Installing a Rear Strut Bar

[wpayne]

Alright, I got a rear strut bar today and thought it would be as easy as a front strut bar. I opened up the back (hatchback), and looked at the wheel wells where it should go. There were small covers on each side that i was able to take off to reveail the metal underneath. I found this small humb with a rubber cover on it. I pulled the rubber cover up and found a small end of a nut(?) with threads and a bolt on it. I don't know what I have to do. I don't know where to bolt on my bar.

Do I need to cut a whole in the plastic and facbric covering thw wheel well? Are there more parts to take off?

Any help would be appreciated, especially some pics.

Thanks

[uiuc240]

Someone with a HB should be able to give you a step-by-step...I just wanted to add that the nuts you are talking about are the ones holding your shock in the shock tower.  Don't take them off.  There should be two OTHER bolts on either side of the shock that you can bolt this to.  You might have to take off some plastic panels to see them?

Eric

[rippin240]

on a hatchback its pretty easy, just remove those plastic covers and remove the two small bolts around the outside, i think they are 10 or 11mm, place the one plate in, bolt it down, do the other side then turn the bar until its tight and tighten the nuts at the end of the bar. thats it. my freind has a coupe and he had to take out all of the plastic in the trunk, the hatchback is MADE for a strut bar.

[Yoshi]

yup, it's 11mm... 2 per shock. Don't forget to pre-load <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Most people say they feel some big difference with just the front brace (75% imagined IMHO), but I DID actually feel a big difference with the rear brace... but maybe that's cuz I'm sideways all the time <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'>

[flipboi13]

Fastbacks don't have as rigid a rear support as the coupes or S14s. &nbsp;Some S14 guys I've talked to who do autoX say it helps too.

[2xtremeracing]

i have a 240 that was totalled that we stretched back out to run on the dirt locally here....would the braces benifit me much on the dirt....i like bein crossed up......but i like winnin better!

[boxmod]

i too just installed both rear and front strut bars and it helps drift a lot. the car seems to be smoother thru it. cant wait till i get rid of my stock susp and get some actual perf susp

[wpayne]

Thanks a lot but I forgot to check back here for I think two days. Well, I got it installed already but thanks a lot guys. It was hard getting a wrench into the small hole to use but it wasn't too bad. It was really hard on my friends 'cause when he changed his springs, i guess the shop lost a nut and had to put a normal bolt and forgot a washer. It just kept on stripping cause it was already stripped to start with. Took us an hour and a half to finally get it off! We still haven't really tested to see if it help a lot though.

Yoshi, is preloading jacking it up in the center when I tighten the bar? Will it make a noticeable difference?

[s13driver]

i felt an expremely big difference after installed a rear strut bar, i mean i can now turn faster than i used to.. car wont be so bouncy around when i turn hard.. as for installing the rear strut bar, i think it is way easier than doing my front strut bar .. i mean at least i can get the bolt out easily not like the front where the bolts doesn't want to go off..

[Orgazmo]

I have a 95 240sx, how do i install the lower tie bar? care to help, anyone?

[mazdog240]

Don't use the lower tie bars. They are completely use less because of the design of the rear subframe on a 240, and they may actually change the toe-in because they mount on the bolts that hold the toe links.