D7PNY

Hi guys,

Basically, my car came with a strut brace fitted but other than being handy to lean on, I'm not sure it does much else.

My megan manifold fouls on my steering column so rather than go down the route of stiffer engine mounts I've bought a cheap Tegiwa engine torque damper. Purely to se if I can stop the rack fouling on the manifold when under load and turning left. Not for all the wild claims of better gear changes etc...not sure I believe all that.

Thing is, I doubt I'll manage to get both brackets on top of the strut safely so was planning on just binning the strut brace to see if the engine damper has the desired affect.

What are folks thoughts? My plan sound about right or should I go through the hassle of welding a tab on the strut brace mount to attach the engine damper and keep both?

Car will be used for mixture of road/track but will get a lot of track use. Just not convinced the strut brace actually does much?

Cheers,

Dave

earl's_f20c

Totally correct, I call mine the 'leany bar' it just helps my back when leaning in to check the oil

When you see the huge beam across the front chassis you soon realise that a wee shiny bar does naff-all.

Ditch it and fit the ETD, they do make a difference I believe

lovegroova

Remove it and see if you can tell the difference, I suspect the answer is "no".

As earls says, it is useful for leaning on and for balancing a jumpstart booster on.

Scottland

I didn't find much difference with the ETD fitted (although mine was an even cheaper ebay special). Having said that, they probably do help the engine mounts a bit.

noodels

Persuade the mani with a ball pain hammer,or fit oem mani,a lower brace is a positive not upper due to the good H beam chassis construction.
rubberized tegiwa damper=bling and cabin noise only
The engine mounts are part of the overall tuned suspension set up,caution on where to mount dampers.

Carl Bourbon

I put one on my old eg coupe and the difference was unreal, didnt really notice the difference with the s2000 but I will say I didnt like to throw it around corners until I got some stiff coilies.
But I agree, it made a great leaning aid

CynicG

I've added and removed a strut brace with no noticable difference (other than leaning aid as mentioned above). Mine was a Summit item about 4" and unnecessarily weighty (hence removal) and it made no difference.

Fitting a ETD 'seemed' to make a difference but quite possibly a placebo. I'm sticking with it though.

D7PNY

Thanks guys, I had thought about popping a standard manifold on or going down stiffer mounts route.

Just to be clear, I'm not falling for all the spiel and claims of smoother gear changes etc with engine torque dampers. Not interested in engine bling at all really function over form all the way for me! I was simply hoping it would stop the engine movement enough to stop the rack touching the manifold. If it doesn't do the trick I'll just sell it on.

Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to regret removing the strut brace (although I was pretty confident it was junk)

Cheers,

Dave

david.mt

I went for mounts, brace and ETD and noticed a big improvement . Can you not modify the top mount to accept both the brace and ETD - I ordered one already fabricated?

D7PNY

That's what I wasn't sure was worth the bother if the strut brace does sweet F A anyway.

Will have a look at the bits when they arrive and try just the engine damper to see if it solves my issue with the rack/manifold and if it does, may well make up a bracket so both can be fitted in tandem so I've still got something to lean on in the engine bay

Cheers,

Dave