• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

When is the best time to install an antisway bar?

Share this page

I

ichthos

Darth Vader
Country flag
Offline
I am just now starting to put together the front suspension in my Bugeye. The engine, transmission, and radiator are not back in yet. It never had an antisway bar before, and I have no idea how to install it. I just have few questions for now. When is the best time to install this? I bougth a used stock sway bar on Ebay a while back. Are there specific measurements that the antisway bar plates bolt to the wishpans? I really need to keep moving on putting this thing all back together, and I am hoping it is no big deal to add it later, preferably before I put the engine and transmission in. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Kevin
 
Kevin:

You can do it later, actually you are better off with the chassis loaded. I am assuming that it is a stock later bar. I would just make sure your arms have the three wholes in them and one is left and right.

Pat
 
Kevin, do your A-arms have the holes in them now?
If not, I have a template I can email to you as a pdf should you wish.

Dug
 
December
 
preferably while the car is stopped.
 
:lol: Thank you JP an' Mark! I thought this thread wuz gonna be all too seer-ious an' stuff.
 
Install your bar when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.
 
DrEntropy said:
:lol: Thank you JP an' Mark! I thought this thread wuz gonna be all too seer-ious an' stuff.
Click to expand...

Your Welcome!
We are here all week- 4 shows daily.

m
 
SilentUnicorn said:
DrEntropy said:
:lol: Thank you JP an' Mark! I thought this thread wuz gonna be all too seer-ious an' stuff.
Click to expand...

Your Welcome!
We are here all week- 4 shows daily.

m
Click to expand...

don't forget to tip your waitress
 
Dug said:
Kevin, do your A-arms have the holes in them now?
If not, I have a template I can email to you as a pdf should you wish.

Dug
Click to expand...
I would also like that template. I sent you a PM with my email address.

I have a question about mounting the sway-bar at the frame rails. What have people done to mount them on cars that did not originally have one installed?

Brian
 
GeeBee1 said:
Kevin:

You can do it later, actually you are better off with the chassis loaded. I am assuming that it is a stock later bar. I would just make sure your arms have the three wholes in them and one is left and right.

Pat
Click to expand...

Well, one of my arms IS a left and one's a right, but NEITHER have 3 (w)holes in them....BUT each has 4 fingers and a thumb and appear to be be OEM...guess I'll just have to live with them..... :laugh:
 
good material I'll have to pass on again due to respect for the board ....
 
gotta luv the straight man

m
 
Brian, I have two Bugeyes that did not appear to have antisway bars originally, but both have four tapped holes for the mounting brackets. Have you looked underneath the rails to see if there are already holes for the mounting brackets?
Kevin
 
Thanks Kevin. I've looked and there are no holes. Maybe there is enough meat there to drill and tap. I was hoping someone who has done would chime in.

It must be raining in more places than just Houston since this place is looking a little like the Spridget mailing list. :smile:

Brian
 
Let me know if you need to know measurements on where the holes are drilled or if you need a picture of this area. Hopefully someone will contribute that has done this before.
Kevin
 
While I don't know this to be true, others (notably Tony) would have chimed in right now and said you can't drill the A-arms for a sway bar as it would weaken them. According to him (and others) you either bought them with the holes drilled or didn't put on a sway bar but that they were either hardened or reinforced.

Once again I don't know this to be true - just sayin' is all.
 
The later pans WERE reinforced for the swaybars. I for one am hesitant to install a sway bar on non-reinforced pans but that is just me.
BillM
 
I have seen the wishbone pans that were reinforced. The thickness of the reinforcements looks no thicker than a washer or two if I remember correctly. Why couldn't one just put one of two grade eight washer behind each bolt? I think Apple Hydraulics sells wishbones with the reinforcements. I wish I would have considered this when I had my wishbones rebuilt a few years ago.
Kevin
 
I'm with BillM. The spring pans for the bar do have a re-enforced attachment point for the bar uprights. Tapered. It would be best to get the 'proper' ones if ya decide to do this, Kev. I would think the washers could allow the loads and stresses to cause them to shift and eventually crack the pan itself. Not worth the risk, IMO.
 
Back
Top