Topic: How To: Rear Sway Bar Replacement/Upgrade!

[jonymac]

So Goat and I got the rear sway bar swapped out on my Sky RL tonight.  Here are the pics to prove it.  Basically as I understand it there are 3 different sway bar setups.  FE2 (NA Skys and Solstices), FE3 (Turbo Skys and Solstices), and Z0K (Solstice only upgrade option).  Goat and SnaponBob say that the pro drifters and other Kappa racers are running the FE3 front sway bar with upgraded polyurethane bushings and the Z0K rear sway bar with upgraded polyurethane bushings.  My car now has this setup.  I also have the DDM Race Backbone and ProBeam and RPI exhaust.

Parts:

- 1 Tube of Superlube (Ace Hardware or online)
- 1 Set of 1 1/16" greaseable polyurethane bushings (comes with fancy bracket with zerk fitting - woohoo!) http://www.energysuspension.com/pages/swaybbct.html
- 1 Z0K sway bar - the weight difference between the FE3 bar and the Z0K bar is phenomenal - Z0K is MUCH stiffer
- 1 Friend dumb enough to crawl under the car with you

Tools:

- 15 mm socket and short extension
- WD-40
- Large flat head Screwdriver
- 5 mm allen wrench
- 18 mm ratchet ring wrench (Goat had one like this - http://www.maplin.co.uk/images/Full/jr18u.jpg
- Jack stand (2 preferrably), jack, or ramps and a jack

IMPORTANT! Take a picture of or memorize the orientation of the sway bar BEFORE removal.  There are lots of bars and such in the wheel wells and the sway bar has to go in with ends pointed down, to the inside of the coilovers, over the top of the half axel and suspension linkage.

Lube:


Bushings:


Sway Bar:


Friend dumb enough to crawl under the car with you:


Step 1 - Get the car on ramps or jack stands

Step 2 - Read the important statement above and do it.

Step 3 - Drop the back of the exhaust (you will probably try to not do this, then you will give up and do it - WD-40 the hangers, work in a flathead screwdriver and pry them off)

Step 4 - Unbolt 4 15mm bushing bolts and remove retainer brackets

Step 5 - The ends of the sway bar are connected inside the wheel well with these funky bolts that have an allen wrench thingamabob in the middle.  Put your ratchet wrench around the bolt and your allen wrench in the hole and while holding the allen wrench steady, ratchet away (may take a while).  Set aside your old bar and bushing covers and offer them to an NA owner who may want an FE3 sway bar.

Funky Bolt:


Step 6 - Liberally lube the insides of your new bushings and put them on the new bar.

Step 7 - Now, we found it easier to get the bar in by putting the car on jack stands thus letting the weight of the wheels pull the suspension down so we could work the bar in - refer to your picture or drawing or excellent memory from Step 2 and work one side of the new bar into position.  The other side is tricky.  You need to get the end of bar past the coilover first, then the axel boot second to get it into position.  The best method we could find to get is past the coilover was this:

JonyMac's Two foot method:


To get it past the axel boot, while the car is on jack stands, put your jack under the rear tire where you are working and jack it up a couple of inches - that's right, under the rear tire - Goat gets a genius point for this.  The sway bar should now pop into place:


This picture shows the sway bar (black, foreground) - you can see the rub marks on the coil over and the end of the axel boot.  The sway bar is in place in this picture.


Step 8 - Finger tighten your funky allen bolt nuts, put your new bushing brackets in place and install your 4 15mm bolts, go back to your funky allen bolts and tighten them down.

Step 9 - Replace exhaust and don't strip out your RPI T-bolt V band clamp like I did.

Step 10 - Drop the car and hit the twisties!


Impressions:  Goat and I headed for "Napa Autoparts" for some 3 mile island wings and tested things out.  As I already had the backbone and probeam, I was suprised that I could now feel how the Z0K bar changed things even more in the backend.  I jumped on it turning left out of our neighborhood, and the rear end swung out perfectly flat with no rollover.  In the turns it feels more solid and better connected allowing the tires to hook up more predictably.  I will have more time tomorrow to run my favorite twisties, but you can definitely feel the difference.

JonyMac and Lil Goat


Adding line as part of test from DeepBlueGXP

[LiquidPT]

Did you notice any increase in road harshness? Were bumps/uneven surfaces more jarring?

[deepwater805]

Good job Jonymac. I'm impressed, and it was allot cheaper then my method for installing the Z0K suspension. I took the Ghost down to the local mechanic dude, and paid him to do it.

LiquidPT. There is quite a bit of difference in "road harshness". The entrance to my village is red cobblestones, and as pretty as this is, it beats the heck of me when I'm in the GXP. In fact I have to re-adjust my mirror every time I drive on it.

[LiquidPT]

Good job Jonymac. I'm impressed, and it was allot cheaper then my method for installing the Z0K suspension. I took the Ghost down to the local mechanic dude, and paid him to do it.

LiquidPT. There is quite a bit of difference in "road harshness". The entrance to my village is red cobblestones, and as pretty as this is, it beats the heck of me when I'm in the GXP. In fact I have to re-adjust my mirror every time I drive on it.

And did you just do the rear sway, or the whole Z0K suspension (I assume that includes shocks, etc)

[Uranium-238]

With my othwewise stock suspension, any increase in harshness has been pretty negligible.

[snaponbob]

Nice write up. If you were REALLY talented we would see you swinging wrenches with your feet instead of holding the bar in place with them !!! The pictures will really help some of the folks here, so thanks for that. PB Blaster is "man's best friend" on these type of projects. A little heads up on the greaseable bushings - they are fairly snug fitting, so when using a grease gun to lube them they will not need, or accept, much and might even feel like they are not getting any lube, but they are.

Everybody does things differently, but with the car on jack stands there should no issues lining up the links with the holes in the bar and control arms IF YOU DO NOT TIGHTEN EVERYTHING UNTIL EVERYTHING IS IN PLACE. I do have to question the tool list. The car is 100% metric. The list SHOULD be
1) a 6mm allen (to hold the ending link threaded end)
2) 15mm socket (for the sway bar brackets) plus ratchet and extension
3) 18mm wrench (for the end link nuts)
4) jack and stands
end of list - UNLESS there are issues with the exhaust and/or you have a hitch.

Not sure how the drift cars are set up, but they MUST be done with LOTS of roll and spring stiffness biased to the rear. For street use the GXP/Z0K rear bar with the FE3 front bar will really make the car more neutral. With the BackBone and ProBeam it will be great.

[jonymac]

Thanks - I'll  update the how to with the proper metrics.

I have noticed a bit more harshness - not too bad though - I drive down Constitution Ave in DC each day to get to work and if you have driven it, you know it is about the crappiest paved road around.  Bumps and potholes that almost make you scrape your exhaust.  This morning I noticed it to be a bit harsher, but not bad really given the gains in handling it gives you.

[Ben L]

Very helpful and informative post.

That's what this place is all about!

Thanks JM and Goat!

[DeepBlueGXP]

Thanks for the writeup as always.  How many beers would you rate this install?

[PURE_Fun]

I had been wanting to get ratchet wrench's for quite a while so I thought I would buy a set since I need them.  Went to sears and they had 4-wrench sets for $26, but the set did not have the 18mm, it had one wrench which was 17mm & 19mm.  Had to buy it separate.

Just so you know.

[Ben L]

Figures . . .

[snaponbob]

KD Gear Wrench sets can cheaply solve that issue for the next person. Lowes and Home Depot have them (possibly under different names).

[jonymac]

Deep - I'd say it was a 3 beer install - 4 if you try to put the sway bar in upside down.......

[kennysabarese]

Sounds like a fall mod meet project for me!

[TerryT]

Hey Guys, Just wanted to let you know that I installed my ZOK rear bar today and if I hadn't had your great "how to" to reference it would have been the job from hell.

 I never would have caught those allen sockets in the middle of the threaded rod. Took about three hours working solo in the Texas heat but now (with the DDM backbone and Probeam that I installed in June) she corners like she's on rails!

Two beers and a gallon of ice water during install, the other four beers after the test drive. So I would call it a six beer job!

Thanks again for the great info.