[wrxnfx]

Hello,
I purchased cusco front and rear sway bars and last night attempted to install them. The rear sway went on effortlessly and with no problems, wow what a difference it made.

Then I moved my way to the front of the car. The brackets that hold the bushings are located right above the frame of the car. Could anyone who has changed the front sway give any pointers or tips on an successful installation. After feeling the difference the rear bar has made I cant wait to get the front bar changed as well.

Thanks,
subarroo

 

[Akiata]

I installed front/rear whiteline bars. Like you said the rear is pretty easy but the front is a PITA.

It was a while ago so I don't remember everything but I don't believe the front brackets were a problem. What IS a problem is you must remove or loosen the front crossmember piece. (Not exactly shure what its called but it looks like a big "U")

You need to remove the plastic undertray first. easy..

Then loosen the big bolts for the crossmember piece. You will probably need a breaker bar or air tools. I didn't totally remove that piece but left the last two bolts in and let it hang down to get somemore clearance.

Put the new anti-roll bar in.

Put the bolts for the crossmember piece in and torque them down back to front I believe. Hang on, I'll get the torque specs for you.... Ok I got something better for you, a pic of the piece and the torque specs.

 

[Akiata]

I don't know why the pic didn't show up. Probably because its too big. I will post the torque specs then.

So, there are 10 bolts to this brace. Going from the back of the car to the front. The first 2 bolts (per side) they are 71 ft-lbs. The next one I'm not too sure about. I talked to Glenn Wallace and he was saying something about a green bolt had a different torque spec than a gold bolt. You could proably torque it to 70 (per side) and it should be ok or email/pm him and find out for sure. The pic I have doesn't have the torque for that bolt. The next one is 55 ft-lbs (per side) and the ones on top are 34 ft-lbs.

I can email you the pic if you want.

[email protected]
www.achtuning.com

 

[Big Sky WRX]

The subframe torques are listed in tyhe sticky atop this forum. Some people don't remove the subframe when installing the front sway bar, I do. Makes it much easier.

 

[GV27]

Stick me in the "removing the subframe makes it an unnecessarily big job" camp.

 

[Akiata]

why didn't you tell me that earlier big sky!

I don't see how you can install the front anti-roll bar (correct term) without removing it. Atleast the whiteline ones, maybe the others are different.

[email protected]
www.achtuning.com

 

[Gaspipe]

I'm one of the bigger hammer crowd I guess. I installed my front Cusco bar w/o removing the subframe.

I was able to get those brackets back on over the bushings with a lot of foul language and Herculean effort. In hindsight, I don't know why I didn't remove the subframe. Perhaps it was that I was challenged by the situation.

 

[GV27]

Mine just wasn't that hard. One of the bracket bolts is a bit difficult to get to, but patience and an end wrench do it. I do, of course, remove the center jack plate. Then the brackets and ends and just stick it into the wheel on one side and the other comes out. No problem. Heck, I thought the back one was harder 'cause the bracket bolt on the gas filler side is so freakin' hard to get threaded again!