I've had my front sway bar sitting in my bed room, so I figured I might as well install it. Just picked up an sti rear sway as well. I'm working on this project tomorrow and trying to deide if I really need to drop the front sub frame or not...what has been your experiences?
You guys snaked it through the wheel well and it didn't fit? My 24mm solid bar fit fine installing it that way.
Thanks for the adive guys. It's my 25.4mm hotckis front bar that I'm finally installing. Sounds like dropping the sub frame will just be easier...only concern was cracking the bolts, but some pb blaster, breaker bar and 3 foot pipe should do the trick! That and i picked up a 20mm sti rear sway so it isn't horribly balanced...rear doesn't seem too bad to do either.
Thanks for reminding me Shouldn't (hopefully) be too bad. It seems like most of the subframe bolts are pretty accessible, so getting my breaker bar on there with the 3 foot pipe should (hopefully) be easy. Then hella anti-seize for the reinstall! now watch, tomorrow I'll be posting my rough times and tribulations.
So...just got back home after my install. The sway bar install went beautifully! Dropped the sub frame with no issues, all the bolts cracked freely after some PB blaster, got the new sway bar in with the right spacers/washers, etc. The rear STi sway bar when in beautifully also - mounted outside of the endlinks which are at a bit of an angle, but no biggie. Test drove, and handles wonderfully. No squeaks, creaks, clunks, etc. Sway bars are just great. HOWEVER. ...there's always a however Discovered that I have a cracked axle boot and its been spraying crap everywhere. I noticed this crap on my h-brace once before, but I thought it was road debris, mud, or something. Nope, cracked boot: SECOND: because of where this damn h-brace attached, I had to remove the rear control arm bolts (the bolt that is also on the stock anti-lift kit or whatever). Low and behold, when I was trying to reinstall the driver side bolt, all hell breaks loose. I f****d up the bolt and the threaded hole too I'm pretty sure. (I also dropped said bolt right on my face, and now I have a nice little gash right between my eyes...fail). Now the bolt is just chilling partway in, cross-threaded So there is an autox next week on Saturday, 6/30, which I was really planning on going to. I don't really have the time or all the tools to replace the axle nor fix the f'ed up hole (I don't have a helicoil). So I'm not sure if I want to take it to the stealership, find someone to help, or just run with the torn axle boot for a bit longer (not sure if that is smart either). I don't really feel comfortable with the messed up control arm mounting point, as the bolt is only partway, cross-threaded in there now. Thoughts/ideas anyone...
You can run with the Axel.. it may be in bad shape visually, but if it's not making noises or has additional play, you should be fine. just be nice on the launches. I'd worry more about the sub frame bolt. you may be able to get away with just chasing it with a tap to clean up the threads.
Ah, good to know I can run on the axle for a bit...no grinding yet. I really would rather fix it myself than pay the dealer or someone, just have to find the time. I'm not sure that using the tap is going to help...I tried the good bolt from the other side, and that wasn't threading in either. I'm tempted to take this issue to the dealer, and just say...fix my screw up!
Relax, Get the tap, chase the threads. might be dealing with 30 min - 1hr worth of work including jacking the car up. if it works? you're ready to rock. you can't really make things worse if it doesn't
Haha ya I should relax...unresolved issues with the car are just a pet peeve to me. So you think he tap would work even though the good bolt didn't work? Regardless, I can't work on my car at my current apartment (annoying...actually moving very soon) so I'll prob just take it to a shop :-/
