How To: Home made rear sway bar mounts

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TheRandom1
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How To: Home made rear sway bar mounts

Post by TheRandom1 » Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:24 pm

Much like you guys, I wanted a rear sway bar on my car, but wasn't thrilled about paying upwards of 50 dollars for mounts, or buying new struts... so I talked with another member (who shall remain nameless unless he chooses to name himself) and we made a custom set for really cheap using parts you can get at your local Home Depot.

what you need:
-2"x2"x1/4" angle iron (sold in 3 foot sections around here)
-something you can use to cut said angle iron (we used an angle grinder with cut off disc)
-drill with 5/8" drill bit
-4 (or more) 5/8"x1" bolts, with washers, lock washers, and nuts
-impact gun (makes this a whole helluva lot easier)

Look at your rear strut, where the bolts go though, there's a section about 2"x2.5" roughly. Make yourself a cardboard template and cut your angle iron so it will fit (pay attention to your bolt holes as well). Remove the two nuts, and slide the mount over. Use your impact to tighten the nuts down. If done right, the mount will bend a bit to fit the contour of the strut.

Remove the nuts, and take the mount back off. ( I imagine you can just tighten them once at the end if you want...)

Cut yourself another section of angle iron roughly 2 inches long, drill 2 holes in both pieces, and bolt them together. Measure to see where your sway bar mount will come to, and drill one last hole.

Bolt the mount to your strut, check your bolts, and install your sway bar to the mounts.

Sorry for the crappy picture, I'll take some better ones when I recheck everything this weekend.

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Last edited by TheRandom1 on Fri Mar 19, 2010 2:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Danteneon wrote:You doing this swap with your tech level is like asking a squirrel to land a 747.

occasional demons
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Post by occasional demons » Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:24 pm

:tardbang: I thought this was already posted once. Eh, regardless I can see some advantages over the strut mounted brackets. These can be made to be adjustable, so endlink length isn't an issue when lowering. (if they are installed before the car is lowered or is returned to stock height at a later time) Or if you wanted to play with the loading of the sway slightly. I wouldn't think a 1/4 inch or so out of non loaded state would harm it.
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TheRandom1
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Post by TheRandom1 » Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:26 pm

BTW, the cost for all of this stuff (we already had the grinder and tools) was roughly 10-15 bucks, another huge plus!

And my car is lowered 1.5-2 inches, and that's how it looks, so...
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Danteneon wrote:You doing this swap with your tech level is like asking a squirrel to land a 747.

boxcarfan
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Post by boxcarfan » Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:53 pm

if you loosen the strut bolts wouldnt that make your camber fall out some?....we do that on cars at work if they dont have a camber adj.

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TheRandom1
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Post by TheRandom1 » Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:54 pm

The bolts in the picture are non adjustable, so no, it will not affect your camber. Neons do not have camber adjustability there.
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Danteneon wrote:You doing this swap with your tech level is like asking a squirrel to land a 747.

esteinmaier
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Re: Home made rear sway bar mounts

Post by esteinmaier » Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:11 pm

TheRandom1 wrote:so I talked with another member (who shall remain nameless unless he chooses to name himself) and we made a custom set for really cheap using parts you can get at your local Home Depot.
I was kidding when I said "Don't tell anyone I helped you make that thing. It looks like ****" Even if it's not pretty, it does the job.
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TheRandom1
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Post by TheRandom1 » Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:15 pm

Well, you are an emo mofo most days, so I didn't want you doing anything stupid... like selling Grrtrude or anything! :lol:
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Danteneon wrote:You doing this swap with your tech level is like asking a squirrel to land a 747.

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TheRandom1
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Post by TheRandom1 » Fri Mar 19, 2010 2:25 pm

Free bump for the member who was asking about this HT!
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Danteneon wrote:You doing this swap with your tech level is like asking a squirrel to land a 747.

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non-magnum
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Post by non-magnum » Thu Apr 29, 2010 6:05 am

If I wanted to throw srt RR sway bar would this deal still work fine?
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TheRandom1
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Post by TheRandom1 » Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:12 am

I don't see why it wouldn't, just may have to drill your mounting hole differently.
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Danteneon wrote:You doing this swap with your tech level is like asking a squirrel to land a 747.

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