longdaddy

i am putting in T1 bars, it looks like because of the thickness, the rear bar is clamped by the bushings very tight - is this normal or should I put some washers under the upper bracket bolts? how tight are those supposed to be? I could rotate the old one by hand, this one only moves when the suspension loads with the weight of the car.

what is the procedure to "zero it out" when installing - i do not have access to the lift where I can reset it with suspension fully loaded?

I also have adjustable end links and the bar itself has 3 holes - I assume to control the stiffness. I hate all this adjustable stuff - what would be the good setting to start with? I have set the end links to be roughtly the same in length to the stock C5Z ones and used middle holes. the whole setup feels extremely tight compared to the stock one.

davidfarmer

many people use washers to shim out the bushing clamp, although I've personally never had one that was too tight. Also, starting with both adjusters in the middle hole is the perfect starting point........move one/both closer to the bar to stiffen it, further toward the end to soften it.

imp zog

If you want better front end bite, tighten up the rear bar by shortening it (ie: use the inner holes). This will let the rear end rotate more freely; if it rotates too freely you will want to soften it up. In the rain, to keep the rear end sticking better, I disconnect the rear bar completely (well, I disconnect one end of it, so it doesn't hang down).

0Randy@DRM

Get the car up on some boards on the garage floor. Let it sit for some time to settle down. Then do the swaybar preload. You can have one attached and one free, so you only have to mess with one side. The bolt should go into the hole freely when that car is at ride height. Adjust the links until you can slide it in the hole (sorry about the wording)

We use washers to help free up the bar.

Randy

96CollectorSport

Here is the way that I install a rear bar, first thing I do is put some silicone on the bushings, and fit the bar on the car, I'll try putting the bar on first without washers but if it is hard to move I will put a pair of washers on the upper bolts. (You should be able to move the bar freely, minimal effort.) You don't want the bar binding and having some preload on it. (For serious track cars you should also center the bar, which requires a little measurement from side to side, but we don't need to get into that here.) After the bar is in place and moving free then you have to pick which hole to start with, as stated before you may as well start with the middle hole. After that you have to decide how you want to set the car up, just driver weight, driver and passanger or no passanger. Basically how are you going to run the car most often, with just you in the car or you and an instructor. I will load flywheels in the drivers seat until I get to 215lbs. Then I adjust the endlinks so that they slide in and out of the holes on the A-arm freely. This way the bar is static when it's just sitting there. The bar should be adjusted any time you make a significant change in weight or ride height. To make sure there is no preload.
Hope this helps.

CP Thunder

Did you get the proper bushings with the bar or are you trying to reuse your old ones?

longdaddy

thanks for replies. i am using the bushings that came with the bar.