So, I bought a RB torque brace. Afterwords, I find some of you don't sound to confidant with it's performance. At the same time a lot of you talk out of your asses. I called their tech support asking questions about some of the negative feed back I have encountered. With that simple phone call I was re insure by them and did not change my order with stiffer mounts. Who would discredit a company with numerous world records, 40 years of engineering? While having a car with 80k, and no mount problems besides the first and reverse shuddering design flaw. I believe this is the cheapest fix to the flaw. Going to save my recipe!!! If any of you have any input on this product please reply or post photos with it installed.

 

so you're calling everyone out because their customer service talked you into buying their product? nice argument.

you know that one of the top advertisers for funny car drag racing was splitfire and autolite right? some of the crappiest plugs on the planet, which obviously they don't run in their cars.

i do believe it does help but not as much as they lead you to believe.

 

what the hell are you talking about man? lol

i'm sure it helps, but there are lots of other ways to triangulate the mounts.

 

Wouldn't a company be interested in selling the most expensive product vs. the cheapest one that resolves the problem. I just want to fix the ******* first and reverse shuddering problem, before I do blow a engine mount or y mount! Not calling everyone out, just a select few.


By the way, no one has talked me into anything. I purchased the item with my own assumption that this would be the best product on the market for my needs.

 

I forget who said this but...

"When you run a business you make parts that people will buy, if they want a particular option regardless of how you feel about it, you offer it. That’s what your in business for."

The shudder issue isn't a design flaw. It's from one or a combination of things you should work on:

- 20+ year old trans and engine mounts
- Your clutch and pressure plate
- The way you slip the clutch

 

Care to share your recipe? I'm hungry and always willing to try something new!

 

this shuddering you speak of, is it more of a thump shudder, or a vibration shudder?

 

It's like a slight engine or transmission movement during clutch engagement in first gear only, my mounts are in good condition. In which the torque brace is claimed to fix.

 

It should help, I don't understand why you’re so stand-off-ish about YOUR purchase. I suppose I missed that thread, but it's not expensive and it should help. Here’s the thing though, it's a band-aid fix in some ways, though it's good in another. Band-aid in that you have a problem, be it a slightly glazed clutch surface, be it friction disk, pressure plate surface or flywheel. Or, could just be your driving style. I know if I use improper driving technique my car does this too, but I've adapted my driving style within weeks of owning the car YEARS AND YEARS ago and have been through numerous clutch/pressure plates/flywheel and horse power output combinations to always have a "stutter" sensation when driven improperly. So, if it's a clutch related problem, you threw a cheap band-aid on it and I'm willing to beat you'll be satisfied with your purchase. If it's your driving style, I think you'll have the same results and be content though you really should use a better "foot" when engaging your clutch. The upside is your stiffening your engine movement in a way where it transfers a whole lot less vibration to the chassis then other SHITTY alternatives such as solid engine or tranny mounts or some absolute SHITTY designed aftermarket bushing engine mounts (with the solid bolt through a bushing.. absolute **** design). Stiffening it up the way you did in my eyes is the best method for lessening the shutter and crispening throttle response and shifting. Stop being so angry LOL, especially since it's your car and your money!

~Mike.............

 

I doubt it's my driving style if there's a product from an awesome company claiming to clear up my issue. The movement isn't even all that noticeable. The clutch, pressure plate ,and flywheel is all oem and in perfect working order and with no vibration. When she shudders, it shakes suddenly when the clutch is fully engaged. I'm just surprised/worried that no one seems to have this part.

 

Hey man I have had the RB torque brace bar on two of my 7's for over 13 yrs now. Yes the have thier benifits, but they are not inteneded to be a fix for worn mounts. As said above it's your car & money, get a little feed back & don't take things to as insulting. Not everyone will agree on things or like what you do to your car, but at the end of the day your decision is what you want.

 

I installed the RB torque brace on an S5 GTU and I can tell you from my experience that it is a bitch to install (the fender part) and it only helped marginally. So don't expect to completely correct the problem. Oh, and if the adjustment nut/washer is tightened too much, engine vibration is transferred to the body of the car. You can feel and hear it when reving the engine. It was very noticable to me. I hope your experience is better than mine.

 

No one is using that part because they are all sheep and parrots. They do what others do then repeat what they hear and not actually have experience with certain things and don't put any real thought in it. This forum is full of idiots stripping out their interiors to save 30 pounds which translates to near ZERO in performance, they add solid engine, tranny, diff and sub frame mounts because it's what "Drifters and Racers" do making their cars uncomfortable to be in for their daily drives which is probably 98% of their time in their cars and 2% actually doing some form of motor sport. They strip AC systems and rip out their power steering then ghetto-ize their racks for "Better Feel" thinking that the 20 pounds makes a difference and that manual steering on a powered rack is a good idea. There are those who "wire" their 5th and 6th ports open or pull the sleeves entirely thinking their gaining performance when in reality they hurt performance. No, I'm not talking about guys who actually use their cars frequently for motor sports, some of the aforementioned things can help on a dedicated competition car, it's the idiots that do this to street cars that devalue them and make these cars "shitty" for onlookers and next owners that crack me up.
OK rant done, off topic, sorta.....


~Mike..........

 

BTW just for a little info alot of the FORD funny cars run Autolites & just a little more info for you the leading Ford plug is the Motorcraft, which is made by Autolite. Now for an import yes Autolites no good.

As far as the RB cutomer service, they are well known & have been proven for years. I have seen them stop selling items in which did not perform well over the years so it's not just a marketing ploy. Though a product may not do extrodinary feats, they do have benifits.

 

Oh... I like you, Racerxtreme7! I'm seriously thinking stiffer engine mounts might help me out on this one. TOO bad just they finally sent the part out now. I HATE VIBRATION and don't want to spend $75 to add it!!All I want is the smoothest/freshest RX7 that has ever beaten you, while having A/C on max.

 

^^Ha that's funny RacerX, little boys stripping out the whole car in a street car that never see's the track. I still have full interior, AC, Power steering & a sound system in my cars. Got to be comfortable, I don't car what people think of my car it's mine.

 

And let me lead in by saying I'm a HUGE fan of Racing Beat products. I have about every bolt on Racing Beat sells on my 1st Gen, and a number of RB components on each of my three Verts. More over, I personally count a number of the Racing Beat folks personal friends of mine. Am there more often than most forum members for that reason and also because they're only about 10 miles from me.

I also have a torque Brace on my S5 Vert, albeit it's incorporated into the Mazdatrix 4 point brace. Same principal, different approach. All that said:

1. One negative to bracing the engine is that it will transfer engine vibration to the body. Less if you do a good job adjusting it as mentioned already, but more than before for sure. So when you're sitting at idle, don't be surprised if some new rattles and squeeks show up. Even more when you're driving down the road.

2. Shudder as I believe you're experiencing is either about broken engine mounts as mentioned, but can also be about glazing on the flywheel, clutch, and/or clutch disc.
The best fix is to pull your tranny, scrub the heck out of the pressure plate and flywheel
(better would be to pull the flywheel and have it turned)
with heavy grit sandpaper or emery cloth. Also, rough up the disc to remove glazing if your going to reuse it if it still has plenty of meat on it
(however, I'd replace it considering the inexpensive cost and how much work it takes to get to the damn thing).
Put it all back together and your shudder problem might very well be gone.

3. More on the flywheel. If you have a lightened steel or aluminum one, you are probably doing a lot more slip clutching than you would be with a stock flywheel in stop and go traffic. Price of admission to the increased performance otherwise. Slip clutching causes heat, which causes glazing, which also causes warping, which all leads to slippage and/or shuddering.

Bracing the engine does take slop out of the situation at the least and the RB produce is excellent for that purpose. BUT if you're putting it in JUST to deal with the shuddering, you are indeed just putting a bandaid on that problem.

Far better to treat the cause of the problem (glazing) rather than the symptom (shuddering).

 

^^^I wish I lived 10 minutes of RB, lucky! I was interested in purchasing a light weight steel flywheel after I get new rims and tires, so I can even think about hooking out. My ankle is broken has been broken for 2 months now and can't do a tranny drop as of right now. Might return part, and put this segment of my project on hold. Thanks for the help!

 

I'll call you on this one. I've got a stack of over 20 magazine articles from from a selection of quality publishers that professionally evaluate and critique sports cars, and everyone of them describes the FC and FD power steering as "devoid of true feel at even modest road speeds", "unnervingly light", "lacking resolved road feedback", and "an elastic effect". Manual steering eliminates this feeling, flat out. For weight removal reasons, I agree that de-powering is retarded but for driver feedback, power steering is horrible.

 

Any photos of this so called, "vibration making torque brace" on a n/a?

 

http://www.mazdatrix.com/h7.htm

He's talking about this.
You're kidding yourself if you don't think this will increase NVH to the chassis. It just won't be as much as solid mounts would.

 

sometimes clutches just shudder no matter how you drive. i drive perfectly fine yet mine shudders all the time, depends on the friction material and the flywheel.

 

A lot of shuddering on engagement depends on the design of the sprung marcel, the thin flat spring found between the faces of the clutch material. The coil springs in the hub have nothing to do with engagement, they are to reduce shock load to the transmission input shaft.

 

If the clutch is making the shuddering or "shaking sound". Why would RB claim that their engine torque brace will clear up something that is irrelevant?

 

It's not completely irrelevant, it affects how the drive train twists and would certainly have some sort of affect on how the clutch acts. How it would affect it and to what degree it might have I'm not sure, but it's not like saying green paint will make it go faster than red paint.