Originally Posted by Barbary

The New Fitment

The blue paint seems to have a noticeable sparkle in sunlight and because its a highly polished aluminum and not a strong steel, that it's intended to be a "bling" thing
more than a serious brace. I'm OK with that, I like the way it looks on the engine

p.s. anyone recommend a good non-abrasive aluminum polish...

Originally Posted by KahnBB6

Barbary -- I'm surprised to hear that was Driftmotion's only response. It only further makes me strongly question their description of the Cusco strut bar on their item page when it says it is *for* 4.0L 1UZ-FE V8 models. I would give Cusco USA a call to verify with the part manufacturer exactly what SC300/400 applications it was designed for but my suspicion is that it was really only designed by them originally for 2JZ-GE / xJZ-GTE height clearance applications.... even if it *can* be made to fit over a 1UZ.

Now, if you are determined to make it clear and are happy with it mostly for the fun look of it in your engine bay, as long as you can keep it above your engine enough to not cause any contacting and NVH issues then keep it on there and enjoy it. I am reluctantly inclined to agree with RXRodger's advice of returning it to Driftmotion since there is such a difficult fitment issue with your 1UZ-FE and since you only have coil-overs, wheels and tires as your suspension upgrades from fully stock but if you'll be happy with it once you have it adjusted to fit enough then certainly do so.

However... one thing stands out that concerns me and that is the already short shock bolt threads that you have left to work with. For safety reasons I would NOT try to space the strut bar any higher because the nuts are not fully seated on those threads as it is. You do not want to encounter a situation where there is not enough thread contact area between those nuts and the shock bolt threads so as to securely anchor the shocks in place on the towers.

Keeping the shocks securely bolted in is FAR more important than anything the strut bar will do for your SC. My TRD strut bar is spaced up just a few millimeters too clear my GTE engine's throttle plate but I still have the shock nut threads fully through the shock tower nuts threads.

Something to strongly consider.

It strikes me that a front strut bar that is truly designed to clear the 1992-1997 1UZ-FE engine's upper intake manifold would have to be made thick but also have a forward bend rather than a loop over the intake plenum. I don't know of any SC front strut bar in existence that is designed in that way.

....

RXRodger -- Honestly I don't remember us discussing the strut bar handling benefits or lack thereof on SC's more than once (I think?) but you actually race your car and have prepared it for track use while I have not and so I am respectfully not going to question your wisdom on this.

Whenever we last discussed strut bars (maybe it was in my build thread when I bought my TRD bar...?) I don't know if this came up but for me, for the very same reasons you feel they have no measurable handling benefit, I made adding the TRD strut bar the *very last* suspension related modification I did to my SC after doing everything else:

--New OEM Supra front LCAs
--Figs Engineering steering rack bushings
--Coilovers (Gixxer-Drew Bilstein AK shocks on Hypercoil linear rate springs)
--Front MKIV TT sway bar
--Rear MKIV TT 93-96 sway bar (22mm up from the stock SC's 20mm with different anchoring points and geometry) with MKIV rear subframe mounts
--Torsen LSD
--Staggered FR245/RR275 wheel and tire setup
--MKIV style semi-"Lance" alignment settings
--If it can be considered relevant, MKIV bucket seats mostly due to the better side bolstering and slightly lower seating position compared to factory SC seats
--Also if it can be considered relevant, switching to the slightly smaller diameter than stock three spoke IS/MR2/Matrix/98+ MKIV steering wheel

Still all of those changes are set up with 100% street use in mind and not track use.

I asked Gerrb about the strut bar as well and he felt there was some small benefit to it. Maybe it really makes the most difference on targa top Supra MKIVs rather than SC's?

For me personally it was mostly a fun last addition to my car with any truly measurable handling benefit being gravy on the top. As you say, we have a very strong lower crossmember and four wheel double wishbone fully independent suspension systems which are about as good as it gets.

I can only say that I felt a very minor difference in front end handling and feel after I installed my TRD strut bar. But this was VERY subtle. So subtle in fact that I wonder if I would have noticed it if I hadn't done ALL of the other modifications to my SC suspension before it and had time to get very used to how they changed the feel of the car, including the addition of the LSD. This is all why I made my inclusion of a front strut bar on my SC my very last suspension related modification-- since I had done pretty much everything else and had nothing to lose by installing it at that point.

Now, how can I measure that feeling in order to prove it's not just my imagination? I don't have any good way to do that I can think of other than a back to back lap time but that's unrealistic for a street car.

At the end of the day I'm happy with my own front strut bar addition whether it does a little or not much at all but I will say that I was not willing to add one to my car until it was the very last available street oriented suspension part I hadn't yet installed on the car.

As such, it has more of a cool factor than anything else and that it also primarily why I bought mine as a final cherry on top if you will mostly for the fun of it.

Again, RXRodger, as someone who has actually put the time in to set up and race your SC within the rules of a specific class series you have all of my respect for your experience, knowledge and wisdom which I ultimately defer to in this.

Originally Posted by Barbary

Man your car must ride nice, like in Perfect. All the SC guys in here blow me away (as in a good way)