DIY: DC2 Trunk floor brace

Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!


This is for a 94-01 Integra DC2/4 Trunk floor brace

For those who want rigid and strengthen the rear chassis, here is how to make and install your own rear trunk floor brace. An integra type R OEM trunk bar looks like the following (from team-integra.net):


http://tinypic.com/1j880k

Required:
one (1) 25mm X 25mm square steel or aluminium bar approx. 1m long.
two (2) 5/16" bolts at 2.5" long
four (4) 5/16" washers
two (2) 25mm square plastic end caps

Tools:
Screwdriver (phillips head)
measuring tape
Electric drill 4mm & 10mm (not a cordless one!)
Hacksaw

Steps:
1. Strip your boot by unscrewing 8 plastic screws indicated in the picture above with a yellow circle. The whole rear plastic pannel should come off easily.
2. Get your measuring tape out and measure the distance between the green holes in the picture. My distance was 855mm but it may differ so check.
3. With a hacksaw cut the steel square bar to a length of 910mm.
4. Mark and drill through two 4mm holes in the bar using your measured distance. Then drill 10mm into the same drilled holes. (drill slowly! it's going to be metal to metal contact) See below:
http://tinypic.com/1j88rl
5. Clean the bar and attach your 25mm plastic end caps
6. Now since the green holes (above) require to be drilled further in order for you to securely attach the nut. Drill through the outer sheetmetal. A side view of boot is shown below (excuse my terrible drawing:p )
http://tinypic.com/1j895s
7. Re- attach your removed rear plastic pannel.
8. Attach the bolt in the bar with the washer and through the body into the other side.
8. Now for the tricky part: you need to be really flexible and attach the washer and the nut by reaching with your hands from below the rear bumper.
9. Get a friend to hold the nut with pliers while you tighten the bolt.
The completed brace should look like this:
http://tinypic.com/1j8avrhttp://tinypic.com/1j8awz
http://tinypic.com/1j8az4

For this mod, I used a steel bar. Of course aluminium bars are also lighter and look better, but the steel bar offers more strength.

In my opinion, I wouldn't think a rear trunk brace alone would make a significant difference in the way my vehicle would handle. But combined with other suspension mods (rear sway bar, rear strut bar, rear tie bar) you would have a more rigid car that would significantly improve handling.