So this past Sunday morning I was thinking of doing something. I was pretty bored so I asked Lee (Subie_2.5rs) to go with me to the store to buy a steel bar/rod/tube to experiment with. I said to try to make a sway bar. I didn't really have it planned, it just came up. So we're at Menards and we're browsing their pipes. We didn't know if a 5' pipe would be enough, so we went back outside to measure the length of my stock sway bar. We DIDN'T have a rope in hand but I found one off to the side of the parking lot. Measured it and we decided to get the 10' black pipe. Cost about $5. The next thing was trying to fit it into the car. We did a little moving here and there but the rear gate had to be open. I tied the gate down with that handy rope I picked up for measuring. We first started by heating up the part that we were going to bend. We did this with a gas flamer thingy (hahaha). We first flattened the end so holes can be drilled for the end link. The next step was bending it about 8 inches from the tip so it can be mounted on the mount. We tried just stepping on it but that bar was too hard. We ended up having to roll my front tire on top of it. Lee and I took turns bending it but the result was a round bend. That's what I didn't want. So I left off from there. The next day after taking my buddy Lue to an interview in the morning, I continued where I left off the night before. I sawed this bent part I worked with Sunday night off and remade a new one. Now I didn't have anything to hold the bar onto so I could bend it. I DID notice that our clothes hanger bar in the backyard had 2 rings on each end measuring 1.5" in diameter. So I stuck the tube in there and pulled it where I wanted to bend. After this, there was a few trouble shooting things to short out. I had to bend the pipe so it'd clear the spare wheel well a bit and make sure its mounting point at the links where at the same width. After a handful of banging with the hammer and heating, it was bent into shape. The next thing was working with the bushings. My stock ones fit the 13mm bar, so I had to trim down my stock bushings to fit the larger tube. I spent like a good 30mins trimming both bushings down. Glad I got that over with... I stuck those on with the brackets then started to drill the holes on the 'poor boy's sway bar'. I made 3 holes on each side. I tried to make the ends of the bar closer to the mounts so reduce leverage thus more anti-sway effect. I bolted things up setting the passenger side to the tip hole and the driver side to the middle hole to get a in-between stiffness. Then came the point of clearance. I jacked the car up on its rear diff to see if the ends would touch the trailing arms. It came close on the driver side with it screwed in the middle hole but cleared it. The passenger side had the tube from the fuel tank which I had to avoid hitting. Due to the bar being a little wider than the stock one and the stiffness of it, I think it'll not hit this gasoline tube, but I'll have to check it though. Finally I bolted everything up and took a lunch break at 2:30pm. Took it out to a corner, got on it a little, let off the throttle and 'oversteer' resulted followed by a BIG GRIN! With Lue in the car I said "This is what I'm talking about!" The car was much flatter and more responsive to steering inputs. It just feels good to have the car turn in more. It's like it'll point where I want it to! Give it some gas and it'll go there! I took it to a clover leaf ramp and tested it out too. Lift off throttle oversteer was just awesome! I can pretty much stay on the gas and not have to wait for the car to tuck in! The only downside of this is that I don't know HOW stiff it is compared to the solid bars. I'm assuming it's like a 18-20mm stiffness due to the bar pretty much going straight across the underside of the car. People with a 20mm rear sway would have to drive my car to feel if its handling is similar to theirs or not. That's $5 and a BiG GRIN! ...along with some banging and getting dirty... PICS Passenger endlink connection, NOTE: the bar is 1/2inch thick This is where it comes close to the spare wheel carrage/well. Since I have a straight pipe, it doesn't interfer with the 'poor boy's sway bar' so I can make the bar pretty much straight across
you got the pics already? that was fast...where's mines?!?!?! lol..i thought el was gonna send us all the pics..
Fuji, now I know that you will do anything for a good time. You (and Lee) have demonstrated how well your ricer capabilities are. } Very Good job! Is the pipe galvanized metal? I wanna see it in person now.
Thanks for the responses! If this Friday holds up, you can all see it then! John, I'll have that idea in mind....poor boy's turbo...hehe I can't stop grinning!
Fuji, Great job on this project. Dont worry about how your home made parts compare to other's off the shelf products. All that matters is this summer when you prove just how fast "FujiFast!" really is. Next thing you need is a good set of grip tires so you can start pushing the car a little harders. I wanna see ya pass some Vettes this summer If you have 4x100's I have a set of 15's with Azenis with 1 event on them sitting at home just for the event. You can use them, as long as I sit shotgun at a event} I make alot of my own parts too, and they really work, so dont feel bad about how people will make fun of your stuff. The best one that I made that really kicked but was my Custome Ram Air for my DC2, that I still take credit for beating all those Vetts including my friends 94 RX-7 at Brainerd. Beating these Big Boys around the corners along with the straights was not as funny as seeing their faces when they came over to my car after the heat and took a very hard close and careful look under my hood. They stood there trying to figure it out how it was possible; shook their heads and walked away without saying a word. I can tell you I did not make very many Corvette friends on that day! *Definiately take that thing on the Countinuous Autocross track this season. Enjoy, Chong
Fuji everyone got props except me. Lue got props for ridin in your PBSwaybar car, Lee got props for drivin ya to Menards. I feel as if you had made an awards speach and left me out. Fuji Who took the photos?
I have the Version 2 sway bar made already. The first one, prototype broke/cracked at the bends. NOW it should hold up. Pics will follow
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by FuJi K I have the Version 2 sway bar made already. The first one, prototype broke/cracked at the bends. NOW it should hold up. Pics will follow <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote"> Awesome, cant wait to see it, ,sms.
this ver. 2 swaybar is of the same material but used a pipe bender to bend it, thus a more quality bend. i have to upload the new pics later. took her put to OIR last friday, handled nice! cool AWD drifts... want some of me, Fong? I think I'll go up against Matt's STi as i see him more of a competition. Touge, Matt?
Fuji, don't get over yourself now. You have to remember that I have the Cusco rear sway bar (it's adjustable! ) AND a Cusco rear strut tower bar. Remember, 2>1.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by FuJi K this ver. 2 swaybar is of the same material but used a pipe bender to bend it, thus a more quality bend. i have to upload the new pics later. took her put to OIR last friday, handled nice! cool AWD drifts... want some of me, Fong? I think I'll go up against Matt's STi as i see him more of a competition. Touge, Matt? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote"> Touge? You've been watching way too many Initial D. There's no mountain road here in Minnesota. Heard you guys were like clown all over Opus? Someone in an RS almost got T-Boned... Fuji, I'd be more careful about who you take out there. Hate to ruin it for everyone else. Later bro, Vic
Clowns? There was no clowns really, it's what they say about me. They're mean! I'm a crazy driver they say, but I drive like a grandpa trying to save gas.
lol...love the car everyday....very loved it this morning when i did a hard right turn car start to understeer and gas little more...lmao...turn like a beauty....amazing....carzy driver trying to save gas..lol...yea right....
El, that's why you should try to get lee to stay away from fuji....he the one that temps lee to do those crazy things...ur ex-car's life lies within the hands of fuji...
