I am going to install a wonderbar, so may as well replace sway bar bushings. What size are mine most likely? Its a 85 sport coupe.

 

Most likely, 32mm.

Certainly, the size of the smallest open-end wrench that will slide over them, right next to the bushings.

Measure twice, buy once.

 

i measured with an adjustable wrench and got an inch and 1/8. so im guessing its inch and 1/4 or 32mm.

 

If you have a rear bar, its probably 32mm, no OEM rear bar is usually 30mm.

 

I looked under my car and did not see a rear sway bar, 30mm is closer to what i measured.

 

If you measured 1-1/8", then it's ... 1-1/8". Except they were spec'ed in mm by then, so that would be 28.5mm. Except that there aren't any half-mm ones that I know of, so you need to measure again, being careful to be more precise this time.

Might want to go to a parts store, AZ even; borrow acoupla wrenches in the 28 - 32mm size range; go out in the parking lot and measure by finding the smallest one that fits, then your bar is the next size smaller than that; and come back in and buy Energy Suspension ones (hanging on cards in the "Performance" aisle) in the closest inch size smaller that what you measure. Reason for using metric wrenches is that they come in 1mm increments, but SAE wrenches in that range are often in 1/8" increments, and if you're lucky, 1/16" at best. 1mm is ~.040"; 1/16" = .0625"; 1/8" = .125". Easy to see that you get the best precision with metric ones. Reason for buying the next size smaller is, if there's ANY tolerance in em AT ALL, they make an annoying banging noise, so make sure they fit TIGHT. Get the ones with the grease fittings, grease em up good with your finger before you put em on, then keep em well greased regularly like at every oil change with Mobil1 or similar synthetic grease. (or, if they have it and you have a way to use it, the stuff ES sells)

And yes, that 1mm, or even ½mm, of measurement error, MATTERS. Best to do it right and get the right results, not something half-assed.

 

That's the "expensive" one. They're selling last years model for $10.00. Not sure how so many people have "smart" phones and people don't own a basic digital caliper.

Energy Suspension, Prothane, watever are fancy and all, but most of the better counter brands of bushings and endlinks are already Polyurethane. Not sure what ES provides with their bushings for lube, but to my highly calibrated fingertip, it feels pretty close to the tub of silicone grease from the hardware store that I keep around for lubricating rubbers.

 

A 1-1/16 wrench fits over the sway bar, but barely has some wiggle room, 1 inch wrench is close to fitting but wont go all the way on. I don't have big metric wrenches unfortunately and i will buy a caliper next time i go to harbor freight to avoid this headache.

 

Drew ~~~

Are you suggesting that someone use THE RIGHT tool??? How DARE YOU?

OP:

1-1/16" is within a hair of 27mm. 1" = 25.4mm exactly, by definition.

Sounds like your bar is 26mm. I believe that's the smallest I've ever heard of coming on these cars. But w/e... it is what it is, do the best you can with it.

In ES, I'd use a 1" bushing.

Change out the end links at the same time. Correct length as you'll find in the aisle, is 2¼" or 2½", whatever makes the "arms" of the bar sit level, depending on how far the car sags. More likely, the shorter will work better. Tighten em until the rubber becomes just slightly larger than the washers; they should look sort of like a little barrel. Don't try to use some kind of a "torque" setting, it simply doesn't work.

You might want to consider adding a SMALL bar to the rear. Try getting one off of a 4th gen, they bolt right up but are generally MUCH smaller than the ones on these cars, and thus more likely to be a more suitable match to your extremely small front bar. I've heard #s like 16 - 18mm. Find one off of a totally non-performance one; some 6-cyl car, more directed at "image" than actual "performance". Too much rear bar (in its ratio to the front) is DANGEROUS because it will make the car EXTREMELY unstable in high-speed (let's say, 50 mph or more) maneuvers; makes it VERY "twitchy" and will want BAD to swap ends if you hit the brakes and turn the wheel at the same time. You end up hitting the outside, right-hand, wall with your left rear corner, going backwards. The better cars of our type (Z28s, T/As, etc.) are prone to doing that as it is, in the hands of inexperienced panicky drivers. Of course, you'll want ALL the hardware that comes with it; there should be brackets at the ends in the fender wells bolted to the body, and "special" U-bolts holding it to the axle tubes. You'll need all of that. Rear links are the same length as the front.

BTW, sway bar stiffness increases approximately as THE CUBE of diameter. IOW, multiply the diameter by 1.25 and you about DOUBLE the stiffness, ceteris paribus; or, double the diameter, and you multiply the stiffness by 8!!! A LITTLE change to the bar goes a LONG way.

 

This is what i plan on ordering, http://www.hawksmotorsports.com/fron...gy-suspension/
Are those the correct front end links? They dont show a measurement. Thanks for your help.

 

I'm a tool *****, so yes... Guilty.

Ya know, you can get Moog poly sway bar bushings and poly end links from Rock Auto for the same price as just one or the other of the fancy ES bushings. If you'd rather spend $40 + postage for generic stuff when you can get application specific replacements with the same performance improvements for $20 + postage, I guess that's your prerogative.

Back in the day, I used to buy whatever no-name endlinks from Advance Auto. The "heavy duty" version were almost exactly like the Energy Suspension bushings, nice Grade 8 hardware, red polyurethane donuts... Still have 6 or 8 of them out in the garage, but now I'm on a hardcore "look stock, or die trying" kick, so it's Moog to get blue isolators like the original equipment.

 

Or, just drive to the corner and pick em up. Save the postage altogether.

These days, what comes out of the "generic" boxes, seems to be a bunch of Made in Malaysia CRAP. Nothing against Malaysia as such, or even China, or anywhere else where cheeeeeeeep stuff is made; just, if the part was made while chasing the absolute last penny of cost by going to where the labor is cheeeeeeepest, ... one can only wonder what corners were cut in the materials, design, and whatever else. I've seen stuff just as bad as any, coming out of Moog boxes these days, let alone the "generic" and store brands. Not always; but often enough that my trust is shaken.

 

I can install a wonderbar even if my car didnt come from the factory with one correct? All of the install videos show people replacing the factory wonderbar. The one i purchased says it will fit every thirdgen camaro made.

 

Yup, they just go on between the sway bar bushings and the "frame". Nothing else required. Unbolt the bushings, slide wonder bar in, put the bolts back in.

 

Thanks for all of your help, I really appreciate it. Ill upload some pics after i paint the sway bar and do the bushings and wonderbar, when this Ohio weather warms up.