Sway Bar Installation Front And Rear

[Kashif]

This guide is only here to be a supplement to the IPD instructions. Do whatever IPD stays before you look at this guide, their instructions supercede mine.

You begin by first raising the front of the car and supporting them on jack stands here on both sides.

Once safely supported on jack stands you begin by remove five steering rack bolts from below. I could not get a good picture but they are all the same size. You should be able to figure it out.

Then I removed two brackets that use torx screws. These two brackets are located on the front and rear subframe cross members.

Here is the one on the front subframe

And here is the one on the rear subframe

Once you remove those two brackets you place a jack on the rear of the subframe and jack it up to support the rear of the subframe. See the jack in far right side of the picture.

Once supported remove the two bolts that secure the subframe brackets to the body. Do this on both sides.

Before

After

Now begin removing only the rear subframe bolts and only loosening the front subframe bolts. I begin by slowly rotating each nut one full turn. So I did one full turn on the rear left bolt then one full turn on the front left bolt and the one full turn the front right bolt and then finally one full turn on the rear right bolt. After this I slowly lowered the rear of the subframe using the jack. Then I repeated the process again four times. The front subframe bolts are only rotated 4 full turns thats it. Once the fronts have been loosened proceed to turn the rears only one full turn. This way the subframe is lower in a controlled manner that results in less broken bolts. Hopefully.

Front subframe bolt

Rear subframe bolt can be seen

Lowered subframe!!!

After the subframe has been lowererd remove the end links. I did this by placing a wrench in a gap between the end link and the sway bar, and then using a socket wrench to release the nut.

Once the end links are removed I removed the sway bar by removing the sway bar u-bracket bolts on both left and right sides.

New and old sway bar

The installation is basically the reverse.

You begin by placing the new bar into place. Then you lube up the supplied bushings with IPD supplied lube and place the U-bracket bolts through their respective holes. As you begin to tighten the bolts make sure that the sway bar has been pushed as far back as possible to avoid any obstruction with things like steering arms. Tighten the U-bracket bolts to 37 ft*lbs

Reconnect the endlinks to the sway bar and tighten to 37 ft*lbs.

Now raise the rear of the subframe with the jack and make sure that the steering rack studs go into the subframe as it is raised.

Once the subframe is raised install the two long subframe bolsts through the brackets as well as the two bracket bolts on both sides. Don’t tighten anything yet.

Now that everything is almost in place, start by tightening the driver side subframe bolts first on the front and then on the rear to 77 ft*lbs and then another 120 degrees (when I did this I could not tighten them another 120 degrees completely). After you have done the drivers side do the same thing on the passenger side.

Looks like this.

After you have tightened the main subframe bolts now tighten the subframe bracket bolts on both sides to 37 ft*lbs.

Looks like this.

Tighten the five steering rack nuts to 37 ft*lbs

Re attach the two brackets that are attached using the torx screws.

Lower the car, make sure everything is clear and have the car aligned.

In my opinion this was the easy part. The rear fought me like a B1tch, I almost gave up until an angel came and helped me put the rear in. Maybe this guide can be your angel for this part.

You begin by raising the car and putting it on jackstands.

Next I removed one of the driver’s side transverse arm nuts and bolt. I then lightly scored the surface to let me know where the original transverse arm was. Then I removed the other bolt.

Before

After

Next I removed both the small and large sway bar mounting bolt.

Once that was removed I went to the passenger side of the sway bar and I removed the two nuts and bolts.

I then proceeded to remove two brackets that held the muffler in place.

The one on the passenger side

The one on the drivers side

Once removed I then place my Haynes manual on a jack and I jacked the muffler up. Try to do it so that you have room. The Haynes manual protected my muffler from the hard jack.

With the muffler out of the way I proceeded to remove the sway bar from it’s home. This is where the fight between the sway bar and me began. The best advice here is to wiggle the sway bar out as much as you can. Eventually you will figure out that it is the driver’s side transverse arm is the culprit in blocking the exit of the sway bar. I just pulled on the transverse arm and wiggled the bar out.

New and old sway bar

Once the old bar is out, you have force the new bar in (This is where I almost lost it). The trick to this is again the driver’s side transverse arm, I finally got the sway bar in by again pulling on it and wiggling the new sway bar in.

Once the bar is in install the IPD supplied bolts and nuts. Tighten the small bolt on the drivers to 37 ft*lbs and then tighten another 90 degrees (this one I could do). Similarly the large bolt on the drivers side is tightened to 48 ft*lbs and another 90 degree (this one I could do).

Move to the passenger side and install the IPD supplied bolts and nuts and tighten to 37ft*lbs.

Then move to the driver’s side transverse arm and try to match the hole to where you scored the metal the first time. Install one of the bolts and nuts and making sure that the driver’s side transverse arm and your scored metal match up, tighten the bolt and nut to 37 ft*lbs and another 120 degrees (I could also do this). Now install the other transverse arm bolt and tighten to 37 ft*lbs and another 120 degrees.

Lower you jack with Haynes manual and reinstall the muffler brackets.

Now have the car aligned.

Done.

Again this guide is only here to be a supplement to the IPD instructions. Do whatever IPD stays before you look at this guide, their instructions supercede mine.

[the underlørd]

wow! great write up!

[Kashif]

Thanks Kevin. :)

[RussB]

Great write-up, and nice pics!

I'd like to add that the power steering studs can be a bee-otch. 2 of mine (in my '93GLT) spun and had to be cut off and replaced with bolts/nuts. 8 years of New England road salt got to 'em.

[Kashif]

Great write-up, and nice pics!

I'd like to add that the power steering studs can be a bee-otch. 2 of mine (in my '93GLT) spun and had to be cut off and replaced with bolts/nuts. 8 years of New England road salt got to 'em.

Thats why I was thankful that this was a California car.

[Kashif]

On other thing, I editted the writeup by saying that only the front subframe bolts are rotated a total of four times thats it. Other wise you'll have the whole subframe on the floor!!

[Guest AlvinL]

Great write-up except I would'nt put the stands where you have it in the first picture unless there something there to help distribute the load. I don't recall that area being a steel plate but hollow inside :o

[Kashif]

Great write-up except I would put the stands where you have it in the first picture unless there something there to help distribute the load. I don't recall that area being a steel plate but hollow inside

Actually that is where I have always placed my Jack stands (as seen in the first picture). It has always held up fine. If you look closely you'll see that it was deformed just a little, that because stupid me climbed a curb with the tire and the car landed there one time at Albertsons. There should be a small piece of rubber where you see the hole.

[BeachRat]

Holy post resurrection, but I figured it'd be worth saying this guide was much more helpful than iPd's instructions...

I just put my sway bars in today, and it was very helpful! Another trick to putting in the rear bar is to notice there is a vertical strip of steel on the driver's side mounting area. I was struggling to push the driver's side of the sway bar in until I realized I was trying to shove the new sway bar up against this. Make sure you slide the new sway bar bracket (driver's side) past this vertical strip. I used a flat prybar to help the sway bar past this obstruction.