CivicX Front Strut Tower Brace – REDEFINE Design Pt. 1
Would you like more control of your Civic?
Chassis stiffness is an often overlooked aspect of performance that can be easily improved with bolt on braces. Considering the amount of track time we put on our FK8 and FC1 we couldn’t help but feel some improvement was in order.
Introducing the Front Strut Tower Bar (FSTB) for the 10th Gen platform; we say 10th Gen because we do intend for the 27WON Strut Bar to fit Type R, SI, and Base Models.
There are three main goals we set out to achieve with this performance strut tower bar;
It must improve chassis stiffness and thus improve driver control and feedback.
It must be aesthetically pleasing and unique. These are 21st century cars, no need for a FSTB that looks like it’s from 1970.
It must do more than just stiffen the chassis. After all, we have to REDEFINE.
Check out that 3D printed prototype!
Immediately you’ll notice some unique design aspects of the 27WON FSTB. Without going into too much detail here (we plan to dig into the design details in the next blog so hang tight), the design focuses on maximizing rigidity while maintaining a slim height to provide clearance under the hood.
Most importantly the 27WON design is a 1-piece bar. This means the tubes are welded directly to each tower bracket instead of the more typical 3-piece design which bolts the bar to the tower brackets. Again we’ll cover why this matters in the next blog but given all else equal a 1-piece bar is 4 times stronger than a 3-piece bar that uses a single bolt connections.
We just love this angle! The dual tube design compliments the lines of the CivicX body and brings them into the engine bay in a functional and performance driven method. This bar will make a statement at your next show.
Back to the design and creation of the 27WON FSTB; when developing this part it is critical to take into account engine movement.
A simple and effective method to determine clearance under the hood is with modeling clay. We place Play-Doh in all close contact locations; close the hood and operate the Civic to verify our clearances in areas we otherwise can’t easily see. Notice the yellow chunks on the strut tower bar and the red chunks on the hood venting?
Let’s wrap this up with a bit on the third goal we mentioned at the start of this blog. The 27WON design will offer another performance benefit…an optional brake booster brace. Incorporated in the design of the FSTB are mounting points for a billet aluminum brake booster brace.
The benefit of bracing the brake booster is simple. The brake booster and master cylinder is mounted on the firewall which is constructed from thin sheet metal. The firewall will flex when you apply pressure to the brake pedal; bracing the brake booster & master cylinder improves brake pedal feel and feedback.
optional brake booster brace.
Here you can see the same CAD rendering with the brake booster attachment to the strut bar.
Let us know what you think and stay tuned with 27WON Performance for the next update on the CivicX Strut Tower Bar as we continue testing and validation.
What do you think about the orange color? Do you think we should offer this bar in Signature Orange? Let us know in the blog comments.
I DARE You to REDEFINE the Aftermarket
-Barett