That's a nice job, ex-Honda! It looks exactly like the RS bar, but you did it for almost nothing.

 

I work with alot of wiring and saw different style of truck bars and figured, I can make one from scrap tubing because that's what it actually is, is just a bar. I even have some painted blue and red but left some bare so it's up to the owner to paint it what ever color he/she wanted.

 

The Evo is a uni-body design:https://www.evolutionm.net/features/article/lanevo/20/6.

 

I wasn't originally going to do this because the RS trunk bar is ~$60, and didn't really seem worth it to me just for an accessory. But after seeing this thread, I got a rear strut bar for a Lancer (non Evo) off eBay for $39 shipped. Only $20 difference but the idea of it bolting right up was interesting to me, so I did it. I have carpet on the way and I'm cutting the plastic panel later today to fit. I added a washer underneath each side since the bar touches the trunk before the ends do, so I didn't want the ends being bent down after tightening the bolts. With a single washer everything is pretty flush against the trunk floor. I've only driven it maybe 60 miles, all in the city with some on/off ramps, so can't really speak for any performance difference yet. But for $40, why not

 

^^^Looks like a proper bar vs the stock RS tube w/the swedged ends

When you put some thought to this trunk bar, the EvO engineers put that bar there for a reason. They must have calculated some level of unibody flex & decided to install a very inexpensive tube bar there, for a later upgrade to those high level track cars? Most of these trunk, strut & chassis bars are not really needed & certainly can not be noticed on typical road driving.
Just my thoughts.

 

panel trimmed; I cut the tabs off the back of the wood board, and am currently painting/staining it, carpet on order

 

Looks preem! Do you have a recent link to one of those?

 

thanks

I bought this one, some still available

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284241976795

 

You made that work! Its actually an upper rear strut bar!

 

that's what I thought OP was using, but the more I thought about it, it could have been the lower? took the chance with free returns.

So to confirm, yes, you want rear upper strut bar for an 02 and up Lancer (non Evo)

 

anybody install one of these into a evo 7 GTA? the GTA trunk floor doesn't have the welded nuts like every other evo. anyone fit rivet nuts or anything in there?

 

That bar does nothing. Just as strut bars do nothing. If you want to test it, take out one bolt, put a camera at the location and see if there is any relative movement.

 

What i would like to do is place a dial indicator on that bar w/a GoPro & work it around a track & see if we could see some thousands movement (i.e. .002).

Have always been curious why the Mitsu engineers installed that bar. You of all people know engineers most always do things for valid reasons?

But, for sure, youre avg HPDE or street driver will never feel or gain anything from these bars. Its a visual thing!

 

A few of use have discussed this before on the forum and the best guess is its either to reduce NVH from diff and exhaust noise or its just so people "think" theirs something special about it. A marketing type thing. I think its the NVH since RS had no trunk trim.

 

i'm torn between the two camps. on one hand I agree with this, manufacturers often implement accessories just for the sake of accessory, with no real performance improvement. on the other hand, like MinusPrevious said, I also want to believe that they wouldn't incorporate this without thorough R&D showing some kind of benefit.

ultimately i did it, because for $40, why not. if this was hundreds of dollars and involved permanently modifying something on the car, that's a different story. but the part of the trunk panel that was trimmed will never been seen, or missed. and once i put the carpet in you'll never even know it's there, so it maintains OEM aesthetics.