Sway Bar Swap Out

So tonight I took to the garage with grand ambitions. I was going to get all of the boxes out that came with the car and get organized. In one of those boxes I was told was a smaller diameter front sway bar - more appropriate for use as a FF.   Then after that small diversion, I would be more organized and have room at the back of the car to do the gear change.

So after about an hour and a half of rummaging through spares in about 5 different boxes, I had it all better organized and the essential spares packed up in one plastic crate. At the bottom of the last crate I unpacked were two alternate sway bars - yea! One larger and one smaller unit.

Even though the hour was already getting a little late, I decided to tackle the sway bar swap. How long could that take? Right? Well keen observers may notice something that I didn't until I went to put the new bar into the car.

Can you spot it?

Guess what the new bar didn't fit. The pivot bores were a little larger than the bar that came out. The new bar was simply not going to go into the existing pivot blocks.

I decided that there must be an alternate set of aluminum pivot mounts somewhere in the spares that I had overlooked. (There was a LOT of stuff)...

But half an hour later, with all of my chassis and suspension spares strewn around the back of the garage floor, I begin to think this whole idea might have been misguided.

I walked back around the car, thinking I would just remount the blades to the original bar and go back to where I started....

At this point I remembered the bushing that was used in the front shock bearings.

Hmmm, I wonder if there is a bushing like that in the sway bar pivot blocks? Of course, there was.

So a brief break while I removed the other pivot block from the chassis, puncturing my right index finger on the "C" clip on the front shock, and bled all over everything. (are we having fun yet?) and I was in business.

I pressed out the two bushings using my elaborate shop "press" setup. (an 8" vice and two appropriate sized sockets)...

After this it all went together with no drama. I am sure I can repeat the procedure now in a few minutes now that I "get it".

I guess this is yet another reason we why we should do this stuff in the garage the first time :)

Pictured (above) is the original sway bar with the plastic bushings slipped over the ends. Back into the spare parts bin.

Three hours later, mission number one accomplished...

I am too tired now to think about a gear change. Looking at the newly cleared back of the car, it looks like I need to remove at least all of the rear bodywork to do the job. I may need to take off the undertray as well. Probably not a quick procedure the first time either...

Tomorrow night,
Sean