sway bar???

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scuba_sean
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my friend and i just made strut tower braces for my 1990 240SX and his 88 pulsar. we wanna make sway bars as he is an excellent welder. just one problem. i know what they do, i dont know how they do it or where they attach. can someone give me an elaborate description or send a pic? thanks


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Onizuka
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Car: 91 coupe w/s13 SR20DET 89 hatch w/s14 SR20DE

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STRUT TOWER braces. therfor, the attach to the STRUT TOWER. just kiddin' :rolleyes but really their should be holes on a circular plate for bolting onto the upper mounts inside the engine bay.

scuba_sean
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Car: snowboarding, sailing

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we already made the strut tower braces, we want sway bars

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C-Kwik
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Car: 2013 Chevy Volt, 1991 Honda CRX DX

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http://www.stillen.com/product_images/303040.jpg

The problem with making a sway bar is you have to make it with similar materials to those found in a spring. Unlike strut tower braces, they ends are attached to moving suspension piece and under load do deal with a lot of twisting. It is this twisting that as actually the motion that controls how much the car will sway. If you were to make one out of a metal that won't go back to it's original shape when the load is removed, one of three things will probably occur. 1, you will snap the bar. 2, you will bend the bar. 3, the suspension will not have any roll compliance. All three can be dangerous. And while the last one, almost sounds good, you have to remember that you wan't some compliance from the suspension and it would also negate the benefits of having an independent suspension.

scuba_sean
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what part of the suspension does it hook on to?

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C-Kwik
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The ends attach to the lower suspension arms, while the center is held against the chassis or subframe. In all honesty, if you don't know this already, I wouldn't recommend making any until you really know what you are doing. They are quite sensitive to the stiffness. Especially in how stiff the front bar is in relation to the rear bar and vice versa. Having a sway bar too stiff on either side can cause poor handling characteristics. It takes some amount of test and tuning to really make a good set of sway bars.

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Exar-Kun
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scuba_sean wrote:what part of the suspension does it hook on to?


god I didnt compile the FAQ for NOTHING. read the sway bar article in the FAQ for suspension things, and you'll figure out that unless you have acess to good materials and a nice forging/bening machine you best not mess with it.-chet


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