I thought the rear lateral arm brace would give me the biggest benefit in handling out of all the GTSpec lower chassis reinforcement products, but supposedly it doesn't fit any but true-dual exhausts. I did some more searching and some threads vaguely state that it fits some single-pipe exhausts sometime somewhere, but didn't say which ones or under what conditions. Judging by how high my Top Speed Pro N-1 exhaust is from my previous work on the car, it looked the same height as the true dual picture GTSpec vendors use to demonstrate the rear lateral arm brace. I decided to buy it along with the other tie braces due to my observations.

I installed the rear lower tie bar and the rear lateral arm brace tonight and the rear lateral arm brace fits like a glove on the Top Speed Pro N-1 exhaust. I would assume that this then is also true for the RSR and the Invidia single-pipe exhausts, because they all use the same blueprint for the exhaust, but just have different finishes on the materials. NOTE: I also have the Top Speed Y-pipe installed. Although I don't think it causes the exhaust to be held any higher than stock y-pipe (or any other y-pipe) with the Top Speed midpipe-down set-up, but who knows, I'm just letting people know what my set-up is to allow this brace fit.

Pics attached. (Sorry for some of the poor quality, I was just going for the general idea, not to win a gallery competition. )

I can see how the rear lateral arm brace would help handling, but I am kind of debating what the point of the rear tie bar is. It basically bolts onto the rear suspension member, which is a huge rectangular piece that holds the whole rear suspension together. This thing is the fatty piece of metal that you see under the back of the car. Not sure if this little GTSpec tie bar is going to do much to help that huge hunk of metal do a better job. I almost laughed, the tie bar literally just screws on from one end to the other. The rear suspension member has an upwards curve versus the straight GTSpec bar, so it's literally off by about 1-3 inches from completely matching the rear suspension member's lateral support. I just thought it was pretty useless, but who knows. I'm hoping when I install the front lower tie bar that it would look like it's doing something a bit more sensible than the rear one.

 

in my case, i had the rear tie brace for a while. i later installed the stillen full catback on my sedan. much later i found that the piping was hitting the rear tie brace just under the GTSpec logo. it put a serious dent on it and i took it off. i still have the front one. i never did try to see if the lateral arm would fit with my setup. it would be nice if it did. maybe someone here can confirm that.

 

That sucks man. on the coupe the rear lower tie bar (last pic) is very far from my exhaust. There is probably a good 1.5 inch distance. I was thinking of getting out a measuring tape and seeing what the dimensions are of all the GTSpec bars in terms of clearance so people can make an informed decision without having to take a gamble by seeing where their exhaust hangs.

Now if someone could get me the dimensions of that mid-chassis (the big 4-point brace) brace and how much room it leaves for the y-pipe/mid-pipe, that would be great. I'm holding back on getting it due to the possible clearance issue and the price being kind of high to gamble on.

 

thats a nice post you put together for us, put it on the road yet? Buddy of mine did a bar bracing set on his RX8 and you can really feel the difference on bumpy roads, smooth roads its fine, but you really feel the difference under sharp chassis flex situations like bridge joints and such, the car just does not flex

 

I've tried, but it was snowing last night so I didn't want to end up in a ditch. Today I tried also, but was carrying a lot of hardware stuff in my front seat. So overall I haven't done any hardcore testing.

On the moments I was paying attention my "handling butt dyno" seemed to notice a bit of a difference in the rear section of the car. I already have Hotchkis sways set on full stiffness F/B and a Richie V2 bar up front so I think at this point it will be really hard to notice anything. Like I said, feel like the back stiffened up a bit on sharp cornering and over bumpy roads as you mentioned. I am still debating getting the Stillen rear strut or just having something custom made that is a bit more functional than the Stillen one, so that should complement the lower braces nicely in theory.

I would say these GTSpec bars should work great when in combination with sways and upper chassis supports (strut braces, roll cages, etc). I think what I really need is that mid-chassis brace they have (the big one) and some racing coil-overs to really feel a difference at this point and for those little bars here and there to fully take effect. With what I have the car feels like a whole new vehicle, with the biggest difference coming from stiff sway bars and the front strut tower brace. The rest I got just for the goal of bracing my car top to bottom.

Can anyone provide how much clearance the mid-chassis GTSpec brace provides? I want to make sure my y-pipe/mid-pipe aren't sagging too low for poor a poor fit. Just measure from the chassis of the car where the brace bolts on to the TOP of the brace at the middle part where the exhaust pipe goes. I'd really appreciate this.

PS: I'll get measurements of the clearance for the rear lateral arm brace next time the car is up in the air for those who are wondering whether their single pipe exhaust will fit!

 

Hey Pavel - nice info. Thanks for sharing the pics. I'm glad the install worked out and we were able to hook you up with the new version of the front bar.

I can't give you exact measurements on the mid chassis brace, but where it bends down in the front part of the bar, there is a decent amount of clearance where it spans over the Y pipe. Unless your install is poorly fitted and sagging, you shouldn't have a problem. I'm checking to see if we have any other install pics now, but can't find any. Good luck and let me know how it goes.

 

will the revised front bar clear the arc aluminum under panel in addition to an upgraded oil pan?

 

yes. GTSpec did redesign the front bar to clear aftermarket oil pans - used primarily for turbo applications.

 

I wonder if ill be able to use these with the nismo exhaust?

 

you never did say if it handled better or not......