Flyin' Miata complete butterfly brace v2.1
Flyin' Miata complete butterfly brace v2.1
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SKU
SKU
Instructions
Instructions
Data
Data
Fits: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2004 MSM, 2005, 2005 MSM
Emissions: Emissions do not apply.
There are no shipping restrictions on this item.
Warranty: 1 year
Our original butterfly brace was a very popular upgrade for NA and NB Miatas. Now it's better in every way! It has more ground clearance, it's more effective, it's easier to install and it costs less.
First, why do you want chassis rigidity? Because a stiff structure allows the suspension to work better. If your chassis flexes, it's basically a big undamped spring that changes your suspension geometry under load and shudders every time you hit a bump. A stiff chassis will give your suspension a solid platform to work from, leading to better, more predictable handling as well as improved ride quality. There really is no downside. Chassis stiffness is usually measured as torsional rigidity - resistance to twist - because that's how loads usually travel through a car.
When it came time to update the design of our popular and effective butterfly brace, we did it properly. We tested Miatas in a variety of configurations, from a high mileage 1990 to a late NB with the full Sport bracing. Here are some of the highlights:
- The new design is stiffer than the original the new design
- The new design ties right into the front subframe mount points
- Fuel/brake lines have more room than with the original design
- The new design fits a wider range of cars and exhausts
- The new design includes mounting points for attaching a flat undertray (not currently available)
- The new design is dramatically easier to install and remove for service.
Ground clearance is unchanged from the factory Sport bracing. The new design gives more clearance for various exhaust configurations and is easier to remove if you need to do work like dropping the trans. It's fully compatible with factory front and rear subframe braces. Cars with the "Sport" undercar bracing will have to remove two cross braces in the center. It's made of stainless steel so there is no concern about rust. Total weight is 33 lbs, low and in the center of the car.
The butterfly brace includes our frame rail kit and supplements it with two cross-braces. If you already have our version 2.0 frame rails (the ones with Flyin' Miata cut through the sides), you can add the butterfly brace upgrade. If you have our older frame rails then they're unfortunately not directly compatible without welding in some mounting plates.
The differences between the 2.0 and 2.1 butterfly brace designs are minor, and they are interchangable. The primary modifications have been for more consistent quality.
Stiffer. Easier to install. Lower price. Now that is progress.
Customer Reviews
I installed this in my 1996 miata and it made the car feel so much more rigid. Installation was simple and straight forward. As long as you follow the directions on the frame rail installation the butterfly braces fit spot on. It was an easy install for me, took about an hour and a half, with a good chunk of that time markings and drilling holes. I recommend getting a good drill bit it makes the job a lot easier. Hardware worked excellent with none breaking or stripping before reaching the recommend torque specs the directions provided.
The kit installed good. To be sure the railes lined up, and the front butterfly brace lined up, we installed it before drilling the holes in the chassis (adjusted the rails during this step). We drilled the holes we could get to (all but one each side), and anchored it snug. Removed the butterfly, and drilled the other two holes, and anchored. The only issue is the intermediate pipe rests firmly on the front section of the front butterfly. It is a 1999 car, and only has 2200 miles on it, it is prestine! I have to figure out a way to get that intermediate pipe up higher...
It's surprising to have exhaust interference on an NB, but you could try stiffer exhaust hangers to keep it from sagging too much. You could also remove the stock heat shielding around the pipe at the interference.
Overall install went fabulous, followed the instructions that came with it to the word and went perfect. I was super super fearful when it comes to DRILLING into the car, as I feel it is something you can't come back from. Well, bit the bullet and did the drilling, and used herculiner truck bed spray coating to spray inside and outside the car around the hole. It was tight to get on, but I was able to use the scissor jack from the car to sort of "press" the brace into place for ease.
The driving effects were immediately noticable! I feels like the car never skipped ab day at the gym, the flex was gone from the center of the car. Going over the drainage curb to get on the driveway you can feel the car almost transfer its weight differently. Much smoother of a drive as well since the chassis is being taken out of the suspension jiggle.
Stock NB2 header and cat, Cobalt midpipe w/cat and a racingbeat muffler -There were no interference issues but I did go with poly exhaust bushings, which gave me a gap of 3/16ths from the brace to the heat shield. I have only heard it clammer once when I very poorly let the clutch out and stalled. Regular driving does not seem to make any noises at all but your results may vary.
Overall, I would 100% recommend this to anyone!
The braces are ok but the nut and bolt hardware was defective. The nuts would not tighten up and the bolts snapped when trying to remove the bolts. by the time the shop doing the install finished, it cost me two additional hours of labor plus the cost of bolts and nuts that worked. That made it way too expensive compared to the competition.. Flyin' Miata should review their suppliers and business processes to get their quality control back. I am relieved that I got my other upgrades from the competition.
We use stainless steel bolts and nuts, which require the use of anti-seize. That requirement, which is specifically outlined in the instructions, was missed here, which resulted in the galled hardware. We tried to reach an ammicable solution but were unable to. David, if there's anything we can do to help please reach back out.
Installed these at the same time as installing a HardDog rollbar on my high mileage 95M edition. Pulled the car out of the shop for the first rip and was amazed. More comfort, better turn in, much more predictable at the limit, and way less squeaks and rattles. That being said the hardware included was awful, these are pretty pricey and never in stock, but the difference it made in the car is still worth a 5 star review for me
Demand is definitely outstripping supply, but we've made a number of changes to try to keep up better. We're also improving the hardware.