Thread: Rear Strut Tower Brace from Octotat (edit: with pics)

Although I am a bit late on this discussion, bingo.

I have a:

1) Cusco 2-point FSTB - Which I am replacing when finances allow with a O.E.M. 3-point FSTB.

2) BIB 3-point RSTB - Previously an Active Tuning 2-point bar.

3) Stephens Fender Braces.

4) Fully foamed chassis. 8-lb in the side rails, cross rails, and front rails. 2-lb in the A-B-C pillars and the entire roof surround channel.

5) Progress LCAB.

My vehicle feels light-years better than the B13 I drove off the lot sixteen years ago. I have no real way to quantify my results, but one drive in my Classic would convince anyone that it was money (and effort) well spent.


Which is why I am upgrading from the very nice Cusco 2-point unit to an O.E.M. 3-point unit.

I'll have more comments later on a few posts. Gotta run to work.

I'm not sure what Chuck is up to, but with enough interest I would think we could get him to make some bars. Problem is, too many of the new guys want shipping the day after they pay and that is not the way these things work.

As an aside, I've got the 3 point rear brace in my SE-R and I bought the last 3 point NX Chuck made in the garage waiting for installation. And I agree with Steve that it is some of the best money I've ever spent.

That O.E.M. unit looks bad a$$....

hey I think some of the new guys want shipping when they say it will be shipped. if he says, "6 weeks" - then make it happen in 6 weeks.. and if it doesn't happen??? offer some great customer service and give them some heads up by calling them or emailing them about it, a single personalized email to that person with a new expected ship date.. not a bulk email to all customers telling them they are behind a little with vague/grey areas on a new ship date..

I think what some of the new guys are getting pissed about is the fact that some of the companies are missing dates and not updating the "new guys".... Hopefully they'll get that fixed.. there are some good vendors out there who we don't want to go out of business for poor P/R...

Just thought I'd repeat that in bold.

Mike K, Steve (98sr20ve) and every single car engineer in the universe says the same thing. The stiffer the chassis the better.

WHY more of us "SR20" heads do not attack the chassis stiffness is a mystery to me (???).


Agreed 100% with this statement.

My suspension works waaaaaay better post-wreck and rebuild (with the massive chassis reinforcement) than it did initially. Previous road imperfections that would upset my chassis or alter my course are now taken with a muted thump and zero drama.


Foam it. .....

The 2-lb HandiFoam increases the rigidity of the part being filled by 40% per Mike Kojima and the Handifoam engineers.

I have no exact idea how much the 8-lb foam increases rigidity, but it must be a considerable amount over 40%.

When you picture in your head the side rails, cross rail (under the seats) and the front rails being done in 8-lb foam, it is making a "super stupid stiff H-pattern" on the floor of the vehicle. Further, the 8-lb foam is stiffening the front rails that contain the strut tower locations, which is where the (any) FSTB (2-pt, or 3-pt) is attached. Which fully "boxes" the strut towers with the A-pillar (which is super stiff anyways, it is multiple layers of steel coming together in there). Add in the 2-lb foam (40% stiffer) in the A-B-C-pillars and the roof channel surround, and I have basically reinforced the entire body shell to ridiculous levels.

If/when I own another Classic, the first thing I will do, before any other modifications, is strip the entire interior, remove the front fenders, and foam the hell out of it. Then on to other modifications once the platform/chassis is properly solidified. I'm that big of a true believer in the foaming process and end results.


Dead nuts accurate.



PM me if this happens, if you get a vendor that can produce it.

I'd be down in a heartbeat as long as it would not compromise my ground clearance (much) on my daily driver.

There was a company in the fairly recent past that offered to make us "ladder bars" that went under the vehicle on both sides. I do not believe that the product tied together the two sides of the vehicle, but the company had great success selling their product to the Maxima crowd. "Better stiffness, less flex, less noise and creaking, etc...yadda, yadda, yadda...."

I'll see if I can find the thread.


Just touching on what you and Joe are discussing about vendors.

While I agree that (some of) our SR20 Vendors could improve their customer notification/service, the "new guys" also need to understand that our vendors are small operations, they do this as much for love as profit, and it is not the vendors only responsibility. When it is a respected vendor doing a GB, the new guys need to take a leap of faith and have patience. That is the essence and nature of GB's with small, boutique SR20 vendors.

If they do not have the patience and resources to drop coin in advance, and then wait till it happens, then they need to stay the hell out of GB's.

Shawn B just curious, what is the overall body weight of your vehicle.

Count me in. I would like one. Who knows by the time summer rolls in they should be here.

I have a set of these chassis braces for my B15, but not yet installed. I believe they are exactly like the maxima braces. (mine are not tied in together)

I dunno. But here's my theory.....

Remove the sunroof and all sunroof parts. (- 20 pounds?)

Small, high quality stereo (+ weight, the underseat subwoofer mostly, add 10'ish pounds).

SSAC header (- maybe 5 pounds, the OEM cast iron unit weighs a ton).

Odyssey Battery (- weight, a solid 20 pounds.)

Cruise control delete (- weight, maybe 1 pound?). Our cruise control is vacuum operated and sucks balls in my opinion, nor did I ever use the damn thing.

B14 Seatbelt modification (- weight, 3 pounds or so).

Did I save any weight losing my antennae and badges? Just kidding.....an ounce maybe....LOL.

Add in the weight of the 2-point Cusco FSTB (6-8 pounds?), the 3-point BIB RSTB (9-12 pounds?), Stephens Fender Braces (10 pounds?), Quietcoat (sound deadener, 10-12 pounds, 2.4 gallons wet, but obviously now is dried), IKEA brace (5 pounds or so) and the foam (25 pounds tops, and overkilled beyond belief). The foam, all of it, in actuality weighing very little...uh...because it is foam. Weighs in like balsa wood, tough and rigid as oak.

Sooo.....

Minus about 49 pounds?

Adding in about 72 pounds (?) of pure, grade-A, chassis reinforcements.

My *educated guess* (using the worst case scenario on the numbers above) is that I have added about 23 pounds to my vehicle overall. Which is better distributed around the core of the vehicle, not on the ends or top (which are worse places to have weight, polar inertia, center of gravity, etc...).

I would hypothesize that I am very close (+ 30 pounds) in weight to a bone-stock, non-sunroof, B13. Which would have a chassis like a limp, overcooked noodle next to my vehicle.

According the the drag racers, I lose 1/10th in the quarter mile for every 100 pounds I add. When I am VE'd, I would rather run a 13.9 second quarter mile in my structurally reinforced Classic with ice-cold AC, than run a 13.8 with a limp noodle (rattling, squeaking) chassis while suffering from swamp-ass.

Further, on a road coarse (which I love), with my uber-stiff chassis and suspension forced to work properly, I would probably pick up a few tenths over a (stock-chassis, flexy) Classic that weighs a couple hundred pounds less (all other things being equal).

Exactly what I was trying to say. Thanks Shawn

^^ Nuff said. Patience for a quality product is always worth the wait. As long as updates are available, it's all good.

Thanks to Shawn B putting input in my thread about this RSTB. I didn't even know this particular bar was what the previous owner installed in my car until he told me.