Chassis Reinforcement

[sktaroins]

soo many good options

[saxophonias]

This is how the 4 point rear brace is mounted. What do you think? Drilling is necessary

[mynameisowen]

Drilling isn't really a problem! The sheet is very thin.

[saxophonias]

Guys what do you think as for these floor bars?



http://www.ultraracing-shop.com/product ... 4-021.html

Do you think it can add something in rigidity?
This must be Sebastian's car. I am really wondering about ground clearance

[saxophonias]

I had a short communication with the people from Ultra Racing and they were kind enough to inform me rapidly as for the following

Drilling required?
Ultra Racing products do not require drilling holes to fit the products, they line up with existing bolt holes to mount to (only exception can be fender brackets).



Ground clearance?
Sorry to inform you that this is impossible to judge since ground clearance is affected by many other factors like possible installed lowering kits, state of the suspension, wheel & tire combinations and tire pressure, stance and so on. The product itself is a couple of cm thick.



Weight?

Unfortunately we do not document product weight of the items. However I did manage to give this a weigh-in and it comes down to roughly 6.5 kg for the set. A 4-Point bar will be around 2 kg.

I am a fan of bracing as I believe that a stronger and a more solid chassis will give better feedback in any driving conditions, will make the handling sharper and can give you more self confidence while cornering. Also it reduces noises when hitting pathholes which is very irritating for me. Consider too, that heavily dumped coilovers require stiffer chassis to work, which is the case for double wishbone suspensions.
On the other hand we should consider the everyday character and the driveability of our civics. So there is always a compromise. Fender bars don't spoil anything, however floor bars as these, and H braces mess the ground clearance to our stock low chassis. So I wouldn't imagine what kind of damage could be done when hitting something hard with these bars. I would even be of afraid of bending the chassis if the hit is hard enough.The 4 point trunk brace seems good but do you think it will reduce the trunk space to a great deal?
So this leaves us to 3 point engine brace, fender braces and maybe trunk brace.

In my car I have installed an ek4 engine brace, energy bushes, ek4 front swaybar and ASR kit which has the rear brace and the 24mm rear solid swaybar. It is solid enough but I would like some more.

[archyman]

The chassis components in steel monocoque are designed to shrink at impact.
Some say that braces may be dangerous, because if your car takes a medium hit in the fender for example, the impact could damage the whole chassis which is bad for safety and the car can become unusable after a light hit.
I think that these floor braces can be putted in case of installed under tray (flat bottom) to prevent scratching and bad airflow.

[archyman]

Also i have just talked to a colleague that is an construction engineer and he said that this brace would benefit only the tensile forces, forward and backward ( if any) and not the twisting of the chassis as the brackets are put on one and the same planе. The rectangular bulges on the bottom of the chassis (as you can see on the pics above) are there to strengthen the floor and lower twisting and roll. But they are 3 dimensional, not planar.
It would be interesting to hear Sebastix on the matter, as i believe this is his car.
Cheers!

[sktaroins]

surely they are good for corners as for track or circuit use. when u do increase HP in ur car especially on a civic you will need those braces as the manufacture of this car back in the time didnt build a stronger under structure for the car for circuit use. it was made for daily driven so this is why this is made by the new generation. Plus it gives a full balanced tight grip on the floor where u can imagine that the car is fully braced up for serious driving or racing and it eliminates skitting or jumping . just stable structure well re might as well re structure the whole body of the civic then - why not sturcture it nicely in a hidden way in the body it self from the inside outside upper and lower too i think i like thier way.

[Sebastix]

It's indeed my car on the photo.

My car is very stiff, especially since the OMP 10-pint cage in it, so I cannot judge how much more stiffer the car is with the bars.
The bars are made from aluminium and their weight is almost nothing compared to the size. And the clearance is very good, the lowest points are just a little more lower that the original points for lifting up your car with a jacket.

[mynameisowen]

Thanks for your post Sebastix, in your experience what has been the best modification for increasing chassis stiffness?

I want to prepare an EK4 for track use and I want to know what to improve. I wonder if EK4 is improved over EJ9 in regard to chassis stiffness. I know from stock it comes with front strut brace.