I am about to get a Crawford Plenum, and I was wondering if it is really even neccisary to get the strut bar.

I have heard some say that the stock strut bar was not funtional. Is this true?

 

even if it's not functional, it still looks cool as hell... get it!

There is a rumor that Nissan added the OEM strut brace as an afterthought. But, if strut bars don't do anything, why does every racing car on the planet that isn't an open-wheel racer have a strut brace?

PeteH

 

Many that have removed the front OEM strut bar have experienced considerable flex especially at high speed through corners. There was quite a discussion on this topic a few months ago.

 

i thought you needed the strut for clearance of the plenum....i would go with the crawford strut bar no doubt about it...its functional or it wouldn't be there and as mentioned this is backed by racing technology

 

I have driven with and without the strut bar on track, and on very high-speed corners (100+mph), there is a little flex in the front end. I noticed the flex (when running without the STB) in the uphill esses at VIR where you have a high speed transition between lefts and rights. However, I will say that it's not "considerable" flex. On a normal corner, the only difference in feel is psychological.

Mmmmm.... esses...

 

so your recommending to go without ....i disagree....i don't see how you can measure the stresses on the car by just feel either....there just so happens to be one in the rear too, so maybe you should just yank that one out while your at it

why do you think crawford made a bar to replace the stock....its a no brainer....i wouldn't start removing parts related to the suspension and say that its not going to affect the performance any....there IS a reason its there, and its not for looks...just my 2 sense...out

 

I didn't say whether or not you should use it or not. I simply offered my experience of having run on the same track with and without the STB. As I mentioned above, it does make a difference, but only in high-speed turns. Since my Z is a track car, I do use the Crawford STB.

Doug primarily made the STB due to demand. He would even argue that the bar doesn't make all that much of a difference. Since one of the biggest complaints about the Crawford design was that the OEM STB couldn't be used, Doug produced a good alternative STB that will work with the larger plenum.