RS Motorsport :: Classic Speed Restored

I've been thinking of a front strut brace for my street-driven 3 door Cosworth. I've been putting it off probably because I couldn't face taking a drill to it but also because I have have mostly leaned towards concourse rather than all out performance.

It sure could use one though, and chatting with Mark at the Norman has led me to look at getting an OMP item. There are two on ebay at the moment. One is a plain looking red item. The other is a black aluminium one. I'll try to post both the images and the links below.

Drawing on the collective wisdom of the members here, I'd like to know what you would recommend. The black will match the car better and may be lighter. The red one, which I suspect is steel, may be stronger and can always be painted. This one is being sold by Demon Tweaks who have been around for a while. Anyone have any experience of either, or even of a better source?









Thanks,


Raymond.

Bent fits the car, is available off the shelf, and does the job,

Yes there is always an absolute ideal, and if you are seeking perfection or ultimate performance then the effort or cost involved is worthwhile.

But for the poofteenth difference that would be made in this situation why bother?

Criticising a component because it does not meet your engineering ideal instead of assessing whether the component is suitable for the required use is a very blinkered way of looking at it.

Raymond simply wants an easy and good solution to a known problem with MK1 Sierra Cosworths, it is a street driven car, it may possibly see some tracktime on a drive day?? he asked someone who has plenty of experience dealing with this exact issue (me) and I gave him a reccomendation that will work and do exactly what he wants for the minimum of fuss, cost and effort.
The reason I was able to give this reccomendation is because instead of looking for possible faults in components, or ways of over engineering every situation, I made my living, and spent my fun time bolting these things on and driving the cars to try them out.

There are lots more components that he could add to this car that would no doubt be "better" he could fit bigger brakes, a roll cage, he could seam weld the shell, dry sump, slicks etc etc but as mentioned plenty of times before it is a street car, he wants to bolt a part on and drive it, not turn it into some kind of long term engineering project that never sees the light of day.

DJR

v


Cavellis rs 5.

Mark,

Roger has kindly provided the pics that saved me from digging out the photo archives of Sierras with ideal strut braces.

You have workesd out I'd sooner have it right than close enough.

No reason to install a strut spring instead of a strut brace, both have ample room.

It's like those Escort strut braces that do a circuit of the engine bay, they provide no end of amusement to me, but that's just me.

Do what ever grabs you Mark. Raymond asked for opinions I provided an alternate, he's free to choose whatever he's OK with.

Mark, working for 888 I'd expect poofteenths are your way of life.

As usual you all fail to grasp the point to this.

The DJR one is perfect, but it won't fit around the heater of a "Street car" will it?

And the other one may be better than the OMP, but it is not available as a bolt on part from a easy to use supplier.

Yes working or Triple Eight we spend a lot of time and money getting every poofteenth we can, but not on someones street car

Show me an alternative bolt on readily available strut brace that someone has used in an actual car, rather than hypothesized about, for the same kind of money, and I will see it as a viable option for this situation, but showing me pictures of 2 race cars with fabricated bracing is not going to change my opinion.

Yes I do agree on the Escort oval braces by the way, however as daft as they are they still give an extra degree of stiffness that is not there with no brace, so for some people that may be just what they need, as any improvement is a gain