RiverSide

For the sake of curiosity, i did actually have braces mounted to different points. (only one at a time) First a ran a mates brace that ran between the rear shocks, and mounted at the shock mounting points. This was 3 star improvement on the "riverside scale" I then removed that brace and fitted my boro spec, super bodgy home made brace. This brace was attached at the rear seatbelt mounting points. No adjustment etc. It was simply one bolt at each end attaching it to the car, then a bolt at each end holding a piece of thin walled steel box section. This felt substantially better than the "proper" brace. I rated it a 4 star improvement on the "riverside scale". I don't claim to understand all this sprung/unsprung mass jargon......to be honest, I simply wouldn't have the patience to absorb that kind of information. I base everything on my personal real life experiences. Perhaps you can explain why the bodgy brace felt better? in simple terms of course lol. Cheers

The CA18, as per usual is gettng a bit of a bad wrap here. as an example, I was running an unopened factory CA18det with GT2871R turbo and supporting mods at 20psi (0ver 200rwkw) for over a year before it wore out. Bare in mind, if this car was started, it was drifted. So it didn't have the easiest life. given that the engine was over 15 years old when i got it, i think that is a pretty fair life span. My strongest suggestion is to fit a quality oil cooler. This offsets the oil return issues by increasing the capacity. Basically.........if it were me, i would be fitting a CA into the rolla. In fact i would do it to mine if i could convince myself to spend any substantial cash on a rolla. I can't even bare to part with the cash to fit a stock 4age.

towe001...........Have you actually tested the difference with and without a brace? eg: back to back testing? As stated, bracing is under rated, it is a low cost, high return mod.

I tested my old ae71 with and without a homemade rear brace. This thing was super simple.........but the difference it made was MASSIVE. It was the difference between needing a clutch kick, or a simple twitch of the steering wheel to initiate a slide on the test corner. Bracing is under rated..........