Corky's breast plate..

[kanujunkie]

10min job, don't know what took Stu so long on Saturday   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

[sticks tongue out] cheeky fecker [/stick tongue out]

[Anonymous]

John,

I was just wondering if you have heard anything more from Corky?

I'm really interested in a plate also, and was just wondering if we could combine orders to save on shipping  s:?: :?: s:?:  

Cheers
Mat

[Anonymous]

John,

I was just wondering if you have heard anything more from Corky?

I'm really interested in a plate also, and was just wondering if we could combine orders to save on shipping  s:?: :?: s:?:  

Cheers
Mat

You've been PM'd

[Anonymous]

Received mine today, never expected it to be so long, but when I look how poor the stock supports are this can only be a good thing.

Hope it takes me 20mins to fit although I am so inept with anything manual I will probably end up sleeping under the car.  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[so.simple]

It's the easiest mod there is. Just 6 bolts and presto!   s8) s8)

[Anonymous]

ye it's a doddle, even i did it in 10 minutes, getting the cables back in was a pig though

[filcee]

It's occurred to me that chassis flex may not necessarily be a bad thing. Bracing up the car seems to enhance some of its more "squirrely" characteristics. I'm getting that from zauskycop and others on the racing circuit. Adding performance also adds to the requirement for driver skill and perhaps Toyota intentionally wanted the car to be a touch more forgiving. Or maybe they were just saving money.

Seconded.  I don't have a Corky's, and have avoided it as a mod because of the likely impact on my insurance (as  the '2 is my daily drive and I'm potentially driving up to  20k a year on business, it would probably get silly).

Often, mine feels 'squirrely', but no evidence of any excitement from the TC light or buzzer in the cabin.  Clearly, nothing too untoward has happened if the disco effects don't fire up.  I think the 'squirrely' feeling is more likely the car flexing, and drawing attention to the fact that the drive, and the bigger half of the weight is behind my left shoulder.  A reminder, if you like.

I don't mind that it doesn't step out of line, I like being reminded that my car could put me in the scenery if it wanted to, and that I need to pay attention to what I'm doing.  It's part of the 'character' of the car.  It's possible that this was 'designed' in from the start by the  allegedly 'very keen on karting' MR2 design team.  It might be just a coincidence that the lack of proper rigid compoenents has help keep it 'cheap' too  s;-) ;-) s;-)

[Chris]

Ok then. One for Darth to laugh at.........

I have made my first tentative enquiries to Corky about obtaining a breast plate.........

I think I am turning to the "dark side"...............  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Welcome to the slippery slope of modding!   s:D s:D   I first started out with small things like vents. vents lead to plates. plates lead to filters.  filters lead to exhausts...  powerful is the modding force   s8) s8)    s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

Took about an hour, easy to come off bitch to get clips back on, what a revelation though. No flex under the seat area whatso ever, fantastic effort

[Anonymous]

Fitted my breastplate at the weekend, have since done about 500miles.  Not that impressed with the results, will be taking it off tonight and putting the oe back on.
Could it be just too much with the front and rear tower braces and che lower front brace?  Now feeling all the bumps and it seems to skip a little.

[Anonymous]

probably.. but even I didn't feel this huge improvement that everybody's talking about and all I had done before was lowerings springs.

[Anonymous]

oh but I just remembered, I had the hardtop on when it was fitted so that could also have been part of it..

[Anonymous]

sorry chaps no mods whatsoever on my car except the plate which I fitted the other night, even the girlfriend notice how much more involved and safe a drive it felt. Really screwed everything together.

[Tem]

I remember someone saying that his car felt very flexy when he took the hardtop off, but with the antiflex plate it felt like the hardtop was back on  s8) s8)

[heathstimpson]

Fitted my breastplate at the weekend, have since done about 500miles.  Not that impressed with the results, will be taking it off tonight and putting the oe back on.
Could it be just too much with the front and rear tower braces and che lower front brace?  Now feeling all the bumps and it seems to skip a little.

Surprised your removing it so soon matey  s:? :? s:?    s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

[roger]

Fitted my breastplate at the weekend, have since done about 500miles.  Not that impressed with the results, will be taking it off tonight and putting the oe back on.
Could it be just too much with the front and rear tower braces and che lower front brace?  Now feeling all the bumps and it seems to skip a little.

The OE are such piddling bits of steel, if you think the breast plate is no good, would you consider going commando? Nobody else has said they have, perhaps you can be the first?   s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  Then we can have a full summary of the advantage (or otherwise) of bracing amidships.

Personally I just cannot see how your car could be worse. Maybe the "bumps" are more solid, I'll give you that, but IMO there is %%%% less scuttle shake, creaking etc. It was only 200 yards before I confirmed the advantage, perhaps you ought to give it a bit longer?

[Anonymous]

Now feeling all the bumps and it seems to skip a little.

I'm not an expert on suspension geometry, but this makes some sense... as you make it more rigid, any bumps are going to be transmitted across the whole car, rather than just localised, unless the suspension struts manage to catch and absorb the whole movement.  And of course what's transmitted isn't always going to be absorbed at the other 3 corners, so may well cause some sort of lift, and hence skip.

[Anonymous]

Due to the good weather I've been lazy and not changed yet.  I wil leave it on for the weekend as we are off to the lake district fro the weekend.  This should give me a better idea if my "feelings" are correct.
My current feeling is that the car does need to flex a little and perhaps this is just a brace too far.
Would fitting lowering springs have a good or bad effect. [all opinions welcomed]  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[aaronjb]

My current feeling is that the car does need to flex a little and perhaps this is just a brace too far.
Would fitting lowering springs have a good or bad effect. [all opinions welcomed]  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

I guess it's down to personal taste and how you want the ride to be.. After all, if we all wanted cars that rode like gokarts, nobody would buy a family hatch  s;) s;)

I'd say, though, that if you dislike what the brace does to the suspension feel, you'll hate what lowering (esp. if they are a higher spring rate) springs and/or harder shocks do to the car..

[kanujunkie]

My current feeling is that the car does need to flex a little and perhaps this is just a brace too far.
Would fitting lowering springs have a good or bad effect. [all opinions welcomed]  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

I guess it's down to personal taste and how you want the ride to be.. After all, if we all wanted cars that rode like gokarts, nobody would buy a family hatch  s;) s;)

I'd say, though, that if you dislike what the brace does to the suspension feel, you'll hate what lowering (esp. if they are a higher spring rate) springs and/or harder shocks do to the car..

i say bring on the go-karts, lower, harder, less flexi ride the better, i do agree though that a bit of flex in the chassis is required, otherwise teeth would fall out for a start not to mention the car slideing all over the road. On the other hand though i dont even think the sportivo or Tein kit would even come close to being a problem, except for the teeth bit.

[Anonymous]

I was just wondering if you have heard anything more from Corky?

Corky recently produced a batch of one piece front strut tower braces (solid, not hinged).  He may not be home much for a while because it was barely a week ago that his MR2 became the first SMT with a Hass Stage 2 turbo (stock hp x 2).  Chances are the top, and the pedal will be down for a while.

Due to almost universal agreement on the value of a breastplate, I had one of his with me when I went to pick my Spyder up from the dealer.  An Autopower roll bar also went on the first day (mounting conflicts with hardtop, but it also acts as a chassis brace).  I still need to paint and install my Corky's front strut tower brace, but I have been planning to do that alongside some other modifications on the front end.

Adding hp increases the value of extra bracing.  The more you push it into the corners, the more you will agree it was money well spent.  If you drive your MR2 like the family sedan you won't need aftermarket braces.

[Anonymous]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread but fitted my Corky's saturday night and the difference is nothing short of amazing. Even Deb noticed that my 2 seemed more rigid. Due to it being wet out yesterday I've not really had chance to throw my 2 about but I'm sure it will enhance the drive.
What took me so long to get one of these.
Oh and I was surprised at the "bits of tin" Toyota fit as standard...

[Two's Company]

A corky plate should be everyones first mod.  It is the best £75 I've ever spent!   s:D s:D

[Anonymous]

Are they still available to buy?

[rmowbray]

Yep,

I asked Corky this question yesterday he does have them available. Log on to Spyderchat & you'll find his thread in the Commercial Sales forum. They cost a bit more than £75 though, $135 + $40 shipping to UK (plus import taxes & VAT).

 m http://www.spyderchat.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=24138 m

Richard