This is why I have a strut tower bar.

Chris_Top_Her

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San Antonio, Texas
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'15 CX-5 Miata AWD
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Noticed this as I was disconnecting the battery to weld a socket on a stuck bolt (which I failed at and hurt my finger grabbing the hot socket later lol). There is a crack over the spot weld of that little bracket, which is attached to the shock tower. The brackets sole purpose is to act as an bolt spot for the bar that runs under and serves as a attachment point for the cowling. When I go back I'm going to throw some weld on it (didn't think about it at the time).

Point being that the same stresses that led to that failure are on the shock tower as well. The bar helps reduce the stress by sharing the load with the other tower. If the shock tower cracks or warps your gonna have a bad day lol (bad alignment at best).
 
Already welded it. Still fighting that stuck bolt that's keeping me from removing the oil pan.
 
What is going on with your engine? To many stripped bolts. Why?
Did you notice wear on the bearings?
 
The oil pan bolts are just weak. I snapped the bolt holding the coilpack j8st breaking it loose once. The conrod bolt I found the issue. They are torx head bolts. I have been using with success, e14 size torx sockets. To break them and torque to spec. Apparently they are actually e12 size. That's why 2 were stopped (2 out of 8 total). Its confusing because the e14 socrt goes all the way to th base of the bolt head. The e12 does not. Both will grip, although apparently the e12 better.
Thi was the man culprit.. 90degrees spun (at least the position when I removed it) and the oil groove notch basically gone just leaving a cutout on the side. This destroyed notches were where the majority of the material came from, and when I drained the oil to do the repair (having since changed the oil after the incident), there was no more material.
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