Applicable to: '90 - '97 1.6 liter 1.8 liter
From Moss:Oval section stainless steel tubing is mated to beautifully crafted tower supports. The welds on this brace are a work of art! Aside from the best craftsmanship available, this brace actually works. Patterned after Le Mans style chassis bracing, this piece mounts in three places including a special bracket that secures it to the firewall.
Excellent looking product. Clean welds, excellent chrome plating. Well packaged when shipped. Took me a full 5 minutes to unwrap all the bubble wrapping on it !
Installation on my JRSC engine required more manipulation of the super charger plumbing to get the bar to fit than Moss' instruction. This would have gone much easier if I didn't have the SC. Final product was definitely worth it however. Turn in was much more responsive and the front end was a bit more stable. I do feel a bit more chassis "resonance" of "feedback noise" but liveable. Do take precaution when tightening the final bolts to the firewall to ensure that you don't crimp your brake line. A crowbar leveraged against a hammer on top of the cam cover may help in fine tuning the final tightening of the bolts.
Under 30 minutes to remove completely
Economical Chassis Brace (one bent bar)
While I was in the States for a couple of weeks, I took the opportunity to order some goodies for my car, one of which was the Moss rear chassis brace. It arrived promptly during the Christmas season, and it appeared to be exactly what I expected, a bent bar. Intsallation was fairly simple. The instructions were more than adequate (I doubt I would've needed any), but difficulty arose when I discovered that the bar was very slightly too short. After some persuading with my friend's Dremmel, the bar slid on to my '90 with no problem. The rear alignment didn't suffer from my sloppy handywork either. You would have to be very unlucky to bump it any. The car has no other bracing at this stage (that comes later when my mom returns), and I feel that this brace on it's own has very little affect. The rear end might absorb bumps slightly better, but I doubt I would notice if someone removed it. I am hoping that as a package with my Team Flatspot Front Brace and Rear Longitudinal Braces, the Moss brace might make more of a difference.
I was concerned that the holes for the bolts in the brace were too large for the job, and that any real load on the bar would elongate the small contact points in the hole. I imagine the nuts themselves are left to do a lot of the work. I had considered the Skip Cannon rear brace, but opted for the Moss since I didn't have the cash, and doubted that the Skip Cannon could produce $80 more stiffness. I feel know that the difference would be large, and worth the extra bucks. If you are considering the Moss rear brace, stick the $40 in the bank and wait till you've got $120 for the Cannon. I will proably buy the Cannon at a later date, and pass the Moss onto my girlfriend.
Under 5 minutes to remove
Stiffens body for better handeling and ride.
The front was easy for me to install, I held the bar and bolt in place from below and installed the nut from the top around the control arm bushing. The rear was a little harder, I had to file the hole larger to fit over the bolt, Oh a little tip mark the alignment eccentric from the back side or the front side ot the car, You cant see the marks on the front after the bar is installed.
A great improvement in handeling and ride. The rear of the car is much improved. It feels like it adds rear roll stiffness, Almost like adding a larger sway bar.
I recently installed the Moss front chassis brace on my '92 (it already had the factory rear brace). I recommend the following changes to the installation notes:
I concur with John Dwyer's report that the bar virtually eliminates the 65 MPH shake. Subjectively, the front end takes a quicker set in turns with slightly less understeer, and gives better feedback through the steering wheel. The bar is a bargain!
These braces are simple tubular pieces that connect the rear lower A-arm mounts of both the front and rear ends.
I installed the front bar seveal day before the rear(it was back ordered), and it took all of 20 minutes. Long thin fingers would shorten this time. I substituted patience, but it's very easy. There was a very noticeable (but not total) reduction in cowl shake with just the front bar. The rear is even easier to install, as long as you watch the camber setting and take care with the high torque A-arm bolts. The second bar firmd the car up to the point where I can now feel the shocks I put in last summer absorbing bumps, as opposed to the unit body.
This was the best $80 I have spent on the car, and should be the first $80 anyone puts into the suspension of a '90 or '91.
Applicable to: '90 - '97 1.6 liter
front sub frame brace as supplied by Finish Line Performance, presumably supplied by or equivalent to Moss.
a very noticible reduction in cowl shake and the 65 MPH shake. the car feels more solid over all and some of the rattles seem to have gone away. haven't tried blasting my favorite back road yet but I suspect an improvement in side to side transitions (such as found on calaveras road in the east san francisco bay area). it would be nicer if the kit included shouldered bolts that filled up the holes (aligned everything more tightly). that's really just a nit pick on my part. taking a dremel to the weld as mentioned below is not necesary IMHO because I don't feel that it will make the brace any more effective. I like that it looks very OEM.
installation is quite simple. I came up with an easier way tp get the nut in place. put the flat washer on the first bolt and then insert it into the brace and have it ready and within reach. by your free hand. I used a #1 philips screw driver and poked it all of the way through the hole in the sub frame. slide the lock washer and nut down the screw driver shaft and they will land in place. push the screw driver out with your finger so that your finger ends up on top of the nut to hold it in place. start the first bolt a few threads and repeat for the other side. torque the bolts to 23 ft. lbs. as mentioned in a review below. a standard 14mm wrench may or may not fit (fits the nut and bolt but may be too thick to slid in to hold the nut in place. I used a craftsman 14mm wrench that I shaved the sides down on using a grinding wheel to hold the nut from turning.
Under 30 minutes to remove completely
Tubular bar used to connect front subframe(s) for greater rigidity.
Installed on a '90 with 71K. Everything worked out great. First I went out and purchased a set of Rhino ramps and a creeper to get underneath the car. As it worked out the creeper was useless since I would not fit under the car while on the ramps if I sued the creeper. So I had to shimmy underneath in order to install the bar. As for the actual install, I found the instructions very basic as was the job. Using tape on the wrench to hold the nut in place was a definite plus. I did not really have a difficult time holding up the bar myself while installing. What I did was to start one side of the bar by barely threading the bolt in the nut. Then I went and threaded the other side (bolt and nut) while the first side remained "loose". The hardest part for me was to get the second bolt to thread. I just had a hard time getting them to line up, but it had nothing to do with the bar itself. Once I was able to get the nut on the bolt, it was just a matter of tightening up both sides and backing the car off the Rhino ramps.
After installing the front bar only I took the car for a test spin. I was actually surprised since I 'felt' that the front end was a bit more stable/solid. Turn in had a quicker response...or better feel at least. Going over bumps seemed to occur with less shake in the front end. Maybe it was all psychological and I want to believe that this product works, but for the small price I paid for it, I think it was well worth the money and time. I am looking to purchase and install the rear on my '90 as well. I just need to go and order it.
An economical chassis brace to stiffin your car's body structure.
At $34.95, this is a reasonible item to tighten up the front end of older car's.It fits under the car and helps to tie the suspension together.
The ad.says it is a simple installation,but my experience was it is difficult without a lift and another pair of hands. It only takes two bolts which fit in existing holes, but it is a difficult job using ramps and one pair of hands.
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29 January, 2006 |