3.0 Stage I Bracing For Idiots (pics galore)

[broudie]

So today was the day I install my 3.0 Racing Stage 1 Bracing. Its been almost 2 months so the anticipation had become unbearable. I had gone through all of the install guides on the 3.0 Racing website in preparation. They were very good, but still there were a couple of "gotchas" for the idiot audience. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail, as the 3.0 install guide .PDFs will give that detail to you. However, I'm going to focus on the aforementioned "gotchas" that a novice installer would scratch his head at while an experienced installer would automatically know how to work around.

Rear Strut Tower Brace

The picture below is of the RSTB. I was amazed at the lightness of it. I knew it was made of aluminum, but still. I tapped it a couple of times just to make sure it was not hollow. It is much, much lighter than my TRD braces.



Tools:

Ratchet
14mm and 10mm sockets
Torque Wrench (in foot/lbs)
Breaker Bar
Pliers
3.0 Racing Install Guide PDF ( here: http://www.3point0racing.com/guides/rstb.pdf )



First, remove the nuts and bolts on the stock brace using the 14mm socket. Unless you have never used a screwdriver before, you know that loosening means twisting counter-clockwise. Use the breaker bar to loosen the nuts and bolts and the ratchet to finish up. This is my first time to use the breaker bar. It is the most amazing piece of equipment ever! Everything gives on the first try!

1 nut on each of the strut towers (that is, the black round thing on either side of the car) have washers. Remember that they belong to the bolt closest to the diagonal brace bar. You can leave the 2 big washers in place.



Remember where the the nuts and bolts go. Some people use envelops and write on them, I use a mental image instead and place the bolts at the position of the mental image like so:



Now, this step is important, as it is not in the install guide. You will have to re-orient the right-hand side battery lead, as it will be in the way of the 3.0 RSTB! Loosen the battery lead clamp with the ratchet and 10mm socket and twist it counter-clockwise until it looks like the picture below. Take care not to touch anything else as you could get electrocuted! I almost was! Remember to put back the red rubber cap after tightening the right side battery lead again. You must never EVER let your RSTB and the battery lead touch else sparks will fly! (ask me how I know)



Now ease the RSTB into position. Which side is up? Well, look at the RSTB edgewise. It should form a slight U (convex), if it looks concave you have it upside-down.

It will be a bit tricky to install it when solo. Rocking the chassis around while you slip it in place worked for me. Just remember never to hammer it into position, as you will ruin the threads on the bolts!



At this point, you should be able to easily screw in by hand the nuts that you removed. Remember that the one with the washer is the one closest to the diagonal bar.



For me this was the most difficult part, putting back the bolts on the apex of the RSTB! You have to try as much as possible to hand-tighten first so as not to ruin the threads on your chassis. This means a lot of pulling and twisting on the braces, as well as rocking the chassis. I was doing this solo, so this was what worked for me: I humped the bumper doggie-style while trying to hand-tighten the bolts.



At this point, everything should be in place, and all you need to do is tighten and torque to spec.

Strut tower nuts: 59 ft/lbs X6
Apex bolts: 55 ft/lbs X2

A couple of idiot things I discovered:

First is that the way the pictures and the words on the 3.0 guide were set up, you can easily be confused by what is torqued to what. The 6 NUTS are 59 ft/lbs/ The 2 BOLTS are 55 ft/lbs

Second is that when you apply a lot of force to a torque wrench, it's very easy for you mar the paint given the small spaces to work with. So a rule I quickly put in place is that I will never place any exterior body panel along the plane of movement of my torque wrench. In the picture below, for the right hand side strut tower, my plane of movement never crosses the red line.



Third is that the apex bolts (the bolts closest to the passenger cabin) are a lot harder to torque to spec because of the limited angles of attack. Specifically, the right one is the hardest, as the clockwise motion and angle of attack only allows you to pull the torque wrench upwards.



Here's the finished product. REMEMBER TO PUT BACK ON THE RED BATTERY LEAD CAP!



Finally, here's a close up of the separation between the battery lead and the RSTB. Almost nothing. I'll have to put electrical tape on the RSTB in the morning.



Thoughts on installation
If it were not for the playing around with the electricals, this should have been the easiest install hands down. The only other difficulty was the limited angles of attack for torquing to spec. If you didn't know what you were doing (like myself) it would probably take an hour to thoughtfully install..

And my damn cheap made-in-china torque wrench disintegrated on the last bolt!!!!

Driving Impressions

Note that I have an RMB and an FMB already installed. Your experience may differ based on your current setup.

I went out for some ramen in Manhattan, so that allowed me a nice long 2 hour drive. The roads were of various quality, from smooth to bone-jarring, and whatever corners existed were long and sweeping. On the way to the ramen joint it was raining really bad, so most of the driving was done at around 45mph. On the way back, it dried up a bit and my average speed was about 65.

First the bad news. In terms of NVH, my butt registered almost no improvement. There were some moments of genius where the rest of the car was terribly unsettled by bad roads while the rear was as composed and tranquil as Neo stopping bullets with a wave of his hand. But aside from these isolated moments, it was as if there was nothing other than the stock brace there.

In terms of handling it's a different story. At 40-45mph, the impression was of a force like a rubber band tied to my rear axle, keeping the rear firmly behind the rest of the car. Even in crazy torrential rain there was never the usual Spyder feeling of being able to slide the back out with the flick of a wrist if I willed it. It must have been understeer, and lots of it. It was very strange really, to have the behavior of a car change in my opinion so drastically. I didn't like it.

Once I hit 60+ however, it was a different story. The feeling was as if there was a hand pressing down on the rear deck, keeping the rear stuck to the ground. There was extreme driver confidence that was associated with this feeling. At these speeds, it was definitely a good thing.

Now, was it worth it? A couple of people on the board said that you could think of it as "how much are you willing to pay to keep your bracing on"? For my FMB and RMB, they can take it out of my cold, dead chassis. But for the RSTB, its a different story. For NVH reasons, its worth almost nothing. Maybe $50 tops. For handling reasons, depending upon how you drive it and what you want out of your car, it could be worth the cost, maybe more.

[broudie]

Corky's Breastplate

Along with "gut your 'cats" and "lose the whip antenna", the legendary Corky's Breastplate is one of the mods that people in SC proclaim you must perform on your car. It supposedly cures more ills than snake oil. Because of all the hype, I am quite ambivalent on this mod. There's so much hype around what amounts to an aluminum tray that it could never live up to expectations. Or could it? I found out today

Here's the breastplate. Its slightly larger in dimensions than a FedEx envelope. Hard to see how this could have such an effect on the car.



Tools:

Ramps
Ratchet
13mm sockets
Torque Wrench (in foot/lbs)
Breaker Bar
Pliers
3.0 Racing Install Guide PDF ( here: http://www.3point0racing.com/guides/bp.pdf )



Procedure:

First, put the car on ramps. Always remember to have a spotter and never go it alone. For me, it also helps to have the handbrake on, so that I dont slide back while I do this maneuver. You'll smell your brakes while you do this but it should be OK.



From the side of the car, look underneath. Locate the stock BP. It will be in 2 pieces. The first one is right behind the front wheels, the second one right in front of the rear wheels, both along the center line of the vehicle.

Unless you have really short arms, you can perform most of these operations here single-handed by reaching out from the side of the car underneath. Using the breaker bar and ratchet with the 13mm sockets, remove the bolts on the first one by turning counter-clockwise.



There will be 3 plastic clips holding the stock BP to the body. Remove the plastic clip on the driver side by using pliers. You can keep the others on the BP. Pull the BP, remaining clips and all off.

Note: this procedure is different from the 3.0 install guide as it instructs you to remove the clips first before pulling the stock BP. This is almost impossible to do from ramps, thus this alternative



Using the breaker bar and ratchet with the 13mm sockets, remove the bolts from the rear stock BP by turning counter-clockwise.



You should have all of these taken out from underneath at this point:



Install the clips you removed from the stock BP on to the Corky BP. Keep the flat side of the BP up. This will also be the orientation of the Corky BP when you install.



The next procedure is 2-handed. With one hand, place the Corky BP into position, lining up with the holes for the stock BP. Hand tighten the screws (don't forget the washers!) on one side, then do the same on the other side. After all bolts are hand-tightened, re-connect the plastic clips to the body. Once you are completed, it will look like this:



Torque the Corky BP to spec (28 ft/lbs), using an X-pattern.



And you're done!

Driving Impressions

For perspective, at this point I already had an FMB, RMB and RSTB at the time I installed the Corky BP. If your setup differs, your experience may vary. Also, this is all seat-of-the pants testing and pet theories. Please feel free to post your own opinions.

Stiffer Steering
As soon as I pulled out of the driveway, the first thing I noticed was that steering effort had increased again! This was a meaty, pleasant feeling. The steering effort was very close to a Mazda 3, and strangely, was very much like my first car, which had no power steering! This was something I had never expected, but with hindsight was probably inevitable. Linking the FMB (which also gave a heavier steering feel) with the BP could theoretically increase that effect.

Reduces NVH, but its no Lexus
I should never have gone into that fool's errand of using bracing as the cure-all for NVH. Although it now felt like there was total serenity underneath the floor of the car, the rest of the vehicle was still rattling on very bad roads. Thinking back on it, it was obvious. The car doors would still shift under its own weight, as much of the interior trim. All the member bracing in the world could not cure that. The main difference now is that my mind now differentiates the NVH from a bottom-to-top basis, rather than a front-cabin-rear basis.

Weird Feeling of a Smoother Engine
This was a complete surprise - there is this strange feeling that the engine revs smoother. There is no reason that could explain this other than the RMB hooking up with the BP, sharing the vibrations usually only noticed around the rear to the rest of the car - in effect reducing perceived vibrations! This was a most welcome feeling, as I had always viewed the engine smoothness of the Spyder as on of it's low points. Now I love it!

Supernatural Handling - Freddy vs Jason Levels
At this point, I was almost disappointed at the BP. It just did not live up to my expectations. Then something happened. I hit a piece of bad road that slided the rear sideways. The usual reaction of my car in this situation was to "skip and recover". But this time it was different - so totally different that my eyes popped and I yelled "holy sh!t!". The rear end bounced as usual, but when it hit the ground it recovered so quickly and with such confidence that it felt that I had spikes on my tires! This was practically defying the laws of physics! There could be no other explanation for this except that somehow the RMB, RSTB and BP were working together in such a fashion that the suspension absorbed the entire shock (transmitting no almost flexing to the chassis) and was able to recover much, much quicker. I shook my head smiling and said "this BP is banmeplease worth it!"

Thoughts on the BP and Bracing in General
As you probably have noticed, the BP in my situation really did not do much on it's own. Rather the most noticeable effects where when it worked in tandem with other braces, dramatically magnifying their effects. Now that I think about it, it makes sense. Really, there's not much going on under the seat. The real action happens where the wheels are. My pet theory is that the BP on it's own help improve some of the behavior in the front and rear. But where it really shines is when it is in conjunction with front and rear braces. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts.

That being said, as more and more bracing was added to my car, after the FMB and RMB, you had to push the car to start feeling the additional effects. I have described it as "moments of genius". Otherwise in pleasant driving, it would be hard to notice anything after the first few. Is it worth the money for these "moments"? Depends on your priorities.

[broudie]

Optional: Modifying the Frunk Plastics for the FSTB

If you find that you can't live without the frunk plastics, heres how you can cut holes into the frunk plastics to accomodate the FSTB. I'd recommend that you wait for someone to sell their frunk plastics so you have a spare just in case you need to take your car back to stock.

First, using a pencil or similar device, outline the FSTB mounting position on the frunk plastic. You'll use this as a guide to cutting:


Using a dremel or power drill, cut the plastic along the edges using the sides of the rotating drill bit. This will be very slow work, and will cause much debris. do this outdoors:


Heres the rough cut hole:


Now smoothen the outline of the holes that you made using sandpaper. Go from rough sandpaper to straighten out your cut lines, to smooth for that final smoothing. Sandpaper is essential for a professional-looking hole:


Re-install the frunk plastic, remember to insert the popettes that hold it in place:


Install and torque down the FSTB as shown earlier on this post:


Nice! My own cutting had quite a bit of extra space, but the professional-looking hole made it not that noticeable:


Driving Impressions:

At the time of the installation, I already had the FMB, RMB, BP and RSTB, your experiences may vary if your setup is different.

WTF Lighter Steering?
At driveway speeds, the first thing I had noticed was that the steering had gone light, which was quite disturbing. I had thought that steering would become even heavier, but it did not - it had the opposite effect. I'm not sure if it was due to the weather or road conditions, but for most of my drive I was wondering whether or not I had done something wrong on the install. I didn't like light steering. Reminds me too much of driving a CRV.

Something unexpected, reduced NVH
If there was something I did not expect, it was a quieter ride. There was immediate, noticeable reduction of NVH, especially with the top down. Even with the top up the soft top seemed to shake less. I will attribute this to reduction of cowl shake due to the presence of bracing quite near the windshield area.

Tracks like a guided missle
Driving along the undulating roads of Edgewater NJ, there was a noticeable improvement on how the vehicle tracked. The steering cut the road so precisely, it was like a surgeons scalpel! My mind was drawing imaginary dotted lines on the road, and the car followed precisely. This increased performance I only noticed on curvy roads and corners.

Summary

Well, it seems like I got all of the main bits installed, FMB, BP, RMB, FSTB, RSTB. There are more bits out there, but for all intents and purposes I am done with my bracing project (until someone comes out and sells me a MSMB and a 3.0 RMB cheap )

And oh, Im no longer a bracing noob! Yay!

[pkppunk]

i don't see anything

[Darkday]

Have you installed them yet ?

[midshipman01]

I think he's just setting up the posts for pic and detail insertion.

The short version- Unscrew bolts where braces go. Put braces in spot. Screw bolts back on. Drink.

[broudie]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (midshipman01 @ Aug 3 2007, 09:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I think he's just setting up the posts for pic and detail insertion.

The short version- Unscrew bolts where braces go. Put braces in spot. Screw bolts back on. Drink.[/b]

Thanks for the Cliff Notes version

[Kevin Beane]

You really need to get one of Corky's lightweight battery boxes and ditch that stock battery. That will solve your clearance problem. By the way, you can't get electrocuted, as in dead electrocuted, from a 14V car battery. I might smart a little.

So exactly how stupid is this imaginary "idiot" you are writing this for? If they have a torque wrench, they probably know how to use it. I don't understand why you had such trouble torquing the bolts (mar the paint? wrong positioning of the wrench, I'd say) or why you were confused by the torque specs. They are in the Repair Manual and posted all over spyderchat in other STB topics.

[midshipman01]

I like to torque my bolts to "as hard as I can" spec. Eliminates confusion.

[Darkday]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

I'll be taking it out for a test drive shortly. Impressions to follow![/b]

This is what I've been waiting for just go drive it and tell me!!

Congrats on finally getting home and getting your bracing. I'm guessing that's a pretty good feeling.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

So exactly how stupid is this imaginary "idiot" you are writing this for?[/b]

I think he's just doing it for the sake of enjoyment and possibly helping others who have never turned a wrench and might think "Oh crap there's no way I could install a RSTB". Also to share his excitement with the community.

Personally I think it's a noble thing to do, I never have the patients to do write-ups and sometimes a small nudge is all someone needs to start modding their car on their own.

[broudie]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kevin Beane @ Aug 3 2007, 10:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

You really need to get one of Corky's lightweight battery boxes and ditch that stock battery. That will solve your clearance problem. By the way, you can't get electrocuted, as in dead electrocuted, from a 14V car battery. I might smart a little.[/b]

I was thinking the same idea - "those lightweight batteries would definitely come in handy right now"

As for the voltage, I was a lot more concerned about shorting the electronics. But yeah, good to know I won't get toasted - but there were mean sparks - enough to score the RSTB.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kevin Beane @ Aug 3 2007, 10:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

So exactly how stupid is this imaginary "idiot" you are writing this for? If they have a torque wrench, they probably know how to use it. I don't understand why you had such trouble torquing the bolts (mar the paint? wrong positioning of the wrench, I'd say) or why you were confused by the torque specs. They are in the Repair Manual and posted all over spyderchat in other STB topics. [/b]

Well, as stupid as yours truly. Yes, for the first couple of turns I didn't realize that my positioning of the wrench was less than ideal - and I found that a useful piece of information to share to people who did not have a lot of experience doing these things.

As for the torque specs, the specs on the install guide was a bit confusing as the picture that accompanied it displayed something else.

And are torque specs the same regardless of what you bolt on for the same mounting point? I consistently notice that what I try to uninstall is definitely torqued looser than what I am trying to put in.

Like DD says - there are lots of folks on the fence here, I being one of them until recently, who are kept from modding their cars because of the unknown.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (midshipman01 @ Aug 3 2007, 10:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I like to torque my bolts to "as hard as I can" spec. Eliminates confusion.[/b]

Man, these marketers got me again. What about these toothbrushes? Do I really need to replace 'em?

[SDSUsnowboards]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kevin Beane @ Aug 3 2007, 09:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

You really need to get one of Corky's lightweight battery boxes and ditch that stock battery. That will solve your clearance problem. By the way, you can't get electrocuted, as in dead electrocuted, from a 14V car battery. I might smart a little.[/b]

That's really good to know! I always worry about dying that way. What a way to go.

[southerneditor]

This is exactly the kind of "how-to" that is needed. It does not matter how easy a particular job may be. Each step should be documented so that a person who is contemplating the mod can visualize the procedure in advance. And it's very good when we have multiple how-to's for the same job. You see different angles, and you see the install performed on various kinds of cars with different mods. So it's all good.

Nice job, Broudie. Oh, and if you thought the RSTB was an improvement... well, I'm looking forward to today's installment.

[broudie]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (southerneditor @ Aug 4 2007, 09:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

This is exactly the kind of "how-to" that is needed. It does not matter how easy a particular job may be. Each step should be documented so that a person who is contemplating the mod can visualize the procedure in advance. And it's very good when we have multiple how-to's for the same job. You see different angles, and you see the install performed on various kinds of cars with different mods. So it's all good.

Nice job, Broudie. Oh, and if you thought the RSTB was an improvement... well, I'm looking forward to today's installment.[/b]

I know what you're expecting..

[midshipman01]

I agree about alot of your impressions of the BP except....that it's benefits are mostly found in small doses. I notice it all the time greatly reducing chassis wobble at all speeds. I describe it as having moved the car up a price bracket. The chassis feels sterile through all road conditions leaving the suspension to do what it's supposed to do. Feels like you're gliding over bumps, rather than slamming into them. Feels like an s2k actually. I also have 0 interior plastic creaks now, which is a big plus. You got the handling effects right on though, taking corners is a dream, I thought of it as a slot car. You can really tell how much torsional force the brace is soaking up leaving you with a dead level frame all the way thru apex.

I do have an FMB and FSTB working in conjuction with it though. Can't tell what it might be like without those, but these are my impressions of what the bp did in addition to the gains I already had noticed.

[broudie]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (midshipman01 @ Aug 4 2007, 09:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I agree about alot of your impressions of the BP except....that it's benefits are mostly found in small doses. I notice it all the time greatly reducing chassis wobble at all speeds. I describe it as having moved the car up a price bracket. The chassis feels sterile through all road conditions leaving the suspension to do what it's supposed to do. Feels like you're gliding over bumps, rather than slamming into them. Feels like an s2k actually. I also have 0 interior plastic creaks now, which is a big plus. You got the handling effects right on though, taking corners is a dream, I thought of it as a slot car. You can really tell how much torsional force the brace is soaking up leaving you with a dead level frame all the way thru apex.

I do have an FMB and FSTB working in conjuction with it though. Can't tell what it might be like without those, but these are my impressions of what the bp did in addition to the gains I already had noticed.[/b]

This is the type of discussion I wanted to occur here. Did you have your BP before the front braces? I think Im getting this experience because the BP went in practically last.

[midshipman01]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (broudie @ Aug 4 2007, 09:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (midshipman01 @ Aug 4 2007, 09:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree about alot of your impressions of the BP except....that it's benefits are mostly found in small doses. I notice it all the time greatly reducing chassis wobble at all speeds. I describe it as having moved the car up a price bracket. The chassis feels sterile through all road conditions leaving the suspension to do what it's supposed to do. Feels like you're gliding over bumps, rather than slamming into them. Feels like an s2k actually. I also have 0 interior plastic creaks now, which is a big plus. You got the handling effects right on though, taking corners is a dream, I thought of it as a slot car. You can really tell how much torsional force the brace is soaking up leaving you with a dead level frame all the way thru apex.

I do have an FMB and FSTB working in conjuction with it though. Can't tell what it might be like without those, but these are my impressions of what the bp did in addition to the gains I already had noticed.[/b]

This is the type of discussion I wanted to occur here. Did you have your BP before the front braces? I think Im getting this experience because the BP went in practically last.
[/b][/quote]
I was in the group buy with you, just installed the bp Tuesday-ish. I have had the front braces for some months now. So, like I said, I can't disprove that the bp's gains are due to working in conjuction with those braces....but I did notice some significant gains in addition to what I had already improved.

Oh, and another side note, your referencing "rubber bands" tied around parts after bracing..funny, I described it to myself as if someone had tied ropes around things. Pretty close to the same description.

[broudie]

Let me take back half of what I said. I just came back from watching the Harry Potter movie, and coming out at midnight I pretty much had some twisty roads to myself. You're right, there's pretty much improvement all the time, still some squeaking from the upper body panels during crazy bumps and rumble strips.

Also, awareness of the road has definitely improved a couple more notches. With no bracing, I was not even aware of what my wheels were doing from all the chassis flexing. With the FMB and the RMB, they were like a 3rd eye that gave me instant awareness of the road, and what the contact patches were doing in relation. Add the BP on top of that, the awareness increases even further, and confidence as well. I found myself attacking familiar corners much more aggressively than usual. In one particularly tight corner tonight, I actually started sliding all 4 wheels (a first for me), but confidence was so high from the chassis that a small adjustment in my line kept it from progressing from "slight" to "disaster" - I'm not a good driver by any stretch but I had it under control - thats how good the chassis had become.

[broudie]

Photobucket is down! I was trying to post the FSTB install (all of 30 minutes) and view serina's car thread..

Guess I will have to do my test drive first

[Kevin Beane]

Did you get the bolt out OK?