traffic142

I am considering going with the bmr radiator brace to get rid of some of the dead weight of stock. In the pictures, it shows the stock with what looks like lower steering linkages.

Has anyone installed this and used it for a daily driver? Do you need to alighen anything?

http://www.bmrfabrication.com/05Mustang/RS-1.jpg

Thanks

I know it says for drag racing and you are suppose to delete the sway bar (and maybe I answered my own question here, but would like you all's imput)

94tbird

you cant use this if you want to keep the swaybar. it boltsd up real easy only 4 botls, 2 on each side.

169stang

As mentioned, it removes the swaybar and the heavy stock radiator support. I honestly didn't see any difference on the street. As well, I don't take corners at crazy speeds. The real concern for most would be the additional roll the car would take on with the lack of the front swaybar. I just didn't notice any.

traffic142

I don't either.....has it helped your car perform better?

89Trooper

I'm interested in this, as well.

I did notice that if the sway bar is mounted crooked to the frame, that the sway bar links will pre-load the sway bar when tightened down (and this will lean the car). This kit would eliminate that problem.

I took the sway bar off once and didn't notice any excessive lean while turning, either.

Will this lighten the nose enough to raise the front end? I don't want to end up with a 4x4 again!

Wow, just $149?

Other daily drivers, chime in please!

SixtySix

Unless you like corner carving, you won't notice much on the street. I on the other hand do like blasting through canyon switchbacks so it's not a mod for me.

89Trooper

Couldn't we just remove the sway bar and sway bar links to save weight for free?

This kit claims a 26.5 lb weight reduction.

It says their crossmember weighs 5.5 lbs compared to the OE crossmember at 16.5 lbs. That's an 11.0 lb reduction. The rest is the sway bar and sway bar links.

So, we could save 15.5 lbs and get the same results for free.

Am I wrong?

Are there any other benefits (besides weight reducion) by having the BMR crossmember over the stock crossmember? I'm talking about for a daily driver.

94tbird

you can do what you like but every lbs counts whe ndragracing because every little bit adds up. i drove for a while with just the swaybar removed. but if your removing the swaybar, your donig it for weight reduction, so why keep the extra weight of the swaybar support/radiator support when all you need is the radiator support.

89Trooper

I also would do it because of what I mentioned above. As tolerances stack, and things are off, the distance between the mount on the sway bar and the mount on the strut assembly are different from driver's side to passenger's side. As you tighten down the nuts on the sway bar links, it torques the sway bar putting a pre-load on it. This leans the car. I see a lot of Mustangs leaning horribly toward the driver's side.

I played with adjustable sway bar end links and could lean the car by inches! But this makes turning one way tight and the other way loose. No sway bar would eliminate this problem all together.

I don't drag race at all, nor do I do any high-speed cornering. Just a show car and daily driver. That's why I thought about not getting the BMR support and just removing the sway bar and the end links.

89Trooper

Will removing the sway bar have any negative effects over the long term? How about in a convertible? Might be a dumb question, but I'm not sure if it helps support anything.

89Trooper

Anybody? Maybe I'll call BMR and see what they say about it... then I'll post what I find out here.

94tbird

no negative effects except for body roll. the swaybar supports nothing.

06GTwJUICE

I'm going to throw my .02 in here just because i have time to kill.

If you drive in a straight line and never corner real hard, then the mod would be a good mod for you if your only concerned about straight line driving.. but for that turn in the road taken at speed.... i beg to differ.

I've driven my car at slow speeds through turns and it handles fine with no problems....

At speed it pushes in the turns and wants to go straight into the wall or cliff.... (or on the track etc...)

I have an aftermarket adjustable swaybar and it's adjusted to the neutral position and my car doesnt push anymore...

it handles sooo much better.

If you only drive in a straight line and never fly down a canyon or hit the local road coarse racetrack, then I think this support and swaybar delete would be a decent mod. Just the saved weight alone is worth it...

I think I can save more weight by taking the fork out of my mouth and looseing a few lbs. At 185, if i lost 25-30lbs Id probably be happier and the car would be lighter.





have a good day....

jake

89Trooper

Are you saying it would push without the sway bar installed? Or only if there is a pre-load on the sway bar?

I don't drag race, and I don't go to any road courses.

Another thing I'm curious about... would the sway bar delete soften the ride a little with lowered springs since you don't have the stiff sway bar?

thump_rrr

I'm 100% with you on this one.

scramblr

My understanding is that this is mainly a drag race mod...as a daily driver, not seeing the point. Mine is a daily driver and a track car during the on season, however, I also like to carve canyon walls. I'm going to remove my bar and drive it around for awhile and see how I like it. If it doesn't bother me that much, then I'll be calling BMR for the radiator support and shed the weight. If it does bother me, then I'll just remove the bar at the track and suck up the weight.

89Trooper

Good idea... I might remove the bar to see how I like it.

Just a thought - can't you just remove either of the sway bar links? Then the sway bar would be pretty much just floating in there, right?

SixtySix

Then why are you considering modding the suspension in this fashion at all then?

89Trooper

Did you read what I wrote above about the sway bar pre-load? Post 5 & 9.

scramblr

You could do that and take it out for a test drive. Probably want to wire both ends of the bar to the car. For safety reasons, you want to take it out completely if you're going to drive around for awhile. And definately at the track, although some folks have been known to just wire it up while at the track.