I’ve been trying to install my Full-Race bar and it’s not fitting. I fear it may be for another application (EF possibly) or that it was fabricated properly. Some things which may help me:
Photos from above showing how the traction bar and lower portion of radiator support relate to each other. They seem way too close in my situation. If the photos are with the radiator removed it’d be nice.
For the two bolts which run up into the frame rail - a center to center distance. My FR crossmember seems to be a little short. The two stock crossmembers I have on hand are nearly 1/2" longer (in relation to the center to center measurement for those bolt holes).
I have a “ETD” traction bar on my 92 DA and it fits like a glove,If your having problems it might not be the right one. I also don’t have a lower cross member,So that could be it. I have seen on my friends 91 DA and it has a cross member but mine does not. I’m just trying to help,I hope you get it to work and GL!
Thanks. Not sure if you’re talking about a different part, maybe I’m confused. But if you get an aftermarket “traction bar” that replaces your “crossmember”. To a certain extent they are interchangeable terms.
I know that they usually are built to pretty exact specs so if the car has been in an accident and is out of whack there’s a good chance an aftermarket crossmember will not line up (even the stock one may not once removed). I originally thought this was my problem - but after measuring 2 stock crossmembers and getting the same numbers…
Thanks for your input. Unfortunately it still doesn’t get me anywhere. I need measurements for a Full Race bar and pics of a Full race bar… Or at very minimum for someone to confirm my measurements on a stock piece (or if your ETD bar mounts to the same holes as mine - but it doesn’t look like it from the pics I’ve seen - or maybe that’s what those extra brackets are).
OR what would be helpful is if someone can confirm that the EF chassis is narrower at the frame rail (in regard to mounting holes) or the same as a DA.
Thanks for the effort, but like I said, it pretty much needs to be a Full Race bar. Each bar is made differently, so seeing pics of another doesn’t really help.
I’m not worried about the measurement for the flange which bolts to the sides of the frame rail (where the tow hooks bolt).
I need to know the measurement (center to center) for the bolt holes on the underside of the frame rail. These are the bolt holes which the stock crossmember bolts to. There are two sets of holes, one set closer to the front of the car, the other set further towards the rear. I need to know how far apart (center to center) the rearmost set of holes are. As far as I can see in your photos your bar does not even bolt to either set of theses underside holes.
Nino was kind enough to measure the bolt spacing on his 91 Si. So far the list I’ve compiled:
91 GS = 38 5/8"
92 GSR = 38 5/8"
91 Si = 41.5"
Strange that the civic is wider. So it seems I definitely don’t have a civic bar. I’m going to call FR today and hopefully the guy I need to talk to is in so I can confirm the exact measurements of their jig. I talked to someone else who put a FR bar on their car and they had similar problems (not sure if it was off by this much) and were able to “load” the chassis in such a way that the bar bolted up. I guess that’s my last option before ditching the bar and just notching the stock piece. Too bad I probably won’t have time to try again till after christmas
Should have sent me a reminder… I’ve been lost in schoolwork this semester and forgot to find my pics… here are the pics that I’ve got… looks like I got better before pics than after. It does sit right up against the radiator support, that’s why I was mentioning beating it back were it was bent in order to mount mine. You can see the part that it sits against in picture 5 between the bumper cover and the stock crossmember (if you notice it is not completely flat in that pic). I will hopefully be working on my car probably in the mid to late part of next week if you need specific pics of anything.
Cool, thanks for the pics. I spoke with FR and the fab guy measured the jig for me. He said the center to center spacing for the bolt in question was “about” 38 3/8". So that didn’t really help too much. It confirms I definitely don’t have an EF bar (which I already confirmed after talking with Nino). But his measurement sits right in between what my bar measures and what my car(s) measure… I’m stumped again. Unfortunately I won’t have time to tackle this project again till well after the holidays. I’ve got a LeMons race to focus on, plus the holidays themselves and hopefully some snowboarding too.
What was the measurement on your bar again? 38 1/4"? I think it may be time to pull out the BFH and make that shit fit. Did you ask the F-R guy if you could send your bar in for one that was 38 5/8"?
-nino
I was getting 38 1/8" - so that’s a full 1/2" smaller than the hole spacing on the car. I think the guy at FR may be cool with sending it in, but he doesn’t know the history of this bar and that’s what scares me. If I had recent receipts I’m sure it wouldn’t be a problem. But Schu bought this thing back in 05, then Duy bought it off him and I bought it off of him. There are some scratches on it now from trying to mount it, but nothing horrible, so it should be pretty obvious it isn’t really “used”. But who knows.
I also thought about cutting it in the middle and welding in an extension, I think that would end up being pretty easy.
Hello everyone,
I bought this traction bar several months ago and I finally installed it yesterday. I ran into a problem where the radius rod does not reach the lower control arm mounting holes.
Even with the rod fully extended, it is still off by 1 inch. I assume you need at least 1 inch of threaded material in the radius rod to prevent it from snapping.
If I leave 1 inch of threaded material on both sides, I am off from the mounting hole by 3 inches.
I need measurement of the radius rod, mine is about 16.75"
They may have given me a wrong radius rod
Thanks!
Makes me curious as well… I notched my crossmember in order to fit my 4-1 header on my recent swap, so obviously i’ve been looking for a decent traction bar to replace it. My first choice would be the FR unit, but after reading this, it has me kinda nervous.
[QUOTE=unified112;2148983]
What ever ended up happening Colin?[/QUOTE]
I got it to fit. I had one minor problem w/ the lower portion of the radiator support being a bit bent from a prior accident. A little work with the BFH and I was able to get the clearance I needed. After that it just took some massaging to get it to fit. The tolerances are VERY minimal and you may need to weight/stress/tweak the chassis to get the bolts to line up. But from what I’ve gathered pretty much everyone goes thru this to varying degrees, but they always fit.
Jaylo, wish I would have checked in earlier since I was under the car a lot this past two days and could have taken that measurement. Is your suspension completely assembled other than the traction bar? Namely, fork, shock, spring?
Hello,
The only part that I unbolted is the fork bolt that hold is to the control arm. Theoretically, shouldn’t the control arm stay on it’s neutral position? Moving the arm 1 inch forward or more will cause the wheel to be misaligned from the wheelwell and everything shifting forward, causing stress to the bushings.
Did you ask the F-R guy if you could send your bar in for one that was 38 5/8"?