Ok guys, I have a boosted B16 with a 3" downpipe and I recently broke my crossmember because I had to notch it so bad to fit the 3" DP. I knew it would happen sooner or later, Im just glad it made it this long. Anywayz, I need to know which traction bar I should get. I know of the 3 main ones, FULL RACE, Z10 & JIMFAB. Which one would you think I would be better off getting? The FULLRACE & Z10 are right around the same price for what I have found.
Also can someone post up some links for some good prices of these bars? Thanks a bunch!

Only thing I really dont like about the FULLRACE bar is if I wish to still use my stock radiator which I do, I have to tilt it back and remount the top mounts for it. Which I really dont want to do...

Any help?

 

Full Race Great bars from what I hear.....

 

I like the Z10 design the best. I looks like it makes the chassis more rigid.

 

The Z10 does look like a better design to me too, Plus I can use my stock radiator without having to lean it and I have the option to use a smaller radiator later. Will this work well with a 3" Downpipe?

And does Jimfab even make these anymore?

 

This thread is gonna get packed real quick with full-race lovers. I would love to get a jimfab but it looks like he's out of commission. If anyone knows where to get a jimfab I'd really like to know as well.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by QuarterMileMaster &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This thread is gonna get packed real quick with full-race lovers.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats great, I hope they explain why they love them so much. Because right now that Z10 is lookin way better designed...

 

full-race is just that.. "full race".

OT:

IMO the typical "traction bar" is a bad design for a daily driven street car and I will argue this to the death.

Try and twist an OEM front cross member. And then try and jack your car in the middle of your "traction bar". Sure, they'll keep the suspension tight, but there's no way in hell that the chassis is as stiff as it was with the OEM unit.

This is exactly why I stitch welded my Z10 style crossmember to my chassis.. Someone try this!!

 

full-race its a beautiful thing

 

Our traction bar systems are top notch quality. We use thick stock to begin with. Our kits come with heavy duty, chome-moly, teflon sealed heim joints. Polished swaged aluminum 1 1/8" O.D. radius rods. All hardware is grade 8 and 10.9. Our kits are designed to keep the stock lower radiator tabs and retain your stock radiator. The traction bar is mounted 1/8" under the stock radiator tabs allowing more then enough room for custom headers and turbo downpipes. Our kits use the tow hook bolts as well as the origional cross member bolts making it that much stronger. Our kits don't have any brackets to cause a weak point either. The traction bars come powder coated semi gloss black, but custom colors are available.

http://www.ExplicitSpeedPerformance.net



Here is a Gold one we did for B18 CYA

 

Those are very interesting looking... Still not so sure about them though... I want to know what happened to jimfab...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2point2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">full-race is just that.. "full race".

OT:

IMO the typical "traction bar" is a bad design for a daily driven street car and I will argue this to the death.

Try and twist an OEM front cross member. And then try and jack your car in the middle of your "traction bar". Sure, they'll keep the suspension tight, but there's no way in hell that the chassis is as stiff as it was with the OEM unit.

This is exactly why I stitch welded my Z10 style crossmember to my chassis.. Someone try this!! </TD></TR></TABLE>

This is why I went with the Innovative crossmember. It uses the stock radius rods and bushings for a more stock feel. It is also considerably beefier than those race-only traction bars. Oh, and there is plenty of room in front of the motor for pretty much ANYTHING you might want to put there. If I look in front of the engine under the hood, I see nothing but pavement.

 

Innovative Mounts

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by QuarterMileMaster &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Those are very interesting looking... Still not so sure about them though... I want to know what happened to jimfab...</TD></TR></TABLE>The website says he's "working on a project." I'm glad I bought mine like a year ago before he stopped making them.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2point2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">full-race is just that.. "full race".

OT:

IMO the typical "traction bar" is a bad design for a daily driven street car and I will argue this to the death.

Try and twist an OEM front cross member. And then try and jack your car in the middle of your "traction bar". Sure, they'll keep the suspension tight, but there's no way in hell that the chassis is as stiff as it was with the OEM unit.

This is exactly why I stitch welded my Z10 style crossmember to my chassis.. Someone try this!! </TD></TR></TABLE>my jimfab bar is pretty ******* beefy and I would bet that it's stronger than the oem crossmember. I jack the car up from the bar and it's very nice for putting jackstands under. The round bar fits very nicely into the cup on the jackstand

 

&lt;~~~Z-10

 

Well guys, I just placed my order for the Z10 traction bar. I have done alot of research between the Z10 and Full Race and honestly I like the Z10 better. Its a better design and the real kicker is, I can use my stock radiator without having to lean it back or modify it. Im sure I'll be extremely happy with it! Thanks for all the suggestions etc.

 

the z10 seems to be the best i bought a set about a mouth ago and i love it...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ILcrxsi1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my jimfab bar is pretty ******* beefy and I would bet that it's stronger than the oem crossmember. I jack the car up from the bar and it's very nice for putting jackstands under. The round bar fits very nicely into the cup on the jackstand </TD></TR></TABLE>

Can you see the thing bend at all when you jack it up?

 

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

Can you see the thing bend at all when you jack it up?</TD></TR></TABLE>nope not at all

 

Jeebus, I hate these threads. But it gets annoying when false claims for any company are mentioned, or worse false speculation.

eg.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2point2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Try and twist an OEM front cross member. And then try and jack your car in the middle of your "traction bar". Sure, they'll keep the suspension tight, but there's no way in hell that the chassis is as stiff as it was with the OEM unit.

This is exactly why I stitch welded my Z10 style crossmember to my chassis.. Someone try this!! </TD></TR></TABLE>

I can only speak from experience with my full race bar and my stock x member, but you WILL NOT twist a full-race bar. I jack up car all the time from the bar and have no ill effects. In fact it made me nervous to use the stock x-member. My car is currently held up by stands on the front due to a brake line failure. AND why in the world would you weld your crossmember to your car? Not even the stock one is welded in.

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

This is why I went with the Innovative crossmember. It uses the stock radius rods and bushings for a more stock feel. It is also considerably beefier than those race-only traction bars. Oh, and there is plenty of room in front of the motor for pretty much ANYTHING you might want to put there. If I look in front of the engine under the hood, I see nothing but pavement.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I understand the "feel" thing, BUT there is nothing not beefy about a full race bar. What makes you consider it not beefy? The stock unit isn't exactly the strongest thing in the world. In fact, can you bend a full-race bar or even your innovative bar with a hammer like you can a stock bar? Goodluck with that! I'll bet you can't. Heck if mine were off my car I would let you hammer away.

And, as I already noted in another thread, like your innovative bar, it's nothing but pavement when you look down.

AND this is a new experience for me (just happened the other day), I got towed due to a brake line failure. The tow truck guy had no issues pulling my car up onto the bed via my full race bar WHICH HAS TOW HOOKS

 

The problem with these threads is simple and they all turn out the same. There is the "non full race" group vs the full race group.

These bars all do the same thing and 99% of us don't NEED them.

I have one because I have intentions of installing a bigger header in the future. I also like the adjustability of the radius rods compared to other companies. It is a nice piece and overpriced, but not really overrated IMO.

Some have different options like the stock bushings and some have the heim joints. Some have tow hooks and some don't. Some require modification and some don't.

There is something for pretty much anyone and there are plenty of DIY'ers out there running home made bars. Just because people can't justify the cost of the bar doesn't mean this thread needs to turn into another bashing.

 

Thanks for all the replys guys.

 

im using the explicit speed bar. very nice piece. I jack the car up on it frequently, nice and tight, wheel hop is gone. Now i just hear the rubber ripping off my shitty kuhmos

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 88 rex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Jeebus, I hate these threads. But it gets annoying when false claims for any company are mentioned, or worse false speculation.

...

AND this is a new experience for me (just happened the other day), I got towed due to a brake line failure. The tow truck guy had no issues pulling my car up onto the bed via my full race bar WHICH HAS TOW HOOKS </TD></TR></TABLE>

AHHAHAHAHA!!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crx2nr822 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Full Race Great bars from what I hear.....</TD></TR></TABLE>