Question:

Has anyone been sucessful at fishing the stock Front Sway Bar out of the car without dropping the subframe?

I can reach all of the bolts, and it looks like it might be possble to turn and twist the bar to get it out.

It is so busy in that area, that I can't tell for sure.

Any help, that would assist in planning this project, is welcome.

I am waiting on a rear bar and would like to do them together. I don't think the rear bar will be that bad, but the front?

Thanks

Mitsuatb

 

Sorry, only way I know how to do this car is to drop the steering rack.

 

Not possible.

You can get away with disconnecting the steering rack only then loosening all the bolts on the subframe and dropping then. This avoids having to disconnect the power steering, LCA's and tie rods.

 

PM me your email address and i can send you a good write-up on it Monday.

- Andrew

 

I had to drop the sub frame to remove the front sway bar.

 

I believe you don't have to FULLY remove it, but you must atleast lower the rear portion. Which involves disconneting the rack. It'd be a hassle in your own garage, unless you have a lift. Having a lift would make it much easier, but it'd still be a little time consuming if you've never done anything like that before. I was thinking of doing this as well but went the DIY route. I still may someday end up bitting the bullet and do an aftermarket fornt sway bar.

 

dropping the front subframe is actually pretty easy.

-remove undertray
-remove down pipe
-remove steering link rubber cover bolts from driver foot well
-remove rubber steering link cover and mark link with paint pen
-remove 10mm bolt that tightens down steering link
-remove both lower ball joint bolts
-remove upper power steering line banjo bolt
-snake power steering line down
-remove power steering return line where it clamps to hard line
-put jack on center of subframe
-remove the four bolts that hold up the subframe to the chassis
-slowly lower jack and subframe down, checking every couple inched to make sure nothing is caught.

...hope I didn't miss a step, but those are basically the main things. It's not hard to do at all.

 

the swaybar will take some work. but its not too bad.

 

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

I will still try to get it out, but doesn't look likely, I will plan to at least disconnect the steering rack per suggestions in this thread.

Thanks again

Mitsuatb

 

Great suggestion,

If I can't do what I want, then I will use your suggestion.

Thanks

Mitsuatb

 

Hi,

I have been looking closely at how this would be done.

As near as I can tell, you can not reach the steering rack bolts, because of the roll stopper bracket.

It wraps over the steering rack and covers the second pair of rack mounting bolts.

On other DSM's this may not be the case, are you sure this will work on an evo, have you done it yourself?

Or was this a theory, that you thought might work?

I like the idea, but I don't see how it could be done.

Can you clarify this for me?

Thanks

Mitsuatb

 

By disconnnecting the steering rack I mean from the steering column inside the car only. The roll stopper and rack connections to the subframe are not touched.

You must be VERY careful since the power steering lines are still connected, but you'll save time and hassle in the end.

It's pretty much like nightwalker said but you don't have to disconnnect the power steering lines. Just remember you will be suspending the subframe, not completely dropping it.

I have a used H&R front bar if you're interested.

 

I actually managed to do it without disconnecting the steering linkage at all. I even left the downpipe in place. Here's what I unbolted:

Transmission mount
Wheels
Lower tie bars
Downpipe to cat connection
Subframe bolts

Once I did that, I could get to the swaybar bushing bolts with a ratchet wrench and the bar wiggled its way out.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the post, very interesting.

By "trans mount" , do you mean the "roll stopper", big round rubber bushing on the back engine with a cross bolt?

I would like to avoid paying for another alignment and risking damage to ball joints.

Did you take the bar out the back or to the side?

Do you think you were risking damage to steering shaft?

Thanks

Mitsuatb

 

The trans mount is the big rubber bushing behind the motor. It's actually bolted to the transmission and its a pain in the *** to get to. When you put it back together make sure you get enough torque on the bolt. I ended up having to buy another one after mine fell out in the middle of New Jersey. Once I got everything loose, the bar just kind of slid out towards the back of the car.

And now that I'm thinking about it, I did take the steering shaft apart. Sorry, it was a while ago. You shouldn't need an alignment. Because you're not touching the tie rods, the toe angle won't change and you're not moving anything enough to make any discernable camber change.