Miata Mailing List: January 1995, Message #31
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   From: SAMUEH01@MCRCR6.MED.NYU.EDU
Subject: Re: Accessories
   Date: Tue, 3 Jan 1995 08:43:36 -0500

Below is a post that I previously sent to the list describing my
experiences with improving the body support of a 1990 Miata.

"Over the years I've been searching for additional bracing for the
Miata to improve the rigidity and/or handling of the car (1990).  I
first installed the Technosports Trackbar several years ago with some
but minimal improvement.  About 1 1/2 years ago I installed stiffer
front and rear anti-sway bars.  This helped to provide additional
bracing for the car as well as improving handling and decrease body
lean.  I also installed a Trust strut bar that connects the two strut
towers together with the bar passing over the engine.  The Trust
brackets which connect to the strut towers were of good design but the
bar was of tubular aluminum and didn't, in my opinion, provide
sufficient support.  I had a solid aluminum bar made which improved
things somewhat more.

Last March in the Spring issue of Miata Magazine I noticed that
Wiz Performance was selling a bar that connected both sides of the
front suspension undercarrage in the same place as a support bar in
the 94s.  This improved the rigidity even further but the car was not
as best as it could be in my opinion.

I spoke with Al Staats at PBC about installing the front and rear
bracing of the 94s to prior years. Installation of the rear supports
and possibly the front support appeared to require some welding which
I was not set up to do.  Al mentioned that he also had available front
and rear braces from Racing Beat.  The front brace installs in the
same position as the bolted on bar from Wiz but the bar Al sent me was
much more substantial and very well designed both from a functional
point of view and for installation.  The rear support is a plate
like design and bolts on using the two lower screws of the sway bar
bushings and the two ends of the bolts which are used for suspension
adjustment.  The rear brace is flat with supports on the top and
botton of the brace.  The muffler passes through the brace.  When the
brace is installed it provides total support to the rear suspension.
Also, the lower horozontal bar of the Technosports Trackbar can be
retained.  When I first saw the rear brace I was somewhat skeptical
but a mechanic with racing experience thought that it was a great
design so I installed it.

The car now is really solid, almost as if it was carved out of one
piece of steel, and handles wonderfully with virtually no body shake
even over the most rough surfaces.  I recommend trying these braces if
you are not satisified with the rigidity of your Miata."


I don't have direct experience with the Brainstorm front brace so Its
difficult to compare to the Racing Beat front brace which is quite
substantial.  Whether you will notice an improvement with the rear
bulkhead brace depends on what other supports you have on your Miata.
If you have none then you will probably notice a difference.  If you
have a lot of bracing as I do, its unlikely that you will notice any
difference in body solidity.

Herb Samuels