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BMR =
Swaybar
Install
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Too=
ls
Needed: |
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|
Par=
ts you
will need: |
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Intro:
=
If you've been
fortunate enough to drive a true modern sports car, you probably noticed =
how
tight and responsive the car felt. While the F-body may not be a true spo=
rts
car, you can get it one step closer by upgrading the suspension. One of t=
he
key parts of the suspension is the stabilizer bar, a=
.k.a
the anti-swaybars or "swaybars"
for short.
The swaybars help transfer weight from one si=
de of
the car to another in a corner which in turn keeps the car flatter. A dri=
ver
would notice this as less swaying, less body roll, more responsive steeri=
ng,
and most likely a change in the understeer/oversteer=
tendencies of the vehicle depending on which bars are used.
So, to make a stock F-body feel a little less like a leaning boat in the
turns, we're going to upgrade the swaybars. We
called up =
BMR Fabrication and ordered a set=
for
our project F-body, a 1999 Trans Am with Eibach pro
springs. The package consisted of both front and rear bars, along with all
necessary bushings and a set of polyurethane bushed =
endlinks.
Here's a pic of the parts received in the BMR
package:
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|
If you've been
fortunate enough to drive a true modern sports car, you probably noticed =
how
tight and responsive the car felt. While the F-body may not be a true spo=
rts
car, you can get it one step closer by upgrading the suspension. One of t=
he
key parts of the suspension is the stabilizer bar, a=
.k.a
the anti-swaybars or "swaybars"
for short. |
|
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Front Bar Installation
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First, we of cour=
se
need to drive the front of the car up on ramps and set the parking brake,
then chock the rear tires to keep the car from rolling off of the ramps. =
Go
ahead and get your tools and a portable light and toss them under the fro=
nt
of the car and climb under there. |
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|
So, now that we're
acquainted with what is down there, lets get
started. On the drivers side
there is going to be a big black rubber splash curtain. Towards the top of
it, a stud will be poking through it and a small metal retainer will be
pushed onto the stud. Using your fingers, unscrew the little metal retain=
er
and pull back the rubber curtain so that is no longer wrapped around the =
swaybar. |
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Now, if you had t=
he nut
in the previous step, we're going to have to do a few things to remove the
bracket that it was holding up. There are 2 more bolts holding the bracke=
t to
the car, but to get to them, we need to peel back the wheel well cover a
little first. Using a 10mm socket, unbolt just one of the bolts for the w=
heel
well shield, as shown in the picture. |
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|
Once the 10mm bol=
t is
removed, you can peel back the wheel well cover a little and you should be
able to look straight up into the car and see the whole bracket. There wi=
ll
be 2 10mm bolts holding the bracket up in there which you need to remove.=
I
found it easy to use a 10mm gear wrench to remove them. Once both bolts a=
re
out, the bracket should just fall out assuming you did indeed remove the =
13mm
step above. |
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Now that we have no bracket in the way, we can continue on with the rest of the install. |
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Now that the endlinks are disconnected, all that is holding the =
bar up
are the 2 brackets/bushings. Using a 13mm socket wrench, unbolt the 2 13mm
bolts holding each bracket to the car, being CAREFUL as the bar is heavy =
and
it will want to drop down on your face if you aren't expecting it. Once
unbolted, REMEMBER the orientat=
ion of
the bar and how it went in the car. The bar can be bolted up WRONG so you
must make sure when we put the new bar in it is in the exact same orienta=
tion
as the stock bar came out. |
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Now pry open the
bushing and place it on the new BMR swaybar i=
n the
same position as the stock bushings on the stock swa=
ybar.
The slit should face towards what will be the front of the vehicle. When
placing the bushing, try to get them as close to the same place as the st=
ock
bushings were on the stock bar |
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|
So, we're ready t=
o bolt
the new bar up into place. First, find your 4 swayba=
r
bracket bolts (they are 13mm) and apply just a dab of loctite
to all of them. |
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|
While the bar is =
still
loose, we'll go ahead and install the endlinks.
Before you disassemble the endlinks, make sur=
e you
look how they are assembled. There is basically a top and a bottom
"sandwich" to the endlink. In the m=
iddle
of the top sandwich (the top has the nut on it) is where the swaybar will go, and in the middle of the bottom sa=
ndwich
is where the A-Arm will go. So, knowing that, get the long endlink bolt with a bottom washer and a bushing, and
insert it up through the A-arm. Once it is through the A-arm, slide on a
bushing and a washer, then the spacer, then another washer, and finally
another bushing. Once all of that is on the endlink<=
/span>
bolt, poke the rest of the bolt up through the hole in the end of the |
Rear Bar Installation
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|
To install a rear=
swaybar we'll need to get the rear of the car up in=
the
air. You have two options. One, if you feel comfortable doing this, is to
reverse the car up onto a pair of rhino ramps. I do this all the time wit=
h no
issues, but if you aren't gentle you can shoot right over the ramps. The
other option is simply to jack up the rear of the car either by the frame
right in front of the rear tires, or by the differential itself, and then
support the car by jackstands. However you de=
cide
to do it, make sure you chock the front wheels to keep the car from going
anywhere once it is up! |
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Using a 13mm sock=
et
wrench on the bottom of the endlink and 13mm =
box
ended wrench on the top of the endlink to kee=
p it
from spinning, unbolt the endlink. Repeat for=
the
other side of the car. |
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That was easy huh?
Either using the same packet of grease from the front install, or using t=
he grease
included with the rear bushings, squirt some into the new red Prothane bushings for the rear bar and smear it aro=
und
with your finger to make sure its all over the inside of the bushing. Once
greased, pry open the bushing and place it on the new bar in approximately
the same location as the ones on the stock bar, making sure that the slit=
in
the bushing faces the rear of
the vehicle. |
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Once you are done
admiring your new parts, get under the car and lift the rear bar up into
place. NOTE: The bend in=
the
middle of the shaft should be going DOWNWARDS,
otherwise you are installing the bar upside down! While holding the bar u=
p in
place, I found it easiest to put one of the endlinks=
through on one side first Remember, install the e=
ndlinks
like they were shown in the packaging...the swaybar<=
/span>
gets sandwiched between two bare bushings, and the frame of the car gets
sandwiched between the top two bare bushings...the washers go on the outs=
ide
of each sandwich. Once one endlink was st=
arted,
I let the bar down for a sec and moved over to the other side and install=
ed
that endlink. |
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|
All that is left =
is to
bolt up the swaybar brackets. Lift the bar up=
into
place and using the new brackets included in the Pro=
thane
package (or reusing your stock brackets), start the 2 nuts onto each U-bo=
lt
to hold the bar up. Before you tighten these nuts down, we need to move t=
he
u-bolts, spacers, and the brackets to the exact same location they were on
the car before we removed them. If you look at the axle, you'll see little
metal tabs that raise up to fit a groove in the
metal spacers, and you can probably even see where the metal is cleaner on
the axle right where the spacers were. Just try to get as close as possib=
le
to stock location. In the end it doesn't matter that much if you are off a
little bit. |
Closing:
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|
Now that the bar=
s are
installed you are ready for your first test drive. The car should feel mu=
ch
more responsive when moving the wheel side to side, and it may feel even =
more
so at speed. You'll notice the tighter feel even when just pulling out of=
a
driveway. Go out and have some fun with your new crisp feeling ride and be
safe! |