"Crash bar" at "B" pillar of EJ6 Hatch


Hikaru said:
Interestingly enough the sedan shares almost identical floor panel, but it's only considered by Honda to have reinforcement on hatchback and coupe.
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It is interesting. I noticed that floor appears nearly identical as well. The sedan does have different part numbers for the floor and floor crossmember vs the coupe and hatchback though. Perhaps those and some other panels are of thicker construction and the sedan body structure is more reinforced by design.

MotorMo said:
And there it is. So glad to finally shed some light on these bars and what they're all about. Thanks for everyone for your input and efforts. Another one of Honda's mystery' solved.
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You're welcome, glad to help. Hahaha... indeed.
 
So an update on my own adventures- I removed the three rear plates so the factory EK9 rear Black trim panels would bolt up flush with my EJ6 chassis.
Confirmed there is a bit more chassis flex with out those plates. Driving on coastal roads, the chassis had a bit of a spring response to it; it felt like I could "wind" it up a bit more, and spring out of the apex ( which seemed to work well with my 200,000 mile factory suspension haha.
Soo they're back in. I noticed an immediate response to chassis stiffness. So a word of advice to all EJ6 and EM1 owners out there is to keep the plates.
Now I need to brain storm on how to "reshape" the EK9 panels to fit my chassis with the factory plates installed, and making it look good in the process.
 
Nice update... and definitely good to know.
As a side note, there are several things that can be done to increase chassis rigidity if you did end up wanting to remove the bracing again, and for those that don't already have it. For starters you could fill the crossmember channel under the bracing with automotive structural foam. It can be had in varying degrees of firmness and I'm sure that it would make a significant difference. This was my eventual plan with my old EJ6 (that didn't have the bracing). Also, I did notice that it was fairly easy to affect and improve rigidity and handling on that car. I felt a significant improvement when I Dynamatted the entire car, specifically when I did the floor and rear hatch area... more so than when I added the coil overs and camber correction kits. Having said that though my EJ6 with full Dynamatting, coil overs, camber correction and dropped ride height couldn't compare to the feel and handling of my EK9 that's currently on worn out stock EJ6 suspension and no rear sway (both soon to be fixed).
 
I'd keep them there not only for strength and flex ,but the whole characteristics will change if removed .
 
ImmortalOne said:
Nice update... and definitely good to know.
As a side note, there are several things that can be done to increase chassis rigidity if you did end up wanting to remove the bracing again, and for those that don't already have it. For starters you could fill the crossmember channel under the bracing with automotive structural foam. It can be had in varying degrees of firmness and I'm sure that it would make a significant difference. This was my eventual plan with my old EJ6 (that didn't have the bracing). Also, I did notice that it was fairly easy to affect and improve rigidity and handling on that car. I felt a significant improvement when I Dynamatted the entire car, specifically when I did the floor and rear hatch area... more so than when I added the coil overs and camber correction kits. Having said that though my EJ6 with full Dynamatting, coil overs, camber correction and dropped ride height couldn't compare to the feel and handling of my EK9 that's currently on worn out stock EJ6 suspension and no rear sway (both soon to be fixed).
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Hella funny- truth be told there is no replacement for the real thing, even if it is rolling on stock EJ6 suspension, lol. Love it. Congrats on your EK9 ImmortalOne.
I've heard of structural foam, perhaps its about time to look into that, thanks for the info. Better suspension is also on my list too, but right now retrofitting a DC2 power steering rack on my EJ6 with a D series engine. Hopefully after this weekend it'll be handled and I can move on to greener pastures.
 
Thanks.
You're welcome. I was going to post the link to ITW Foamseal in this reply but it appears that they may no longer market it. Their website no longer exists. That was the one that Sport Compact Car used in their 300zx back in the June 2000 issue. Seems that there are several other companies out there though.
Best of luck with your progress. Sounds like you're taking your time, planning and doing some proper and worthwhile mods.
 
Found some pictures of the crash bars over google, thought someone might like to see how they look like off the ground.

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Finally got my rear JDM interior panels to fit after some minor "trimming" to fit around the crash bars. Turned out much better than I thought it would. Hello black interior.
Strange that its only a US thing if it helps reinforce the chassis. Wonder if the "EK's" were all made from thicker sheet metal? Comparing interior chassis pictures show no structural difference between EJ's and EK's as far as the sheet metal "molding".
 
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