will it stiffen up the front of the car, or is it pointless? i already have one and plan to do the swap just curious if it will help with the stiffness an i6 car?
Belly bars are there to support the bottom of the shock tower so they don't crumple under the weight of the engine bouncing around. If it stiffens the suspension up then you have some rotten metal where you shouldn't.
It won't HURT anything, so I agree with Frank - just put it on so you know where it is. It takes about 1 minute to install.
I got one under my six The V8 doesn't weight that much more than a six. There's only 40 lbs difference between a 250 and 302.
I would say that, if there is a way for you to stiffen up your chassis, do it. You don't want your chassis flexing and acting like a spring. It will allow your suspension to react more efficiently
Subframe connectors will stiffen the chassis but the belly bar won't do much. A nice twelve point roll cage with subframe connectors will make it nearly ridgid.
the reason i asked was because a montecarlo bar sitffens the front end up...so y wouldn't a belly bar...but if u say it doesn't help ill take your word for it
...some say it helps... some say it both ways......"Belly bars are there to support the bottom of the shock tower." ..."the belly bar won't do much." i vote...helps it was put on by Ford for a reason... ......
Adding a cross member (which is what the "belly bar" is) keeps the two parts of the frame at the same distance aprt but it won't keep the frame from twisting at all. The biggest problem with sub frame cars is that they twist. The belly bar will not help that at all. It will make the front end more stable side to side but not do anything to keep the twist away. It won't hurt anything to install it - put it on. Just don't expect to feel much in the way of stiffer or better ride.
I always wondered why they didn't put it on ALL (atleast the 250s) Mavericks since the weight difference isn't that much between a 302 and 250.
The early (60-65) Falcons, which were all 6 cyl, came with a belly bar. They were held in place using the same 6 bolts holding the engine frame mount to the shock tower. When the Falcon came out with a V8 option in mid '63 the belly bar was omitted but these V8 cars had torque boxes. This kind of makes a person question the original purpose of the belly bar intention.
The early Falcons had torque boxes too. All subframe cars use them to tie the sub frmes into the body for support. The Falcons used some pretty thin material in the front end and subframes - even thinner that the 65-66 Mustangs, They may have needed the extra lateral support. Trying to second guess an engineer on a budget is like looking into the future - many possibilities.
