djblingbling1

DIY CTR Strut Brace Install into a USDM EJ


I haven't seen a DIY for this anywhere on the web, so hopefully this will help some people out. On the EK9, and the EM1, there are studs in the engine bay for the strut brace. I believe that the JDM EK's, have the holes marked, but not drilled. On the EJ's here in the US, we don't have squat...

I found this on ebay for 45$ shipped. Im sure its not the nicest strut bar out there, there are many that are better made and easier to mount, but in this case i thought it was a good deal, and the fact that it is a Honda made part makes it appealing to me more so than the fact that its a JDM part. Whatever your reasoning is for wanting to complicate things, here's how to do it.

Here it is right after I opened my box from USPS. Its a bit rough, but I plan on repainting it with wrinkle red, and doing my valve cover at the same time.



Construction wise I was kind of surprised, i figured it would be more beefy. Its a hollow bar, but feels very solid. I'm sure for a stock car that's not being tracked it will be fine, if not its 45$ JDM bling.

You will find out really fast that the strut bar doesn't just sit on the strut tower area. I had to measure up each side, and then rig it with a pen to get it to stay. There are half circles stamped into the bay, which I used to make sure it was even on each side. I don't know if that's what they are there for, but using those it pretty much fell into place. I used a pencil to mark the insides of the holes. I drilled the holes out with a 3/8th size bit and used a magnet to pick up all the metal shavings. Then I used some touch up paint to paint over the bare metal to keep it from rusting.

Markings for the holes


Here's a the holes drilled above and below:




Heres how it lines up:





I went to Home Depot and bought 4x of each, grade 8 3/8 x 3/4 steel zinc plated bolts, 3/8 stainless nuts, and crush washers. I guess I get negative JDM points for using metric hardware. I popped them in upside down so it looks kind of like the OEM studs.




Torque specs for the strut bar are 17lbs



Heres how it looks from below:


Heres lots of above pics:









It looks pretty good, especially for not having any legitimate measurements. It feels really solid. Ill have to post an update once I really get to test it out, for daily driving use.

Overall its a really easy install. It can be intimidating because you have to drill into your body, but even if you screw up, or switch to a different strut bar at any point, the engine bay already has so many holes, you could plug them up, or if not probably wont even be noticeable to someone who didn't know any better. Its a great mod that doesn't seem too common, probably because of the effort involved.

I'm not an amazing DIY'er, so if you have any questions let me know and ill do my best to help you out.


EDIT:
Just got a chance to go for a drive. Nothing crazy, just taking some curvy back roads fast enough that I normally would get body roll. Honestly Im surprised how much it helped. I dont know if its because Im at stock height, but before I would feel the whole car shift, and now the front stays much stiffer than the rear, which I can feel pulling. Definitely need a rear brace to tie it all in, but its great to know that this mod has show and go.

kristo

This is a good and inexpensive (and 'JDM') mod.

The EK9 (red) bar is thicker than the (black) EK4, SI(?), ... bar.

The use of this bar is reported to have noticable effect.

Here in Europe you can buy one new from Honda for like €20