UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway Bar m
 

The vehicle being updated is a 1992 Camaro with a 36mm 1LE swaybar, TopDownSolutions Wonderbar (6 bolt design), double adjustable front struts, UMI weight jacks, and UMI tubular K member and arms.

I was intrigued by these when they were released as they appeared to fill a niche that needed filled on the car, stronger sway bar mounts. We broke a factory sway bar mount in March and the car gained the sudden and unexpected ability to lift the right front wheel in corners on track. While this might look cool to spectators, it isn’t something we wanted the car to be able to do. But the offset bolt design of a thirdgen sway bar mount meant we had to replace the mount with another stock mount. With the release of the 2119 relocation brackets, I could now use the billet sway bar mounts as a stronger replacement to the factory stamped design.

First impressions: The relocation brackets are beefy. About 3/8 inch thick and nicely powdercoated. I ran a thread chase through the holes even though the threads appeared to be free of powdercoat material. If you have a tap set, this is always a good idea on painted or powdercoated parts and I tend to do it on all new parts. The billet sway bar mounts are works of aluminum art and it is a shame they aren’t out where more people can see them. These look like they will take the kind of beating we like to put on the car and just shrug it off. After breaking a factory mount in March, I’m looking forward to seeing these in action.

The install went cleanly. I cheated on the instructions a little and installed the sway bar mount studs prior to getting under the car with the brackets and bolting them to the frame. It just looked easier to do while standing up instead of while laying under the car. After loosening the sway bar end links so the bar could move freely, I removed the factory sway bar brackets and let the bar hang. Once the final bolt was removed that holds the TDS Wonderbar in place, the relocation bracket went in on the driver’s side with 0 issues. Everything lined up and all of the new hardware went in with no issues. The provided spacer was not needed as the wonderbar occupies the entire area under the new bracket.
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Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

The passenger side required me to dig through my supplies of leftover washers to find a pair that matched the thickness of the TDS bar and fit over the mounting bolt for the new bracket. This was required as the wonderbar mounting area only covers 3 of the 4 bolt holes and leaves a gap where the 4th one goes. In order to have the bolts all tighten down without a gap, I used washers to fill the gap on 1 bolt on the passenger side so all 4 bolts tighten evenly. Once those were in place, the sway bar mounts slipped snugly over the 36mm bushings for the factory 1LE sway bar and both sides were lined up before the final tightening of the mounts.


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The final steps were to grease the bushings and tighten the end links before lowering the car back down.

I was somewhat concerned about using a different bushing than the provided 35mm piece but the 36mm ones fit snugly in the bracket and don’t exhibit any signs of inappropriate fitment or not being properly seated in the mount.

As expected the product was well made and installed cleanly with only minor changes from the instructions to make them work with the pieces already on the car. The next step is to get the car on the road and see how it handles.

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

Nice Pics and Write up :)

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

Thanks for the review! Looks great

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

Interested to see how they look after you have beat on them for a bit, plus any impressions on how they are working out.

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

Bump for an update. I need new sway bar bushings and am kicking around the idea of buying these parts.

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

So far these have worked great. Very solid pieces that are not showing any wear after 3 months.

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

I'm having the same experience so far, I have TDS' wonderbar, I have the aluminum sway bar mounts, and was having the exact same experience until I discovered that the UMI pieces (aluminum mounts and sway bar relocation brackets) are not compatible with BMR's front sway bar SB002. The center area is too narrow and will not fit inside the sway bar mounts.

The UMI pieces are well designed, look nice, and work well with TDS wonderbar as laid out above.

I also discovered that BMR's sway bar actually worked the poly bushing halfway out of the stock mount on the driver's side, and bent both end links 45 degrees inwards. The parts were put on the car within the last 5 years, and the car was rarely driven due to engine, tranny, and rear-end replacements. Cutting off the end links (which were included in the BMR sway bar kit) was NOT fun.

I have a UMI replacement front sway bar on the way, and will update afterwards.

PS. The BMR Rear sway bar has bent the u-bolts holding it to the rear end as well. I haven't gotten to the back end yet to install the aluminum mounts for the rear to inspect the end links, but I'm kinda dreading it. It may turn out that BMR's sway bars might be a bit TOO strong.

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

So, the 2117 sway bar kit arrived, and I was happy to absorb the cost of the new sway bar to get the mounts, relocation brackets, and way bar to match and work together. But guess what! My mounts included 32 mm bushings, and the new bar i just bought came with 35 mm bushings, which don't work with the aluminum mounts, and there do not seem to be any on UMI's website..

I have reached out to them for a solution to make their aluminum mounts, relocation brackets, and sway bar work together. I will update.

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

:doh:

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

Update: I reached out to UMI. What I wrote them was:


A couple of years ago, I purchased your 0047 Heavy duty Aluminum Front Sway Bar Mounts (32 mm) to install on my 1987 Camaro. The parts are beautiful, but as I learned they were incompatible with my car because of the offset on the driver's side mount. Recently I was ecstatic to learn that you have solved this problem with your 2119 F-body Front sway bar relocation brackets. I purchased them from Summit, and spent all day installing them (I had to cut off my bent end links. This isn't your fault either, but it's just the day I had) to discover that they were incompatible with the BMR sway bar I had installed.

Figuring it was a lesson learned that your parts and BMR's parts may be incompatible, I purchased your 2117 35 mm sway bar kit again from Summit which comes with the 2119 relocation brackets included, so I have now purchased those twice, but Summit said I could return the set I don't need. I really didn't care because in the 2117 product description it says "Relocation allows the use of upgraded billet sway bar mounts (sold separately)," which was the entire point because I already had them.

So, the 2117 kit arrived, and I was happy to absorb the cost of the new sway bar to get the mounts, relocation brackets, and front sway bar to match and work together. But guess what! My mounts included 32 mm bushings, and the new bar I just bought came with 35 mm bushings, and there do not seem to be any on your website.

I need help. I want my sway bar mounts, relocation kit, and sway bar to all work together, on the car that is on jackstands in my garage. I'm also nervous about the end links provided given that I just had to cut my old ones off. I *think* that all I need are 35 mm bushings that will work with your aluminum sway bar mounts, but I don't see them on your website. Do you have these, or know where I can get them?

Thank you.

They responded quickly on a Monday morning ( I contacted them on Saturday when they were closed):

Thanks for the message, Sorry it takes a good bit of time to design and engineer components but we are doing the best we can do to keep up with everyone's fitment. Try something for me, try taking the red bushing out of the steel bracket that came with the #2117 bar and install it into your #0047 mount and tell me if it fits.

Heartened, I tried, but sent back:

Thanks for responding so quickly.

The bushing that came with the 2117 bar is too narrow and too deep to fit the 0047 mount. I considered trying to cut it down but I'm not sure if that will be safe. I'm at work right now, but I can send pictures when I get home later if you need me to.

They responded with:

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

Upon further research, and re-reading this thread, I see the OP has 0048 which are aluminum colored and appear that way on Summit's site as well, although they appear black on UMI's page. Considering I own both 0046 and 0047 and can confirm the only difference is in the bushing, I have reached out to UMI asking if there is a difference in the 0048 and 0047 mounts other than the bushing (which pictured by the OP looks exactly like what I have, but completely different from the black pieces pictured on UMI's page), and if not, can I just buy the 35mm bushing.

I will update.

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

Is there a difference between the 0047 and 0048 mounts other than the bushing? I ask because the only difference between the 0047 and 0046 (of which I own both) the only difference between the two are the bushings themselves.

If the 35mm bushing from the 0048 mount physically fits inside the 0047 that I own, can I not just buy the bushing itself from you somehow?

The 0048 is a new design that utilizes a larger outside diameter bushing to achieve the 35mm size. The bushing is not interchangeable as the 0046 and 0047 are. Thanks for the question. UMI Tech

This was the answer I got, despite the pictures of 0048 in the first post of this string looking exactly like the 0047 I own and the 0048 offered by Summit.

Sad panda.

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

So I broke down and bought the umi 0048 sway bar mounts. I really wanted to have the aluminum billet sway bar mounts despite everything I had been through. They arrived today from Summit, and guess what! They're BLACK. Now, item 90048 clearly comes in black, but not 0048. 0048, pictured on Summit's website (UMI tech support actually referred me to them to see the difference in parts!) is in aluminum, 0048 is on my shipping manifest, but it came in black, which is what I DIDNT want to begin with to match my rear mounts.

This is a friggin' greek tragedy at this point.

So far I've purchased the sway bar relocation brackets, a bmr front sway bar, a umi sway bar kit (that came with a second pair of relocation brackets), three total sets of sway bar brackets (one rear, one useless front, one wrong color front) one set of energy suspension bushings (I hoped they would fit my 0047 brackets. They don't.) and somehow I STILL don't have a front sway bar on the car.

This is the worst experience I have ever had with anything I have ever done to my Camaro, and when I say that, understand I've been working on this car for over 20 years. Summit and UMI, who I have worked with for years, have turned useless.

I will update.

Re: UMI 2119 Front Sway Bar Relocation Brackets and 0048 Billet Aluminum Front Sway B
 

Update, and I think a happy one. After communicating with UMI again last night, they responded this morning and stepped up big time to help:

Hey {REDACTED}, sorry to hear about the struggle. The 0048 has been superseded with the 90048. We no longer offer the natural/silver finish. Summit should have deleted that part number from their system and apparently haven't yet. I did search our entire facility after reading your email and now have on my desk the LAST set of 0048 available. They were actually mocked up on one of our house cars so they have a few marks in them from being bolted on but otherwise they are in excellent shape. If you are definitely set on wanting silver, I can send this set to you free of charge and you send me the 90048 free of charge. You will need to keep the new bushings, I will be sending just the billet clamps. Shoot me an address and I will be happy to swap you. I hope this helps you out. Thanks again for using UMI components! UMI Tech

Hopefully the end is in view!

Thanks. I will update.