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Tonight I upgraded my stock 19mm rear swaybar with a bar from a salvage yard 1990 SHO. If you didnt know by now, the bar and bushings were obtained for 50$ and I didnt have to pull it. Had I known at the time it was a U-Pull-it yard I would have done it myself, and maybe picked it up for less, and learned something.
Total time for this project, start to finish, from picking up the tool bag to washing hands was 1 hour.
Tools Used:
13mm hand wrench
6inch Crescent wrench
Break Free rust buster.
four way tire Iron
Two jackstands
1) Put the car up on jack stands. This sounds easy, until you look at the back end and notice that there is no frame to put them under. I had one flat top jackstand, and a pair of heavy duty cast iron stands that have a little divot in the middle.
I urge caution here because, if you use the wrong kind of stand and place it where the car jack fits, you will damage the lower body moulding when the body knife edge sets down in the little divot/crease. I put the one flat top jack stand where the jack goes, and used my hydraulic jack in the same place on the other side, using a piece of wood as a pad. I put one of the other jack stands under the middle rear end housing .. the CENTER BOX.. this was a safety precaution in the event the hydraulic jack failed.
2) With suitable light I looked up into the crevasse where the sway bar lives, and to say the least it appeared daunting. I remembered Tim Wrights comment "Pull the passenger side wheel." and once I did that, the way to get the bar out was obvious. The problem lies in the sway bar being between the body of the car and the exhaust and fuel filler hoses and some hard lines.
3) I disconnected the swaybar ends using the 13mm wrench, a socket would work, but it has to be a deep socket. The crescent wrench was used to hold the link, and there are flats on the link for that purpose. I removed the flat washers and lower rubber insulators. The break free was used to clean up the threads a bit, as it was pretty rusty and dirty under there. 90% of the grime was dirt/rust. Not a greasy job at all.
4) I next removed the two 13mm bolts that attached the swaybar to the frame rails. Each side has one bolt and the other end of the attaching bracket fits into a notch. Two bolts total for both sides. I pried the two mounting brackets off and removed the rubber insulators to make room the get the bar out.
5) OK This part requires some dexterity and some patience!. With the swaybar loose and hanging down I began to slide the bar to the passenger side. You have to roll the bar so that a) that outside (passenger) end passes outside the rear brake hose and the inner (drivers) side rolls above the exhaust pipe. Once this is done, the outer side will do fine, and all you have to do is work the inner side above the hard lines, hoses and other
side exhaust. Getting it out was very easy!.
6) OK This is the hardest part, you install the new bar in the same order that the old one came out. working the bar in above the lines and hoses. At this point you will notice that the bar is larger and heavier, and SURPRISE! it doesn't flex much at all. You may be persuaded to use a prybar or a large screwdriver to move the bar past the exhaust pipes.
7) Once the bar is all the way in, and hanging there, the insulators and brackets go on, and get bolted up loosely. The link ends go on, and are tightened down completely, then the frame brackets can be finished. You will notice that the frame insulators are shaped so that the can only go on one way, but the split in the insulator faces the front of the car anyway.
THE ROAD TEST
After tightening it all down, getting the car down on the ground, and washing up it was test drive time. As soon as I rolled in to the street it felt different, and I was only pulling out of a flat drive way!.. At the first little turn the difference was to say the least.. remarkable!..
Aggressive! Next is the autocross. HOO YAH!
At some point in the future I will make my way to the Autozone and obtain end link bushings. 7$ a set. Then I will order a set of frame mount bushings from the sho shop.. in that order. In the mean time the OEM parts will do nicely.. already a marked upgrade!
Again, my bar was a 50$ salvage yard refugee. The SHO SHOP sells the same bar, only new, and those come with the poly bushings already. In retrospect.. If you cant find a salvage piece... the price is worth it.
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