Strut Brace

[Jrboulder]

I have been talking to several Porsche owners who say a strut brace makes a huge difference. I Don't want any engine compartment bling and I would probably paint it satin black or gray. How will it change my handling if it does at all? At the moment my car overseers. I plan on Putting Konis in soon.
Thanks in advance for any help!

[IB RearWheelin]

I didn't want to, but I guess i'll chime in.

Ok due to flexing in cornering, strut bars do wonders. these cars already have awesome handling, but a strut tower bar improves it even more. Flexing reduces cornering ability...no one wants that happening on a track.

you should aim to get the towers as near to the 90 degree vertical as you can.
you will notice after fitting a strut brace that the car is more responsive, you get better feedback from the front wheels whilst steering.

good luck!

[flash968]

yup - and if you think the strut tower brace helps, you should see how much of an improvement there is when you brace the lower points - holy cow

[looneybin]

+1 - try also adding a harness bar to stiffen up the rear of the car.
I added a harness bar and now have NO rear window squeaks or rattles

[James Chimney]

Originally Posted by looneybin

+1 - try also adding a harness bar to stiffen up the rear of the car.
I added a harness bar and now have NO rear window squeaks or rattles

ok what is a "harness bar"? I just did the 968 front and rear sway bars and have adjustable Koni's all around on my 85.5 944 na did I miss some thing?

[Jrboulder]

Thanks everyone for the responses! Does anyone like the one pelican sells or is there a better bolt on strut brace?

[flash968]

a harness bar is a unit that installs in the interior of the car to which you attach race harnesses - this is not to be confused with a roll bar, which by definition is designed to protect you in a rollover, which includes meeting specific requirements of tubing type, size, and thickness, as well as landing pads for any contact points

[porsche4life]

It should be mentioned that a strut brace on a bone stock car is a bad idea, naturally these cars understeer, so stiffening the front will make it worse. However if you have already done suspension work a strut brace is a nice improvement, I need to get one on my '86 to go with all the other goodies I've put on this year....

[flash968]

not exactly true

while the cars do understeer, this is due partially to the geometry changing dramatically under load - hold the geometry in place, and control the camber change, and then a lot of that goes away - braces help do that - the lower brace makes the largest improvement

[Born2bwild1191]

My strut brace helped a lot on my stock 924S...Never really noticed any difference in the amount of understeer with hard street driving. When I changed only my front sway bar to a larger one, that's a different story....

[IB RearWheelin]

adjustable coilovers should be your next mod.

[masterchafe14]

stock 924s, put in a harness bar first and I noticed slight improvement, as the back can flex slightly, but it really takes out the flex in the middle of the car, then put on a strut brace and had great improvements in handling during cornering and I am a big backroader, taking turns at high speeds is really no problem. Looking at doing a new suspension and wider rims, both should help even more

[pjs77]

I'm doing koni's this weekend to my 85.5 NA and was considering a strut bar as well. Is it a big deal if they are not done at the same time?

[Pettybird]

Where do you get a lower front brace which works with stock caster blocks? My 951S has the "special" ones and they're in good shape.

[wild man]

What do the lower ones bolt on to?

[flash968]

i don't know of any lower braces that work on the turbos, due to the crossover

the lower braces connect the castor blocks together, eliminating the large amounts of flex at their mounting points

post #20 of this thread has shots of all the ones i know about:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/576408-super-charging-944s2.html

[wild man]

Originally Posted by flash968

i don't know of any lower braces that work on the turbos, due to the crossover

There IS a shot of 1 that is on a turbo in that thread. It looks like it's only a matter of using spacers to make it work. I've toyed with the thought of making my own upper brace, but now I may even consider doing my own lower one, if they make that much of a difference.

[flash968]

interesting - i was told that mine (the one in the top shot) wouldn't fit, and neither would the others, but i never checked it, as i designed it for a 968, and never intended to pursue the 944 market - but if that one fits, i see no reason that mine wouldn't, though it may need to go on the back side instead of the front - i do know that mine is the only one that does not require an alignment after installation, which is why i immediately applied for the patent

[pjs77]

I heard the lower brace makes for some very rough street driving and should really only be used on a track car, is that true? Does the lower brace stiffen up the ride that much?

[flash968]

of the 100 or so of them that have gone out there over the last couple of years, i would say not with mine, but it does definitely make you notice anything wrong with the suspension, which would otherwise flex and hide things

welcome to the slippery slope

by the way, before anybody gets upset about me making and selling stuff and talking about it here, pelican doesn't carry a competing product, but has offered to carry these - i didn't think there was a market for it that would justify it - it's a hobby more than a business for me, so it just didn't make sense

was i wrong?