Applicable to: '90 - '97 1.6 liter
Bolt on front and rear braces for early 1.6 (90-early 91). Both braces are powder coated red. The front bar has four mounting points and it weighs ~5lbs. It is shaped like .------. | /--\ | |/ \| ' ' The rear bar weighs ~13.5lbs. It has six mounting points like the braces from 94+. However, instead of connecting to the tabs and the floor, it is connected to 4 eccentric bolts and the frame rails; It is shaped like .---------. \ / \_____/ | / | |__/__| It has more bracing then the 94+ brace. The frame rails are connected horizontally. A rear bar connects the two eccentric bolts further away from the rear bumper horizontally. A diagonal bar connects the two rear bars. Drilling is needed to mount onto the frame rails.
A1 quality. Fitment is perfect. (to be expected from a reputable Japanese tuner). Before I had this bar, I had okuyama aluminum bar that is similiar to the AutoExe brace (using the 2 mounting pts instead of 4) that also ties to the tranmission and a another okuyama bar that ties the two eccentric bolts together. The bar that ties the front suspenson together made the bigger difference in term of stiffness but it lost more than 1 inch of ground clearance. As a result, within the first 3 months, the bar is broken into 2 and the tranmission bar, which has a little bit more clearance, is bent beyong regonition. Stucturally, the AutoExe's front bar is stronger than the okuyuma's bar but it feels not stiffer than the okuyama's bar. However, the benefit is no loss of clearance. As for the rear brace, I had the Racing beat's brace which was also bent heavily on the bottom. The rear AutoExe's has two pieces, the first piece ties the 4 eccentric bolts together which I installed first. In term of stiffness, though it looks much stonger than the Racing Beat's brace, I couldn't feel any difference between the two. The major differnce came after I installed the second piece that ties the first piece to the frame rails, it made all the difference in the world. Even my girl friend could feel the car was stiffer and less shaky.
If your Miata is 90 or early 91 which has no bracing, I highly recommend it. This is the ultimate brace you can get that stiffens the front and rear section of the car. The only downside of this member brace is the weight and the little loss of ground clearance in the middle section of the car where the 2 frame rails are connected together.
Under 30 minutes to remove completely
| Back to Product Reviews | 25 November, 2005 |