Aerotop Question Re Effectiveness of Strut bars

Aerotops tend to show a bit of skuttle shake with the roof off, so I would appreciate anyone's experience of the effectiveness of fitting a strut bar to minimise this.

Opinions and comments would be appreciated.

Rgds

georigg

'95 JZA80 Aero in Silver.

I don't know about the effective ness of strut bars, but something like this may be a better bet:

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=142143

Worked a treat on my old one - front and rear braces from Carbing. Avoid ones like the Cusco with hinged ends, they make a massive weak point in the brace. Mine stopped shaking completely, very noticable up to and including track day usage.

Obviously you wouldn't go topless on track, but you could still tell the difference. I suspect the difference would be more subtle on a hard top.

Here are few of the products I'd recommend.

Do Luck Rear Tension Set

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4351/picture4vj9.png

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/9689/attachmentphpbo9.jpg http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/8062/attachment1phpvb8.jpg http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/9049/attachment2phphk9.jpg http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/3632/attachment3phppb4.jpg

Carbing Mid Floor Brace

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/8638/cimg0001pz2.jpg

Carbing Front Strut Brace

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/6645/18616394351ms3.jpg

Carbing Rear Strut Brace

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/7824/p3150092zg3.jpg

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/6907/p3310126oh5.jpg http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1845/p3310127yd8.jpg

Carbing Member Brace Set

http://www.okuyama-go.to/products/other/image/240/member/6710140.jpg

Carbing Floor Support

http://www.okuyama-go.to/products/floor/image/240/1000140.jpg

I do hope that's based on the poster's request for "experience of the effectiveness" my dear Nic

I do hope that's based on the poster's request for "experience of the effectiveness" my dear Nic

Absolutely

The first Supra I had was an aerotop, I fitted a front and rear strut bars to try to counteract the scuttle-shake, they do reduce but you won't completely be rid of it, I noticed I still had a very finely vibrating rear view in the mirror, you'll know what I mean.

For the money you'll spend on front and rear bars it's well worth it, and improves the handling too, feels more ridgid and steady.

For the money you'll spend on front and rear bars it's well worth it, and improves the handling too, feels more ridgid and steady.

Choice of braces is a factor, a welded brace will be more structurally rigid compared to a brace with bolted brackets.

The Do Luck and Carbing rear braces (identical products, Carbing make the braces for Do Luck) are the only welded rear braces I know of. These also have 2 additional mounting points that bolt to the chassis cross member (see pic posted above).

Carbing and TRD are the only front braces I know of that are welded construction.

These will give much better results, a cheap ebay special is likely to make no noticeable difference.

I noticed a massive differnece (non areo) with the Carbing rear brace - was fiddly to fit through the carpet but is realy good

Choice of braces is a factor, a welded brace will be more structurally rigid compared to a brace with bolted brackets.

 

The Do Luck and Carbing rear braces (identical products, Carbing make the braces for Do Luck) are the only welded rear braces I know of. These also have 2 additional mounting points that bolt to the chassis cross member (see pic posted above).

 

Carbing and TRD are the only front braces I know of that are welded construction.

 

These will give much better results, a cheap ebay special is likely to make no noticeable difference.

Yeah what he said, steer clear of the cheap fleebay jobbies, you'll be wasting your hard earned, trust me I've been there and got the T-shirt

The aero does have some extra bracing already (see pic).

One of the local guys I spoke to (He builds cages for various different motorsports) said front or rear braces alone would do very little to stiffen the chassis. The ONLY way to make a real difference is to add strenght across the roof, i.e a full weld in cage.

Worked a treat on my old one - front and rear braces from Carbing. Avoid ones like the Cusco with hinged ends, they make a massive weak point in the brace. Mine stopped shaking completely, very noticable up to and including track day usage.

 

Obviously you wouldn't go topless on track, but you could still tell the difference. I suspect the difference would be more subtle on a hard top.

Which, being a engineer, I should have thought of before buying you'd think. Dang it.

The aero does have some extra bracing already (see pic).

 

One of the local guys I spoke to (He builds cages for various different motorsports) said front or rear braces alone would do very little to stiffen the chassis. The ONLY way to make a real difference is to add strenght across the roof, i.e a full weld in cage.

Or across the floor in the midsection ?

Or across the floor in the midsection ?

He said floor bracing wouldn't make any difference, only bars across the roof would make any real difference. (see pic, dotted line was where he also recommended a brace is put, but this might not be ideal for a daily driver! Red dots are where it would be welded to the shell)

I appreciate this isn't inline with everyones experience..

how easy is it to fit the rear brace then? Does it fit using factory bolting points etc?

how easy is it to fit the rear brace then? Does it fit using factory bolting points etc?

Easy - the Carbing uses existing bolt points.

However, you need to strip the boot interior, back seats and rear side panels to get to all of them easily. And you need to trim the panels to make them all fit again...in summary it's easy to fit, but time consuming if you want everything to fit back perfectly.

He said floor bracing wouldn't make any difference, only bars across the roof would make any real difference. (see pic, dotted line was where he also recommended a brace is put, but this might not be ideal for a daily driver! Red dots are where it would be welded to the shell)

 

I appreciate this isn't inline with everyones experience..

If I had the attached roof brace, finished in matt black, and it was installed neatly, mounted behind the front seats (obviously, away from the roof), then I wouldn't have a real problem with that being there if it improved the 'roof out' handling of the car. IMO of course

I've always thought I'd put a cage or something similar to the above in, but I didn't realise it affected the insurance so much... not everyone insures a car with a rollcage it seems.

Thanks Guys,

As is usual for this board, great advice available and freely given!

Since my car is mainly for pleasure, I'll forgo the full roll cage, but the info from Homer is interesting, I didnt know about the extra stiffening in the Aero and many thanks to Ark for his photos and the Carbring info.

Ive always been a little suspicious of the Ebay £29.99 specials, they looked more like having appearance value rather than real effectiveness!

Looks like I will fit a Carbring front, followed by a back stiffener and then maybe consider the floor mounted one as it looks like it can be fitted without intruding into the passenger space.

Again, many thanks to all,

Rgds

George

... the floor mounted one as it looks like it can be fitted without intruding into the passenger space.

Is what I would have too, but only if that didn't affect insurance premiums, like the rollcage would!

I'd definately consider the rear carbing brace - need to look into costs etc - but I can't really see the floor brace doing much...

Aerotops tend to show a bit of skuttle shake with the roof off, so I would appreciate anyone's experience of the effectiveness of fitting a strut bar to minimise this.

 

Opinions and comments would be appreciated.

 

Rgds

georigg

 

'95 JZA80 Aero in Silver.

when i first took off my aerotop i was shocked at just how terrible it felt, my mate had always said that they were bad. dont get me wrong i love it with the roof off with the nice weather. if you live in an area where there are really nice good condition roads then it feels ok, i find if you are on uneven roads and turning in alot roundabouts etc you can really feel it shake, im definatly going to be doing the carbing braces soon, as i find it quite off putting to drive with all that shake going on.

I didnt realise this thread was still "active" and having just fitted a Carbring front strut(courtesy of Nic at ImportPimp(hope I got the handle right Nic!), there is a marked change to the handling.

Just for info, I also changed out the suspension for UK spec but did this in stages, changing out the shocks first(big improvement as I didnt realise the rears were K-nackered!), then changed the rear springs, road tested the car, then the front springs, another road test and then fitted the front strut.

With the UK spec springs the harshness in the suspension set-up has been "smoothed out" and the car is not just so hard when running on non-motorway road surfaces.

With the front strut fitted & roof on it is smoother still and with the roof off, the "skuttle shake" is significantly reduced and it is now much smoother on "A" roads.

Incidentally, when renewing the rear shocks, I noticed that my Aerotop has a 4mm thick strenghening plate across the rear turrets and bolted to the floor......similar to a rear brace. It looks like it is a standard fitment rather than an after-market item and I know from prior requests for info that the AEROTOP has additional plates fitted to the chassis to increase the body stiffness, over the standard car.

Hope above helps anyone with an aerotop.

Rgds

George

Incidentally, when renewing the rear shocks, I noticed that my Aerotop has a 4mm thick strenghening plate across the rear turrets and bolted to the floor......similar to a rear brace. It looks like it is a standard fitment rather than an after-market item and I know from prior requests for info that the AEROTOP has additional plates fitted to the chassis to increase the body stiffness, over the standard car.

 

Hope above helps anyone with an aerotop.

Rgds

George

Those braces are standard on hardtops too. You need to remove them to make a rear brace fit properly.

is it worth doing the rear brace because its suppose to be build like a tank anyway. will def do the front carbing one thats for sure and take it from there. maybe change out the suspension