Got my front sway bar on tonight from the spohn sway bar set. And the sway bar is hitting the wonder bar.

I'm worried that it's going to cause sway bar movement problems and possible a-arm binding. It's touching the wonder bar when the sway bar is at it's highest height, and about 3 inches down from there it actually hits into the wonder bar pretty good due to the way the spohn sway bar is shaped there bulging out more than the stock sway bar.

Any suggestions on what I can do about this?

 

The two appear to be close in the following pic from Spohn, but not touching (perhaps the pic will provide a comparison with your install):

http://www.spohn.net/shop/1982-1992-...rome-Moly.html

JamesC

 

Yeah, spohn probably designed their wonder bar to be slightly more forward or something. That is a pretty good gap there compared to mine. Mine are literally touching and grinding together pretty hard as the sway bar moves up and down. I have the stock iroc wonder bar on mine. I mean I could probably oblong the holes in it a little to move it forward a tad, but it just seems like poor design prep on Spohn's part if they didn't make their sway bar to fit with a stock wonder bar

 

It is a simple fix. Use shims or washers between the steering brace and the sway bar mount brackets. Use just enough to move the sway bar clear of the center bar of the steering brace.

Lon

 

Would that not cause a gap between the bushing and frame making for the possibility of the bushing popping out of the bracket? I know it would be a small gap, but any amount of movement would leave room for a greased up bushing to wiggle back and forth and possibly pop out.

 

Yes you're correct. I'd post a pic of the spacer you'd need, but my web site is down at the moment. A spacer resembling my discontinued TDS 201210 E/T Improver plates is what you'd need. Basically hte spacer must fit the entire profile of the underside of the bushing retainer bracket, including the obround hole in the middle.

Lon

 

How about making the spacer out of 1/4"x1" aluminum bar stock? I've done that on other types of cars before...

 

That would do it. Just drill holes or machine notches for the bolts. You'll need the obround hole in the center only if the sway bar bushings you use have the molded tab that protrudes into that space. If they have a flat base like the GULDSTRAND bushings I used to supply, then you won't need that hole.

Lon

 

I was able to play with it some and get it to where the sway bar is only barely rubbing the wonder bar by shifting the wonder bar forward as far as I could. There was a tiny amount of play in the bolt holes that allowed me to do this.

I might check out making a spacer like you talk about later on, but I don't think this small amount of rub is going to hurt anything for this weekend (got an autocross event this weekend). Other than possibly rubbing off some of the powder coating on the new sway bar, which sucks but not the end of the world.