Found this while perusing a magazine. Anyone tried 'em?

Nams Gacchiri

The Nams Gacchiri support, is bolted to the existing hinge and chassis connecting points to create a greater rigidity from the inner wing (Gacchiri means strong rigid). Most Japanese import vehicles are uni-body design, one of the weak points is the body connecting to the firewall area, by installing the Gacchiri support it combines it into one.

An example is when the front end of the vehicle is jacked up, opening the front door, the chassis will drop making it the door awkward to close. This shows that by just opening the door there is a lot of flex from the chassis.
By installing the Gacchiri Support it will make the vehicle more responsive and handling is notably improved.

Applications include Honda Integra DC2, Civics' from 92 to current, Mazda RX7 (FC3S & FD3S), Mitsubishi EVO8, Nissan 200SX (S13 & S14) and Subaru Impreza (GC8).





Lemme know if those are red X's...

 

I don`t believe in any of that stuff.

 

Why reinforce one of the strongest parts of the car?

 

According to them it's not...?

 

to support your car more in case of an accident would be my guess.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by d16y8EL &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">to support your car more in case of an accident would be my guess.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Then why would they call it the crumple zone????

 

Another company called A-Sports makes those. http://www.jdmland.com sells them.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HT Street Scholar &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Everyone has mixed opinions about stuff like this. Arguing that they do or do not work without any evidence is just stupid.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

i believe it started from other cars like the 240s. their front ends in the fender area arent as strong as the hondas. the 240s fronts are barely tacked on and bolted together. i dont think the civics, and integras would really need the brace imho. so i am guessing its a bandwagon product. easy to make, and high retail.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slebidia &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why reinforce one of the strongest parts of the car?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually I'm not so sure that is one of the strongest parts of the car--it will flex quite a bit if you watch it when you jack the front of the car up with the fenders off.

We've welded braces in there on the rally car, partially because we weren't able to run tubes from the cage to the front shock towers.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EK4civichatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Then why would they call it the crumple zone????</TD></TR></TABLE>



they could make cars soo stiff that they would barely damage in accidents, but they cant say soo much about ur neck when it breaks and you are dead, but their cars are fine.

 

I have A-sports on my dc2 and I notice a difference with'em on

 

Does that mount to the UCA or to the shock?

 

Aj-racing also sells fender braces.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gldndrgn14 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i believe it started from other cars like the 240s. their front ends in the fender area arent as strong as the hondas. the 240s fronts are barely tacked on and bolted together. i dont think the civics, and integras would really need the brace imho. so i am guessing its a bandwagon product. easy to make, and high retail. </TD></TR></TABLE>yeah this is all true.. I'm stitch welding up my friend's 240 coupe and the the front is held together with a hand full of spot welds and 2 tack welds per side no wonder those cars need so much front end reinforcement

 

the fender braces DO work. I have the J's Racing gacchiri fender braces. They bolt up to the door hinge bolts and another to your inner fender. A stealth mod away from all that "JDM bling.".

There are two different types, there's the tubular construction ("Ueo Style") ones like A-Sport and Nagisa Auto, and there's the flat sheet "one piece" construction like J's Racing and Silk Road.
.

IMO the tubular constructed ones are more rigid then the flat sheet ones. My friend has the Nagisa Auto braces in his EF and it was a noticeable difference. The story behind why there were two is that the tubular structure ones were too rigid for the drifter Ueo's liking. He wanted something that had more give in the front end, so they created the flat sheet style fender braces.

If you get the flat sheet structured ones, I noticed a great difference the first night, but after that you forget that it even existed (but stills proves beneficial reguardless). After throwing it on I have more turn in responce during autox'ing and the car just felt more rigid overall. Hope this info helps you guys, peace.


PS: If you guys don't like the idea, then try searching for "center roll adjusters." It's a different suspension mod, but provides a better outcome then fender braces for about the same price. It's on my to-do list.

 

I agree in that they make no sense, but in bolting some on for ***** and giggles I noticed two things:

1.) Less chassis flex (more responsive handling - especially over bumps/potholes)
2.) My doors would close much more smoothly when the jack was jacked up

For those reasons alone I'm happy with the investment.

Review:

http://hogens.com/car/showart.php?id=34

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NTGR8D &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
PS: If you guys don't like the idea, then try searching for "center roll adjusters." It's a different suspension mod, but provides a better outcome then fender braces for about the same price. It's on my to-do list.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Do you have any more information on these "center roll adjusters"? I did a search but nothing came up.

 

I used to have the A-sports fender braces on my EF...

like said above: initial turn in feels more responsive AND the whole front-end becomes more rigid...

never heard of them in this fashion though... A-sports calls them "A-pillar support frames" and on the US forums their mostly called "fender braces"...

I'm looking in getting me some for my EK in the future...

 

here is some info on center roll adjuster
http://www.aj-racing.com/sk/RCA/rca1.jpg
http://www.aj-racing.com/sk/RCA/rca2.jpg
http://www.aj-racing.com/sk/RCA/rca3.jpg

 

i just wrote an essay on these "braces" in another thread:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i prefer randomly bolting aluminum tubes to parts of the chassis in X formations because we all know that X's are the strongest shapes in nature and that bolts in double shear resist deformation better than MIG welds. it doesn't matter where you put them either, because the rigidity lent to a chassis by the chaotic arrangement of metal bars is additive, and the conservation of rigidity coupled with the modulus of elasticity of the cheapest taiwanese aluminum you can buy will help keep the chassis from deflecting in all directions except along the .85i+.73j+9k kN vector, which of course is the force vector along the tangential acceleration of the chassis about the roll center-in laymen's term's: the vector pointing towards the finish line! Think about it the next time you've got a photofinish! you've got about 3kN of force deflecting the chassis towards the finish, talk about a competitive edge!

the horsepower effects of the alternator inducing an electric charge through the random metal x assemblies, thereby increasing the grounding efficiency of the electrical system, may seem miniscule, but also keep in mind that the heat transfer into the bars helps to superheat the engine air and create an endothermic vortex that will increase air density in the front fenderwell (where your CAI should be.)

the bottom line is, go buy some aluminum!</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

my friend just put some on his dc2 and believe it or not he actually felt a difference.......i guess you gotta try it out to believe it or not.

 

im just gonna fab up my own, and weld it on the car.. along with my welded in cage... LOL

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kidkombo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my friend just put some on his dc2 and believe it or not he actually felt a difference.......i guess you gotta try it out to believe it or not. </TD></TR></TABLE>

start running crazy spring rates and you'll quickly see how weak a chassis (particularly my DC2) can be. There's a reason why Honda advertises the RSX as being 200% (or whatever) more chassis rigitity.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EK4civichatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Then why would they call it the crumple zone????</TD></TR></TABLE>

Good point. I would like to know what would happen to a car in a front end collision that had these bars installed. Doesn't seem safe to me.

 

i'm sure that a difference can be felt with these fender braces, but i would never use them for daily driving. Yor car has crumple zones to protect your safety, and when u brace it like that, it takes the crumple zone away. So if u get into an accident with those on, u will feel the impact more because the chassis is more tied together, plus instead of minimizing damage in the crumple zone area, it will send the damage up furthur because of the brace. SO i think this is a race only mod