19 16v Strut Brace

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

Useful or just a gimmick?

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

lol its in the way of something i presume

Level 4 User Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 97

dont know really, the same bar was fitted to my mums ph1 1.7TXE 19. thats hardly a car that needs extra bracing for performace

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

yes it makes a diff.

Safe to go without but the handling DOES suffer.

Simons megane cab nevr had one I stuck one of for him to try 2 years ago and has he gave it back to me? Nope.

Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 7432

i saw a proper sparco one on ebay a few weeks back, but forgot to bid on it, went for about a tenner in the end...bah!

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

A tenner? Surely you can't get 19 16v valve tuning bits for a tenner on ebay!

Yeah its kinda in the way, perhaps and aftermaket one would give more clearance...hmmm

Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 7432

its true! i could have added to my Â£10 r19 part portfolio Smile

missed out there, was a bit gutted.

BTW those decats are still appearing on there, they must have a fair bit of old stock of those, only now they are starting the price at Â£54.99...

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

Chet T16 wrote:

Useful or just a gimmick?

of course it is ,you can hang ur wet socks on it and will dry the shit out of them after a 15 mins trip.

Site Subscriber Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 150

you could always make one up, shouldnt be to hard.

Level 4 User Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 97

ive got 3 of em, 5ver each.

Level 3 User Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 79

Oooooooooo, I know this one. The 19 structually is flimsy chassis wise on the front, especially on the cross member between the lights. This is why all 19's have strut bars. To offer a normal level of chassis rigidity. The 16V strut bar is thicker than standard ones though. Bridges. Smile

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

bars the same on all versions and no the shell isn't floppy in comparison to other cars otherwise it would have been illegal for renault to sell the car without adequate strengthening on other parts of the shell on versions where the engines don't allow the strut brace to be mounted.

Have you ever seen a 19? The crossmember between the lights is not flimsy its a U shaped pressed steel channel with a plate welded over it to make it a box section like the rest of the car the subframe is also very strong but has a habit of splitting due to rust under the jacking block which traps water. The subframe has 4 mounting points 2 of which are on that 'flimsy' front crossmember.

The shell indeed can be stiffened easily but its not as flimsy as say an escort or an astra which are its closest competitors.

Level 7 User Joined: 27 Feb 2004 Posts: 243

haaacutally, the bar is designed to damp out vibrations at certain rev frequencies. the block of iron under the subframe is also to do the same thing. thats wat renault engineers sed anyways....

jimbo

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

hes talking bollocks to you Jimbo.

Iron blocks for jacking purposes only after all thats why they all have them and theres a renault jack attachment for them!

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

what iron block r we talkin about?

Level 3 User Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 79

Ok that makes sense, Chris. Yes have seen a 19. Although the Strut bar must logically be there for a reason, was guessing chassis as strut bars are often used to stop flex. Was sure my 16v one was a tad thicker than my old energy one. Again I struggle to remmember what day it is so thinking you must be right. Anyway Escorts and astras are made from old loo rolls. Embarassed

Site Subscriber Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 4722

are thay?

learn summin ever day

Razz

Level 7 User Joined: 27 Feb 2004 Posts: 243

hahahaha, lol. this was from the technical literature that came at the launch of the 19 back in `88. if u try jacking the car up with the iron block under the subframe, then u bend the subframe, jsut like on my 19.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

never seen one bend jimbo, yours was probably cracked, jacked mine up there, not the chamade though cos its cracked. Se them using it at renault all the time, new cars have them to.

Technical literature etc is pretty useless, its a sad fact that cars are way below par due to the bean counters then you have daft people in advertising who try and sell the cars. Even the designers say what? is this my car your talking about and so on.

I still don't understand why they made such an arse of the cooling system on the 16V's, and this and that.

Strut brace is part number 7700786081 Â£26.51 for all 19's.

Anti roll bar (front) is the same on all models as well.

Strut braces are there to stop the turrets flexing, all cars turrets flex here, its just that every car made is sturdy enough for standard road use but some manufacturers want that little bit extra like renault did. They needed somethign that was better than the competition.

Renaults have always been noted for their handling, they roll but they hang on.

Forum Moderator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 1356

Surely the name 'strut brace' gives the game away as to why the 19's have it no? How the hell can there be 19 post thread on why they have Strut brace!

Level 6 User Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 150

to add the 20th post to this thread: not all 19s have a strut brace.