Whiteline rear sway bar installation... what a nightmare

[onlytrueromeo]

Where'd you get front sway bar bushings? And yes, the bushings look to be utterly buried!

[wytbishop]

Yeah I was thinking about that and it seems like you'd almost have to drop the subframe to access the front sway bar chassis mounts.

I think you could make the Energy Suspension universal ones fit. You could order them from SuperPro but they would take a very long time arriving. I'm just going to buy some stock ones.

[nightfire]

Yeah the ones I have are energy suspension.

When I bought them it was labelled explicitly for our cars (about 2 years ago). If it is a universal kit I hope it fits..

[Whisper]

ES universal ones fit, as long as you get the right size.

[nightfire]

That's what I got I guess then. Next time I have my wheels off I'll see if I can fit a wrench in there.

[Ukrman]

yeah i've been trying to install mine...... still having issues

so maybe can get some advice from the pros

so i just ended up cutting off the endlinks (got new one from amazon for $8 each, which was a price mistake but they sent the to me anyways lol)

so after installing, the back of my car sits about 4 inches off the ground and won't go down
any advice???? so not sure if the brackest are too tight that hold it, or maybe the torque on the endlinks is messed up.....

thanks

[wytbishop]

YOu're gonna need to post pictures of that. Did you remove anything other than the sway bar?

[96mx-3]

ahhh i was looking forward to buying one and puttin it on but now it seems like a nightmare

defanitly want to see pics of this

[nightfire]

ahhh i was looking forward to buying one and puttin it on but now it seems like a nightmare

defanitly want to see pics of this

Well I will say it's worth it. As long as you have a dremel and a pack of cutoff wheels, it's not that bad. I was just trying to save everything for some reason, and that was a waste of time.

I've been driving with it on for a week now, and the difference is quite astonishing. The back end no longer wobbles around, and the suspension isn't upset by hard cornering. I'd say my cornering capacity has increased by 10% overall, though more so at low speed (ie. 40km/h).

The biggest difference is in turn-in. It really kicks you in the side (quickly) when you pull the wheel sharply at high speed, as opposed to before where there was a pronounced delay between action and direction change.

Definitely a worthwhile upgrade, despite the hassle.

[wytbishop]

There are 2 big sticking points with the sway bars.

1) the stock end links rust very badly and in my experience almost never come off without cutting. So the best way I've found is to cut the links both in half and get some separation from the LCA or Lateral Link. Then you'll be able to get a dremel or other cutoff tool in to remove the studs. The Lateral link is the trickiest because the stud is inside the arm and the nut is facing the middle of the car But it can be done.

2) The front sway bar mounts are nearly in accessible. I have not actually tried to remove or install a front swaybar with the subframe in the car...but it doesn't look fun. I don't know if it's even possible looking at the exploded view in the manual.

But the rear should be a snap once the rusty old links are off. Not sure what Ukrman has going there...I would like to see a picture of the problem.

[nightfire]

Yeah, once the rear endlinks are off, the swaybar is a snap to remove. Two bolts, and even on my car I had no trouble getting those free.

Getting the new swaybar on, however, is a bit tricky. You have to press the bar & bushings into the brackets (a vice will do) and then squeeze them together under the car to get the bolt in. It's probably a lot easier the second time, but at first the bushings don't really want to compress. I'd recommend getting a few various clamps and vice grips ready.

You may want to pick up new brackets before you start (no doubt a dealer part). They looked fairly rusty on mine, and I'd be concerned about cracking/snapping them while torquing down. It didn't happen to me, but I could have been lucky.

And you know, just thinking about it now... unless you plan to reuse or sell your stock swaybar, you don't actually have to cut the lower endlink bolt off. You can just leave it there and save the effort. Unfortunately those are the easier ones.

[Ukrman]

i made a new discovery.... i'm possibly half retarded

So there really was no problem, and everything was installed correctly. However, the car was jacked up on both side in the rear, so when I lowered the one side, the car was still sitting very high because of the jack on the other side... and i was thinking that something was wrong, so didn't lower the other side to make sure i wouldn't put too much pressure and break something...... so i took everything off and reinstalled again... and the same "problem" persisted.... but something clicked and I lowered the car on both side... and boom it was back to normal I have yet to drive it to test the effectiveness of the sway bar.

I'll put up some pics in my worklog soon

[nightfire]

i made a new discovery.... i'm possibly half retarded

So there really was no problem, and everything was installed correctly. However, the car was jacked up on both side in the rear, so when I lowered the one side, the car was still sitting very high because of the jack on the other side... and i was thinking that something was wrong, so didn't lower the other side to make sure i wouldn't put too much pressure and break something...... so i took everything off and reinstalled again... and the same "problem" persisted.... but something clicked and I lowered the car on both side... and boom it was back to normal I have yet to drive it to test the effectiveness of the sway bar.

I'll put up some pics in my worklog soon

lol.. that's nothing. I finished my ZE swap, and drove around for 10 minutes before my temperature gauge spiked through the roof. I added coolant, but only to the overflow reservoir. Not to the engine/rad.

Luckily I caught it in time. That would have been an expensive lesson.

Lemme know what you think of the swaybar, and how it affects turn-in. It made a huge difference for me.

[fowljesse]

fails. I've had plenty of my own
I don't know if you guys know, but replacing the front swaybar is a waste of time. In fact, Oone of the MX-3 MAsters (Yoda aka Vaughn) said the car handles as well, or better, with it disconnected. I haven't gone that far, but I have achieved neutral handling without touching the front swaybar.

[hppwdn]

I'm glad I live in Florida. I put on my whiteline in 27 minutes start to finish with picture taking included (timed it). The endlinks were a breeze to work with, no rust or anything.

http://www.iceyrecords.com/drew/mx3/02- ... nstall.htm