Look, this feels totally wrong. I just put in a plenum spacer... my other two performance improvements being the K&N Drop in and kinetix high flow cats... the difference in power is palpable...

But of course, with that giant 5/8" spacer in there (yeah I know, too big, but it was the one I bought, m'kay?), the hood won't close with the bar on there, even if there was no issue anchoring it to the towers.

So, I know I have options. Some strut bars go under the plenum and therefore eliminate the issue.

But, despite the added power, could I just see how things go without it for a while? I am just a civilian driver who likes to do some spirited driving on windy back roads and such. Not trying to win any races or car shows.

I personally can't perceive any difference without the bar, corners just great. My tires are max width for the stock rims, 225 in front, 245 in the rear, and they alone have increased my stability and grip since I got them.

Also, could the deletion of the bar actually have a minor benefit? That being a slightly less stiff ride? Not that I complain about the stiff suspension... I mean, I woulda gotten a Crown Vic if I wanted to drive a boat... but still, something to consider.

Primarily, just want to make sure this isn't entirely unsafe.

 

you might be able to get an 07-09 hood that have the bump... might give ya the room you need

 

Deleting the strut bar won't help the ride of your Z. It's designed to aid the torsional stiffness of the front chassis and doesn't come into play until cornering loads begin slightly deforming the chassis under load.

 

Yup. ^^^

Under "normal" operating conditions, can't see there being a problem as there's no load that is enough to do this. But on a car that sees track or even "hills abuse", might eventually be some deformation.... but not enough to be concerned about. That's just speculation though..... based on my own track cars of the past all without triangulation.

You might be able to feel a difference (from chassis flex) at 10/10ths but again, likely not that big of a deal.

Also, because the strut bar isn't attached to the suspension, there'd be no real connection to tuning/steering attitude, e.g., over/under/neutral steer.

If anyone has practical experience with it, I'd love to hear about it though.

 

The G35 doesn't have the strut tower brace and suffers no ill effects. Is there some other bracing to mitigate it? With Comp R tires, stiffer suspension, sway bars and full on track driving the loads are surely increased but to what extent? Could you really deform the chassis (permanently) by removing the bar? I'm thinking not.

 

With all those goodies, I'd guess that there's a higher possibility but I've not seen a car that had such a documented deformation, even on cars waaaaay older that didn't have/never had strut braces. But I'm sure it's possible and no one ever really thought to check until the day they tried to put on a strut brace and it didn't fit right.... "Hey, this strut tower is off by a whole inch!"

Throw in a frame twisting, high torque engine and that possibility goes up even more.

But of course, that's typical "beyond the engineered limits".

 

I'm not running a strut bar or a front sway bar /shrug.
Has been about 2-3 years now..
You may ask why... because I'm hella lazy and drive the car about 1k miles a year

I'm running roughly 340wheel torque

 

Wow.. Do you notice any difference without the sway bar?

 

It's been off so long that I'm not sure. I made a custom a/c line when I did my turbo and I made it slightly too long(or shorter would have worked) and it's right in the way of the sway bar mount. I'll get to it eventually(maybe spring) and I'm sure the difference will be very noticeable on on/off ramps

 

What part of Connecticut?

I would rather have the strut bar then the spacer, however I would think with a small spacer under the strut bar it should fit snugly... If not you could space your hood up a little bit as well.

Probably won't have issues, lots of people end up not having them on the car.

 

And ill guarantee that you notice a different without a sway bar haha

 

You could just buy the Z1 Tower Bar and call it a day.

 

Gotcha'... I used to drive my Wrangler without the sway, but that's a different animal.

 

True that.

 

Great conversation... so far I've learned the following.

#1: Negative on the added comfort suggestion, as the bar only starts doing its job at high lateral torsion loads (i.e. aggressive turns)

#2: There is technically a risk of bending the chassis, but this is just theory, as no one has even seen anyone experience this from deleting their strut tower bar.

#3: We have one real world example of someone driving for years without theirs, and they haven't had any perceptible problems in the long term.

-The hood was a very interesting suggestion, but that's quite an expense just to be able to fit the stock strut bar... not to mention possibly painting it. Might as well shell out for a carbon fiber hood with a bump if I really wanted to at some point.

-What is this Z1 tower bar? I've heard of the stillen and the APS, but not this Z1 thing. Enlighten me .

Anyway, I did a little more spirited driving (read: like a LUNATIC), and I was fine... still throwing it around corners like a champ... Cheers folks.

 

Oooh, oooh, found this one.
https://thmotorsports.com/i-152261.a...gaAi5hEALw_wcB

Reasonably priced and apparently bent to go under the plenum. is this Kosher?

 

https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...e-p-10358.html

Strut bar moved forward to clear spacers

 

I have a carbon fiber strut bar that won't clear mu V+ plenum. If your in the Enfield area you can see if it will fit with your spacer and hood.

I have the stock one on and its slightly spaced and it rubs on the hood... Wish I could use the carbon fiber one I have but its wider than stock and my plenum has a groove built into it for the oem strut bar.

 

i would go the z1 bar over the other one posted

 

ADD #4: In a world of sportcars where other makes and models have to go to an aftermarket strut bar to improve performance, members of this board want to delete theirs. Nissan did a lot of research before designing and building the Z33, and the OEM strut bar is one example of a performance part added to help the FM chassis handle just a bit better. It's another example of customers not knowing what the real performance of the Z is all about.