the honda schematics.

 

get a roll cage

 

I've heard that the fender braces are a HUGE stiffening mod. It makes sense. There was some magazine that did it on an EVO claiming very good results. I forgot which magazine, but Mike Kojima was the writer of the article. He's an automotive engineer and owns a race car. Though I sometimes disagree with some of the stuff he says....he's pretty sensible a majority of the time.

Look into those. See if anyone has them and what they think. J's makes a set for around $250, IIRC. That's cheap.

 

The S2000 is super stiff, however. Not just "stiff for a convertible", either. Isn't it the stiffest Honda production chassis to date? I could be wrong....but I've heard that somewhere.

 

[QUOTE=B serious,Sep 21 2008, 11:12 PM] The S2000 is super stiff, however.