I had exhaust put on the car today and was looking at the front and rear suspension. Mainly the swaybars. I noticed it looked like the rear sway bar was on a forced downward angle.

What I mean is, the portion that bolts to the endlinks looks like it was being forced downward by the length of the endlink spacers. Like it's preloaded. And the front seems to be the opposite, it's being forced upwards. The car is lowered on sportlines. I think I remember reading awhile back the the spacer length should be adjusted but I don't remember exactly.

Can anyone shed some light on what angle the swaybars should be?

Side question, with the suspension loaded it looks like the panhard bar points downward toward the body. (the axle-side is higher than the body side. Is this normal? Good? Bad?

When coming out of hard corner the back end wants to get out (even with the timpy 305 )

 

I think what you want is the ends of the swaybar (the tabs the endlinks go through) level with the chassis with the suspension loaded. If the swaybar is put on the wrong way the angle can be way off. I accidentally did this when installing a front swaybar on my IROC-Z, couldnt figgure out why the angle was so off until I actually thought about what I just did. Doh! So I guess if the angles are way off then consider re-installing the bar, or if they are a little off, consider cutting/shaving the endlink spacer tube thing.

 

As for your panhard bar question, yes it would be normal for the bar to lower on the body mount side when you lower the car. The more you lower the car the greater the angle. Ideally the bar should be level. Jegs has a bracket that allows you to adjust the height of the axle mount side of the bar. Unfortunetly this bracket is not wide enough the acommodate the width of the panhard bar bushing.

 

Thanks CH. I guess I have some tweaking to do. What do preloaded swaybars do to the suspension setup? Does the car normally want to do something else now?

OKay. Makes sense. Would it work with a Heim joint on that end? (I've got an adjust unit with rodend on that side.; quite a bit smaller than the standard bushing)

 

the bar isnt preloaded in anyway.. its just angled.


think about it.. if the endlinks were off, it would rotate around where the bushings are holding it. you can move the ends anywhere in that arc with almost no resistance.

its when one side wants to move without the other that the bar has a effect.

having the swaybar level is mainly to keep the bushings from wearing out on one side..... if its angled too far, it only rubs on the edge....



you can fix it by cutting down the spacer tube... just be sure to cut both sides the same for each bar.

 

You actually can't just cut the spacer. The bolts used for endlinks are only threaded so far. When you put an endlink on, you're supposed to tighten it down to the ends of the threads and that's it. Shortening the spacer still won't allow the top nut to tighten down as far as it should.

You should purchase some Prothane endlinks (for the front anyway). I haven't had a chance to do some measurements on the rear endlinks yet, but the Prothane ones for the front are shorter than stockers, and about the right size for a Sportline drop.

 

Yes, I think that's what someone else on this board had to use, it has to be about a 1/4" narrower than the stock bushing width. Someday I plan to do that bracket mod myself, I have in mind to get this panhard from Spohn, I think it should work but I haven't investigated it fully yet.

 

That's actually the one that's one my car. How much is the bracket? I assume it's a weld on deal?

drrrr...I'm retarded. That seems rather obvious now that I think about it. But it seems like there is at least alittle tension laterally...

 

Here's the link to Jegs, it's bolt in.
http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...06&prmenbr=361

 

lol.. you tighten it until it preloads all the bushings however much you want it... you dont just keep tightening until you run out of threads..



anyhoo, if you end up shortening the spacer to the point that you run out of threads (shouldnt, but if you did) you can just goto the hardware store and get a grade 8 bolt the correct length. it isnt uber special.. lol

 

actually, check the torque spec, you’ll find that with clean, stock hardware the bolt will bottom every time at that torque spec. I’ve never checked the aftermarket ones, but I suspect that you’d have to get them slightly tigher then the stock torque spec to overcome the nyloc nuts that most use.