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Alas, Boss Frog is no more. In looking for other cowl brace arms, I see Garage Star and V8 Roadster offer similar square tube models. A slight variation in pattern and about the same price. Both under $220. I don't see any reviews on the V8 Roadster offering, but think that theirs may be built stronger to withstand the rigors of a v8 swap. I don't plan one, but since I'll have to remove the fenders to install either, I may as well overbuild.
Anyone have any feedback on the V8 Roadster unit?
'94 M
"Everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die"
Last edited by Deckard; 04-06-2017 at 03:23 PM.
Reason: correct name of part vendor
I second the V8Roadsters fender braces. I have used them on a couple of cars and they work well. Plus as Six said they are a excellent company to deal with
I don't have the V8R pieces on my car, but I do highly recommend their quality and that would be the route I'd go. After all, I trust them to build our subframes and engine mounts
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Home of the original KMiata Swap
If it makes your car understeer, then address the understeer through the alignment/springs/antiroll bars. A change in the balance from installing these would mean your chassis is flexing enough that it's acting as a spring and part of the suspension. That's a bug, not a feature.
The only time you don't want a stiffer frame is when you own a unimog. Whether or not the weight penalty is worth the price of fixing it is the question you should be asking.
Meh, I had them on my track car. Completely unnoticeable on track, on the street they just seemed to reduce NVH/cowl shake over bumps/expansion joints.
For a street car I'd put them on for the decreased NVH, for a track car I wouldn't bother.
Cowl shake reduction - yes. Stiffer upper spring/shock mount area - certainly should help, especially as spring rates increase. But I have no good way to measure that flex on the track.
Stiffer is better. Flimsy isn't as good.
If adding these promotes understeer in a particular car then the car really needed them badly.
Cowl shake reduction - yes. Stiffer upper spring/shock mount area - certainly should help, especially as spring rates increase. But I have no good way to measure that flex on the track.
Stiffer is better. Flimsy isn't as good.
If adding these promotes understeer in a particular car then the car really needed them badly.
I went from having them VMaxx coilovers on track, to not having them on 800/500 XIDAs.
No noticeable difference in steering feel or anything up front.
The Boss Frog ones were reported to weigh 7lbs for the pair, and the Garagestar ones should slot between the V8R and BF in terms of weight IIRC.
Personally I look at the mounting points on the Boss Frog ones and cringe. You've got a HUGE steel plate with random holes in it for "weight reduction", and then tiny little slivers of metal around the hinge bolt holes at the back, where all your forces are supposed to be concentrated, and little small washers that don't spread the clamping load at all. Then a cantilevered spacer bolts between the lower forward bolts and the chassis, finished off with a cantilevered forward mount to fit through a convenient hole in the chassis, rather than drilling through an area where multiple sheets of steel are welded together that's just a few inches away. The meat of the brace is complete overkill for the size of the bolted connections.
The Garagestar ones share mounting points and thin steel at those locations, but at least they look like someone put some thought into them beyond "more steel is more better".
I'm going to make my own and not spend $250 on them.
The Boss Frog ones were reported to weigh 7lbs for the pair, and the Garagestar ones should slot between the V8R and BF in terms of weight IIRC.
Personally I look at the mounting points on the Boss Frog ones and cringe. You've got a HUGE steel plate with random holes in it for "weight reduction", and then tiny little slivers of metal around the hinge bolt holes at the back, where all your forces are supposed to be concentrated, and little small washers that don't spread the clamping load at all. Then a cantilevered spacer bolts between the lower forward bolts and the chassis, finished off with a cantilevered forward mount to fit through a convenient hole in the chassis, rather than drilling through an area where multiple sheets of steel are welded together that's just a few inches away. The meat of the brace is complete overkill for the size of the bolted connections.
The Garagestar ones share mounting points and thin steel at those locations, but at least they look like someone put some thought into them beyond "more steel is more better".
I'm going to make my own and not spend $250 on them.
EDIT- its funny was just reading some of my old comments
Originally Posted by hi_im_sean
...and my question for today. why do all the braces on the market bolt to the hole where the wire bundle runs through? is there any reason i cant make the front landing right behind it on that lap joint/seam there? its 2 layers thick instead of just one, it wont disturb the cable, its nice and flat.... i can only see benefits, thoughts?
I actually have those very pictures saved on my hard drive as the perfect example of what to build.
Bolted in the right spots, direct linear connections between mounting points, using all the hinge bolts, and not bothering to connect the hinges to each other since that area is one of the beefiest parts of the car.
Did you have to cut into that trapazoidal cowl drain that every other brace dodges to put the upper square tube in place? NBD either way, I have a fresh tube of seam sealer and an angle grinder.
10/10 would purchase over every other product on the market, even with that spray paint.
03-13-2017, 03:37 PM
Cowl Braces
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