e30motorwerks skid plate + Mason's crossbrace

[fporro]

Aloha Friday,

Just added Mason's steel crossbrace to my 87 iC, had to remove and do slight modification to e30motorwerks skid plate.

Basically a little trimming and drilled new mounting holes for it to latch onto crossbrace.

They do clear Racing Dynamics headers, mounting hardware includes washers in case you are not utilizing a skid plate.
Little rubber tube near headers is my crank ventilation pipe.

Mason recommended steel for cabrios, others chassis will do fine with aluminum.

Thanks Robert and John for putting out good products. :)

[SkiFree]

As a side note, looks like Mr. Mason made the brace with enough room to clear larger swaybars. Nice touch.

[fporro]

Yes Andrew, about a year or so ago they did not fit, John took it back and re-tooled. Glad he did. :)

[///M42 sport]

how does it feel? Ive never been able to feel "cowl" shake. I guess I dont drive my cabrio hard enough

[fporro]

^ find a patch of shallow pothohles, drive over them at anything above 35mph's and you'll feel cowl shakes.

- the whole front feels pretty square and solid as oppose to wet noodles.
- car wants to return to straight line a.s.a.p
- less side to side or sway sensation as you initiate and manuver through turns
- less off track feel as it seems to mantein squareness on steering components, it tracks through bends much better than before.
- slight increase of engine vibration into cabin
- less of that indepentent up and down feel from strut towers, (no more 2 prong fork feel)

put it this way, I had a carbonfiber frame and sloppy front shock on one of my mountainbikes, I could lean and transfer weight and feel the effects on bike a lot sooner, it turned effordlessly.

then i bought a monocoque aluminum frame and a thight fork, both bikes had same travel yet the aluminum one felt like an arrow, it only wanted to go straight, after a little while i've learned to lean less and steer more with it, the same seems to be the case here.

before i would trow the car around from one side to the other as to set inertia prior to turning, now i can enter through a norrower patch and transition through turns with less sway yet more resistance, it translates into a more solid feel.
Maybe it was becouse I had ridden the flexier frame longer but it took me awhile to achive same speeds on rigidier bike, sloppyness had it benefits until Ive learner how to ride a stiffer frame., speed were same as tires/terrain became next limiting factor.

sorry to drift off subject ;)

[JGee]

Wow, Frank that is one of the OG skid plates just looked it up and it's #7 and still looking good four years later.
Glad you are enjoying the mason brace because, no one likes to drive a wet noodle.

[fporro]

Wow, Frank that is one of the OG skid plates just looked it up and it's #7 and still looking good four years later.
Glad you are enjoying the mason brace because, no one likes to drive a wet noodle.

Aloha JGee,

So plate # 7, my lucky number :)


It sure has hold up great and it has taken a few good hits, hence saving me from the dreaded oil pan replacement job., I didn't know whom made them and you sure deserve reccognition for it.


Robert it's preping a m20 3.1 stroker for me, he'll be done around summer time, I'll make sure to add one of your reinforced front subframes to the order, they sure look nice.

Not long ago my front sub fatigued at passenger side rear sway bar mount, have the shoe horses to reinforce it but after looking at your products I think I'll be better off getting the whole enchilada., i mean engine will be out, so might as well do it to avoid further problems.

Thanks for putting out such great kits, mahalos.

Frank