Tanabe Front Swaybar
 

Has anyone run this in BS Solo? It's listed as 30.4mm but no wall thickness is given. Curious how it compares to RB and Mazdaspeed bars. Looks like it might fit in the middle somewhere.

Tanabe is a 30.4mm bar with a 5mm thick wall.
Racing Beat is 32mm with a 4.76mm wall.
For some reason I think the Tanabe was a tiny bit stiffer but I am sure they are close. Either way both are way stiffer than MS.

The MS is 27.2mm with 4mm wall vs OE 27mm with 3.4mm wall.

Not sure on the wall thickness, but this one looks interesting:
http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/p...ducts_id/13158

Thanks,

I saw that one as well. Looks like an adjustable RB bar. Unless it's thinner it won't get into the range we need. The matching rear bar is a 19mm which is the same as the RB bar as well. Don't understand how a 32mm bar works with the stock bushings?

Come on dude its easy.... When half the stuff you sell is bling it only matters how it looks on the car not how it fits. :mdrmed: Getting 32mm bushings would be easy, RB has them.

Lol. :Freak_ani

I am sure they are right and it will fit the stock bushings. A 300lb man can also drive a Miata. Somethings just don't fit right. Not sure why they would sell a trick adjustable bar and not toss in a $15.00 set of poly bushings that are the right size. :Eyecrazy:

The RB comes with everything you need.

I have that bar, but it hasn't been installed yet. I'm waiting for spring. I got the poly bushings from Summit. They are the greaseable type.

Neglecting material differences the different size would put the Tanabe bar at 191% of stock. I wish there was something in the 150-170% range. :mad:

there is and I'm working on it, just so you know my original supplier didn't deliver despite taking $everal grand of my money and now a lawsuit is looming

I'm talking to another supplier about getting them built, if for no other reason than try to salvage some of my loss

I ran the Tanabe front in BS (ever so briefly). I think the RB is steel where the Tanabe is Chromoly. IMHO the Tanabe is a bit stiffer and lighter. For the money, go with the Tanabe.

ran the calc's, IMO it's too stiff for just a front bar only in B Stock

Teamrx8, what is the calc to figure out which is the best front bar. Share a little knowledge so that we noobs don't have to ask the questions.

but that would be a trade secret...

we'll I guess I'll be on a drilled MS bar this spring.

This will let you calculate stiffness:
http://www.tech-session.com/kb/index...v2&id=105&c=52

For hollow bars, you can calculate the stiffness of the outer diameter of the bar and subtract the the stiffness of the inner diamater (the hollow space) to get a final result. ID = OD - 2 * wall thickness.

I was curious how to compare bars, so I dug up this info from an old thread yesterday. I also was bored at work and made an excel spreadsheet that will let you type in the dimensions and spit out the stiffness. :cool:

wouldn't the "best" bar, be a matter of opinion. What is best all depends on the driver, and how they drive the car. So with that in mind, what will the stiffness of a particular sway bar tell you, more push, less lean, less push, a little more lean.

For your enjoyment...

To find out how much you need to drill on the stock/MS bar to increase stiffness,
use the following formula:


A - Length of end perpendicular to B (torque arm - inches)
B - Length of center section (inches)
C - Length of end (inches)
D - Diameter bar (inches)

Right. The fomula is just a tool to give you the relative stiffness between bars. It takes real world testing to determine what kind of stiffness would be best for you.

IMHO, aggressive driving style will not be well-served with a stiffer bar. The slow-down caused by terminal push in sweepers effectively negates the time gained in transitions. If you have great speed control in slow corners by minding your entry speed, it is not necessary an Achilles' Heel. Afterall, RX-8 is all about smoothness not hack-saw driving out on the course.

There are limits to everything. You haven't experienced understeer until you drive the RB bar with Koni's. :) The problem isn't turn entry, it's that you can't apply gas until after the apex or you'll push wide. The car just wants to go strait when on the gas. No amount of steering input stops it. About 1/2" of rear toe out will correct it, but then you can't drive you're car on the street with DSC enabled, else it will engage on every corner bringing you to a stop. Try it sometime.

I think the opposite is true.

There are other setup changes that can be made to make the car push less in sweepers. Though I honestly don't think we saw any decrease in steady-state grip when we put the TeamRX8 bar on the front. We made some "minor" :Eyecrazy: rear toe changes for the last event of '05 that IMO made the car much more fun and faster coming out of slow corners.

we're trying to locate the material now, I want to use a special wall thickness to refine the stiffness range and it's not a very popular size

hope to have some answers soon, I know you've all been waiting a long time

that formula above is not what you need to calculate the difference in the hole position, instead just use (original arm length/new arm length) x (previous change from OE). The original RX-8 arm length is 7.375", so all you need to know is how much you changed it with the new hole position, assuming you shortened the MS bar mounting point by 5/8"

(7.375/6.875) x 12.7% = 13.6% which is still next to nothing because the MS bar is just not stiff enough for a front bar only application

the calculations posted in the earlier thread also assumed all the bars had the same OE arm length, that's not always the case

More like (7.375/6.875)*112.7=120.9%. Better than nothing.

I emailed them about the wall thickness. They say it's 3mm. Using my ghetto spreadsheet that gives about a 64% increase in stiffness over stock, assuming stock arm length. With 3-way adjustability, seems like it's in the range you're looking for Sparky.

Very interesting. Thanks for doing that.

Also keep in mind many bars are made from different stock. The quality and type of metal will also change the % so expect the numbers can be off a bit.

booyahkahshah...check-eh. in's a few weeks, mah main man, em-pee-foive, will no longer bee's understeering off the course in the (looking down on mah piece of pay-puh)....ray...sing...beat...sway...bah. licky licky...he'd be rollin'...or should i's say andee-rollin' in a pimp new chromoly bitch from straight out of san dee egg oh. respeck. west side.

http://brian.dvstuff.net/images/respeck.jpg

the rb does give u a push but the moment u burp the gas it will correct to oversteer

but this is with both front and rear bar but im a guy who like a little understeet more then over steer

You might get some power on oversteer in a Viper or Vette, in an RX8 you are a good 100hp short of pulling off that trick. :mdrmed:

Unless it rains. :rock:

So who is going to be the first to try it out?

I must be old. I don't understand a word.

MTV and the youth of today, these people will run the country one day :Eyecrazy:

I never knew there was an actual written language for that jibberish, i stand corrected, and amazed, all at once.

I have to hope it is a joke on the part of one of the regulars, I have to hope, otherwise...

I understood every word, but he's my friend (hate to admit it) so I'm sorta used to it. ;)

It says something about MP5 taking off his Racing Beat sway bar.

Guess I need to put my money where my mouth is. Bar is on order.

it's been tried, they got them from the same guy who ripped me off, not only did the SOB mother f-cker take me for several thousand dollars and not deliver, he tried to give away my initial design away to a competitor before filling my order, that sorry b-stard :mad:

It's better than the RB bar but still not right, they f'd up the hole positions and I've since revised the stiffness. I have several sitting here at the house that the fabricator tried to pawn off on me. When I informed him they weren't right is when the whole deal went sour, there' a reason they're on sale and won't be any more when they're gone.

if anybody wants one I'll let you have it for the cost of boxing and shipping, they're raw metal though, not finished, it's of no use to me ...

That sucks. :mad: Does not matter what level it is at... Motorsports parts always seems to have the worst service.

How far are the holes off, and what it the actual stiffness like? I might be interested in a free bar...

Well I just recieved the AP bar today. I'd already ordered it before I found out about it's pedigree. Anyway, it's just like TeamRX8 said.

1) Bar is painted not powder coated as advertised.
2) Endlink holes don't line up and are unevenly spaced. Looks like something my 9 year old would do with a hand drill.
3) The holes are sized for the RB endlinks. Stock endlinks won't work.

I'll probably keep it since like Mark said, it's better than nothing; but definitely recommend that no one else follow suit. Wait until the real TeamRX8 bar comes out. I'll be throwing this one in the trash as soon as I can get a real one.

To bad. Looked like it might have filled that gap.

yep, ignore TeamRX8 to the very end ... :p: