I bought a TDS wonder bar and have run into install problems. Very annoying after seeing how easy they're meant to go in.
Granted my car has been converted to right hand drive, all the sway bar mounts are still in their factory positions. The problem is the bar doesn't even come close to lining up with the holes in the sub frame. Any one have any ideas what's going on?

 

I have fitted 2 of them in my cars over the years and both were right hand drive ( 84 Camaro, 91 Trans Am). I had no problems with fitting the bar in either car. Maybe yours had been in an accident?

 

Well that just sucks,
1. The part is defective
2. Your car was in a collision at one point so things are out of position
3. You drive your car hard and the frame stretched

These are all that come to mind, there might be a different reason(s)

I can't wait to install one of those on my t/a

 

Probably needed the brace a while ago. Now frame horns are spread.

 

I would exchange it for an adjustable version; then:

-Have the Car put on a "Frame-Machine", to make some small corrections.
-Have the adjustable Wonder Bar installed and adjusted for some Pre-Load.
-Have the Car put on an Alignment-Rack, somewhere that works on Performance-Street or Road-Racing Vehicles.

 

Thanks guys. I've made a booking with a body shop I'm familiar with who are going to take a look at it, it's become the logical conclusion, after testing the bar I have on a friend's 84 and it lining up perfectly, that my frame is out of whack, either from an accident before I owned it or like mentioned the front has spread.

 

Your car is bent, no question of it.







Might need a bumper as well, if the holes in that are wallowed out or something. Ordinarily that is what holds the "horns" of the "frame" at the correct spacing, at least across the very tips of it. Although the way it bolts to the "frame", the little flange features that are stamped into the "frame", might just be bent.

 

Hey I have an idea for you , why don't you get one of those ratcheting straps and wrap it around the frame and see if you can squeeze it enough to bolt it on, lol I don't know if that's a crazy idea but your only a inch off the bolt holes

 

I really appreciate those pictures, they will be great to have for the body shop. I can also go check myself how out it is.
I thought about doing something like that but I don't want it held together under such stress, better to leave it as is or have it corrected if possible.

 

Those graphics are from the GM service manual. You can see all of it in a file located here, https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...ce-manual.html

 

If the frame horns have spread, how is the steel bumper able to still bolt on? Wouldn't the core support wanted to have broken off the welds if the frame had spread? The steering box/sway bar mount are behind the radiator closer to the x-member, no? Maybe its the sway bar brackets, idk. Just throwing ideas out.

 

Honestly, I was thinking the same thing. Loosen the bolts on the front bumper support and two frame support brackets. Ratchet that sucker until the wander bar bolts line up and are in. Then tighten the bolts to the bumper support, since the holes are slotted for adjustment.

Just an idea.

 

This is the fundamental problem, right here. The bumper essentially holds the "frame" at the right distance apart.

Either the "frame" is distorted where the bumper attaches to it, or the bumper itself is focacta (holes wallowed out for example, or even the thing wrinkled up somehow).

Apart from that minor detail, what do you suppose would happen if you strapped your ratchet strap across there, and the "horn" of the "frame" that's straight NOW, gets yanked over to the BENT mode that the BENT "horn" is in? I'll tell you: THE WHOLE DAMN FRONT OF THE CAR will be tweeeeeeked off to one side and NOTHING will line up. Most especially, the hood. Nothing particularly conspicuous, of course; just, THE HOOD. The single most obvious piece of the car short of the roofline.

That's why they put those triangulation specs in there: the 1729mm one in the 3rd page scan, for example. Tram your car FIRST. Then measure THAT dimension; that will tell you whether it's the driver's or the pass side "horn" of the "frame" that's BENT. Straighten that (driver's side) out to achieve the triangulation spec FIRST, then bend the pass side to get the spacing (1282mm) right.

The car has DEFINITELY been hit, though. Unmistakable. Probably got "fixed" (as opposed to "repaired") by someone who didn't bother to measure ANYTHING, but instead just slathered Bondo all over it and sanded until the untrained eye couldn't see the scars anymore. aka Bubba.

 

Thanks Sofa for posting these diagrams, very useful. I also fitted a TDS wonder bar at xmas. For me, the locating tab on the sway bar fitting was about 2mm from fitting into the slotted hole in the wonderbar. But managed to bend and pry things enough to get it in. Looks like I had it easy! Hope you get it sorted soon.

 

I'm not going to use the ratchets, aside from the fact i don't want the front under that stress being forced to stay in that position i know there's also no way to have it in the right position anyway.
It's funny that all panels still line up very well, and with regards to fixing it I'm sure if it was hit in the 90s here in Australia where measurements wouldn't have been readily available it was almost certainly a case of near enough is good enough.
Funnily enough I'm sure there's no bondo, I went over every inch of the car with a magnet before I bought it, so if it caked on I'd have found it or rust. The hood is a replacement I put on that was rust and bondo free but even the old one I went over with the magnet. Po could've even just replaced full fenders, he did tell me he'd had a full respray mid 90s and when I bought it, for some reason it had a left head light shroud from an 82-84, so it's all adding up now that it was hit.

 

Just a little update, if anyone is interested.
Had the car at a body shop I know who had done work for me in the past and they are confident it's a relatively easy fix, of the opinion they can realign the subframe with the engine still in, apparently the left is pointing down and out slightly, which I guess explains why no one has ever been able to align the car properly for me and why it always drifts to the left.
Hopefully get it back in for the work in a few weeks and also hoping it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to get it fixed.

 

Keep us updated once you get the car back. In my experience with body shops (and most automotive repairs in general), it's never as easy as they think it's going to be.

 

Possibly dumb suggestion on my end but when I installed mine, I had it flipped around the wrong way and the holes didn't line up. I just flipped it around and they lined up perfectly. Not sure if that's relevant to your situation, but would be cool if that was the fix

 

Just to close out this thread, I recently got my car back from the body shop and they got the front end as straight as they could, I still couldn't get the tds bar on because the 3rd hole on each side wouldn't line up, so I cut them off and mounted it like a regular bar that just has the 2 bolt mounting points on each side, so far so good, I like to think I felt an immediate difference but could just be in my head 🤷🏽‍♂️