Bracing

Strut Tower Brace – 1979-85 RX7

The Racing Beat strut tower brace for the 1979-85 RX-7 is back after a 20 year disappearance! They have rediscovered the old tooling, consulted with their aluminum casting shop, contacted the original sheet metal supplier of the brace components and decided to assemble a few prototypes. They had to make a few adjustments and test fit them on several RX-7 chassis, and now, they’re ready to go!

Design
The Racing Beat strut tower brace was designed as a triangular brace that mounts against the firewall and onto the top of each shock tower. Cast-aluminum base mounts are attached to the top of the shock towers providing a secure mounting location for the brace. The rear of the brace utilizes the four mounting holes located behind the hood latch assembly.

Manufactured in-house by Racing Beat, the strut brace features laser-cut and precision bent brace components, extremely strong cold-rolled steel cross bracing, and a laser-cut firewall mounting flange. The aluminum mounting towers utilize the original casting patterns and are surface tumbled to enhance their appearance. The brace comes equipped with all required mounting hardware and a detailed instruction sheet.

Why a strut tower brace?
In earlier passenger vehicle design the benefits and importance of chassis stiffness and bracing was still in it’s infancy. A more practical application was in motor sports where chassis improvements proved to yield significant handling and performance benefits on the track. With regards to the RX-7, the location of the shock towers were positioned inward into the engine bay and provided a platform for the addition of a brace. Positioned high in the engine compartment to clear engine components, the Racing Beat designed brace incorporates a strong horizontal bar that firmly connects these two towers together – noticeably reducing front end chassis flexing. While other aftermarket braces feature heim-joint connections and weak vertical attachment points, these style braces are typically designed for ease-of-installation and the incorporation of any pivot point will reduce their effectiveness.