Steeda sway bar, billet brackets, poly bushings, binding?

[snakeraper11b]

So I got the bar in the mail today and put it on in about 20 minutes with the new brackets and bushings. It seems wayyyyy too hard to rotate in the bushings. Probably 40 lbs of force on one side to get the legs to rotate a few inches up and down. I greased the living s**t out of the bushings. I can't remember what the stock bar was like, maybe I'm crazy, but I want to make sure there's not an issue, possibly with the manufacturing of the pieces, install went without a hitch, so I know it's not me.

 

[blacksheep-1]

FWIW mine is the same way, I questioned it as well but found no solutions

 

[snakeraper11b]

Thanks for the reply. I guess that's just the way they are made then. How does your feel in the corners? Whats your cars weight, tire, and spring/shock combo?

 

[blacksheep-1]

It's the beater 99 cobra that I autocross..I'm running 275x35x18 Continental take offs, Hypercoil springs and those Tokico blues you love so much. I'm going out again this weekend so we'll see. I do get a "pop" in the front end on hard cornering that I haven't been able to track down, thought it might be those bushings binding, since I can't find anything else to blame it on.

 

[snakeraper11b]

I hope you have better luck with them than I did! I think my issue was I was too low, over 2" of drop just crushed them. Let me know if you find the pop.

 

[blacksheep-1]

Ok

I'm on the fence with this car, at one point I was going to do the full zuit UPR front and rear kits (stick axle) and drag race it, but then all the tracks around here went 1/8 mile..which IMO suck since I was brought up on 1/4 miles. So it's kind of hanging around as my low budget autocrosser and occasional track car. one day I'm either going to track it properly or drag race it but I really haven't decided. So for now, it's cheap parts only.

 

[tj@steeda]

Whenever you replace a stock stamped steel bracket that’s produced in large quanitites (along with the OEM bushing) with a precision billet aluminum bracket and poured urethane bushings, you will get a tighter, more precise fit. The feeling is positive & eliminates slop that is found on the factory hardware.

Everything sounds fine.

Best Regards,

TJ

 

[tj@steeda]

Whenever you replace a stock stamped steel bracket that’s produced in large quanitites (along with the OEM bushing) with a precision billet aluminum bracket and poured urethane bushings, you will get a tighter, more precise fit. The feeling is positive & eliminates slop that is found on the factory hardware.

Everything sounds fine.

Best Regards,

TJ

 

[blacksheep-1]

Whenever you replace a stock stamped steel bracket that’s produced in large quanitites (along with the OEM bushing) with a precision billet aluminum bracket and poured urethane bushings, you will get a tighter, more precise fit. The feeling is positive & eliminates slop that is found on the factory hardware.

Everything sounds fine.

Best Regards,

TJ

fair enough

 

[blacksheep-1]

OK ran the crap out of the car this weekend, still has the "pop" I had a friend of mine drive the car as well so I could watch it. As soon as I got home I put in on a lift and nut & bolted it and found no problems...don't really know where the noise is. I do know I'm going to have to get some weight off the nose to compete in this "open" class.

 

[snakeraper11b]

Have you checked the steering rack? Car looks good

 

[blacksheep-1]

Yep, I've been all over that car still not convinced it's not the bar......

 

[snakeraper11b]

Maybe try loosening the endlinks and make sure the molded urethane guides line up with the holes on the bar, then tighten it when the control arm is loaded by taking the wheels off and lowing the control arms on jack stands? I had a hard time lining it all up, and I could see how there could be some pops if the end link is not seated correctly. My car is still on jack stands, so I compressed the spring some by jacking under the balljoint so it was at an estimated curb ride height then tightened it all back up with better results.

 

[blacksheep-1]

I'll try it, thanks

 

[blacksheep-1]

May have found the issue, after checking the steering rack I located a lower control arm bolt in the IRS that was a different color, I removed it and found it was a different design from the factory piece. I sourced a stock bolt from my IRS pile and installed it. I also jacked about a extra 1/4 inch of camber into the front end.
The class I run in (open) has all sorts of vehicles in it including my old Foxbody and a Stalker (or 2)..

FAST
Final Results - 20140412_SPC_Champ - Sat 04-12-2014
Total Registered: 98, with Times: 97
'Modified Race Tire (ALL)'
Total
1T R1 25 Scott Wheeler 06 Brunton Superstalker Black 29.8
61 28.825 29.318 28.799 28.189
28.189
[-]0.842
2T R1 24 Les Davis 92 Chevrolet Corvette Yellow 29.969+1 3
0.188 29.031 29.621+1 29.031
29.229+
+0.842
3T R1 9 Jim Swayne 90 Ford Mustang White 32.690 31.417 35.6
61 30.336 30.336
38.058+DNF
+1.305
4 R1 50 Rob Edwards 99 Ford Mustang red 33.180 31.922 36.5
90+DNF 30.754 30.754
31.158
+0.418
5 R1 757 Rob Teasley FFR Cobra Redish 32.702 31.636 31.772
30.814 30.814
30.943
+0.060
6 R1 150 Drew Dill 99 Ford Mustang Red 33.637+2 31.880 31.
239+1 32.166+1 31.880
31.886
+1.066
7 R1 99 Liz Swayne 90 Ford Mustang White 35.290 33.532 32.
952 33.003 32.270
32.270
+0.390
8 R1 767 Kirk Mason 65 FFR Roadster red 35.423 34.695 34.6
17 34.239 33.739
33.739
+1.469

 

[snakeraper11b]

I hope that fixes your pop, things like that can be mind boggling and annoying. I can't stand that they group cars like that track day Brunton with regular production vehicles. No honor in winning anything like that AX with one of those. Keep it up and give that vet hell next time.