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Any interest in billet sway bar mounts for the FD?

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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 12:20 PM
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Any interest in billet sway bar mounts for the FD?

6061 T61 billet aluminum sway bar mounts with 6061 T61 radiator support brackets (not shown). Estimated 1.25 lbs. per side, but with a massive increase in strength. Mounts raise the sway bar approximately 1" for increased ground clearance.

Prices below includes 2 billet mounts, 2 radiator support brackets, and all required hardware, as well as shipping in the lower 48 states. Alaska, Hawaii, and other countries will add additional shipping costs.

5-9 - $250.00
10-14 - $225.00
15-19 - $205.00
20-24 - $190.00
25-29 - $180.00
30-39 - $175.00
40-49 - $170.00
50-74 - $165.00
75-99 - $155.00
100+ - $145.00

Attached Thumbnails Any interest in billet sway bar mounts for the FD?-sway-bar-mounts.jpg  
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 01:43 PM
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so now you are in copying business as well?
Its the same as another swaybar mount that I know of.
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 02:15 PM
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But you can't order them from the other company.

Jim, put me down for a set
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 02:26 PM
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Originally Posted by reza
so now you are in copying business as well?
Its the same as another swaybar mount that I know of.
No, they're not the same as David Breslau's mounts, which are no longer available as far as I know, and if making sway bar mounts from billet aluminum is copying, then the late Trev Dagley holds the copyright, because his FTL billet mounts (which I was involved in making) were around long before David's.

I designed those mounts myself the other night with my own CAD software, using measurements I took myself. If you want to make accusations, get your facts straight.
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 02:35 PM
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David's "Crooked Willow" billet sway bar mounts...

Attached Thumbnails Any interest in billet sway bar mounts for the FD?-sway-bar-mounts.jpg  
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 02:45 PM
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Originally Posted by jimlab
No, they're not the same as David Breslau's mounts, which are no longer available as far as I know.
Not to get in the middle of anybodies argument. But the bigfoot mounts are still available. Just not easily available. I tracked David down, and he is still accepting orders for them.

Anyways, if the number gets high enough, you can count me in.

Can you tell me If I have relocated my radiator (koyo) will this bracket still work?
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 02:45 PM
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Do mine look the same? Not even remotely. Do they look similar? Sure, but there are only so many ways to carve a mount out of a block of billet aluminum when the bolt spacing and dimensions have to be roughly the same.

Attached Thumbnails Any interest in billet sway bar mounts for the FD?-sway-bar-mounts-2.jpg  
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 02:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Jesuscookies
Not to get in the middle of anybodies argument. But the bigfoot mounts are still available. Just not easily available. I tracked David down, and he is still accepting orders for them.
Thanks for the information, although I'm sure he'd have more made if anyone expressed interest. The design never goes away, though.

Can you tell me If I have relocated my radiator (koyo) will this bracket still work?
Relocated how? Did you modify your stock mounts or did you make new radiator mounting brackets?
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 06:40 PM
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Originally Posted by reza
so now you are in copying business as well?
Its the same as another swaybar mount that I know of.
I've owned and used stock, FTL, and Widefoot (David Breslau's) mounts, and I've seen aftermarket mounts from at least a half-dozen other sources. They all serve the same functions, but Jim's posted design is clearly different enough from the others that an allegation of "copying" is just not credible.
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 09:24 PM
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Originally Posted by jimlab
Relocated how? Did you modify your stock mounts or did you make new radiator mounting brackets?
I'm sorry, I think I may have been unclear in what I was trying to ask. My concern is this, I have a koyo aftermarket radiator, which I thought, when installed, required new mounting locations. However, I did not install it, so I do not know for sure. With that said, if I have installed an aftermarket radiator, will I still be able to use your sway bar mounts?

Is there something I can check under the car to confirm that your brackets will work for sure?

Are there any instances you can think of where your brackets may not work?
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 10:09 PM
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Is there any lateral stabilizer as with David Breslau's mounts?

What advantages do your mounts have over Breslau's mounts (besides price)? Why not see if his mounts are still available and maybe do a group buy of his mounts at a reduced price. His mounts are already proven. It seems like a lot of trouble to go to unless your mounts have some advantage. I'm actually interested and not trying to discourage you. I just want the best product for the least price .
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 10:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Jesuscookies
I'm sorry, I think I may have been unclear in what I was trying to ask. My concern is this, I have a koyo aftermarket radiator, which I thought, when installed, required new mounting locations. However, I did not install it, so I do not know for sure. With that said, if I have installed an aftermarket radiator, will I still be able to use your sway bar mounts?

Is there something I can check under the car to confirm that your brackets will work for sure?

Are there any instances you can think of where your brackets may not work?
David, the lower radiator mounts are generally not changed for installing the Koyo, however some FMIC kits add little extender things to the lower mount plates (GReddy, I think, perhaps others). Since the plates on Jim's and Widefoot's mounts are a separate plate, it should be easy to fab up a different plate if that is the case for your FMIC/rad mount situation. You could probably also use the extender plates that came with the FMIC and attach them, but a new plate is probably better since it has less parts and fasteners. Either way, I can't imagine it being a significant problem.

I would like to note that moving the sway bar up an inch, as both Jim's proposed mounts and Widefoot's offering do, improves the ground clearance for the sway bar and mounts. However, that may result in something more fragile (radiator, IC) becoming the lowest point in the car. I know lots of people have Widefoot mounts and I haven't heard any horror stories of punctured radiator tanks, though, so it is probably not a huge problem.

-Max
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 11:45 PM
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Like these?
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Old Jan 1, 2005 | 11:58 PM
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Is that your car? That mount was probably in this box...

Attached Thumbnails Any interest in billet sway bar mounts for the FD?-pic0028.jpg  
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Old Jan 2, 2005 | 12:02 AM
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Originally Posted by Matt Hey
Is there any lateral stabilizer as with David Breslau's mounts?
No, and no offense to David, but I don't think they provide any benefit at all. A larger mounting pad at the top of the mount is all that is required in my opinion, to spread the load over as large an area as possible, and that's what I tried to accomplish. That, lighter weight, and a lower price.

I haven't decided whether or not to make a "full height" version or a version which lowers the radiator. Trev and I had excellent results with the FTL mounts which dropped the radiator about 1 5/8". Unfortunately, Trev's schematics are gone, so I'd have to mock up my Koyo and "re-invent" the upper brackets.

Attached Thumbnails Any interest in billet sway bar mounts for the FD?-pic0043.jpg  

Last edited by jimlab; Jan 2, 2005 at 12:04 AM.
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Old Jan 2, 2005 | 12:03 AM
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Originally Posted by jimlab
Is that your car? That mount was probably in this box...
Yes, that's my car. At one point it had your old ECU, it also had an FTL intake with an ASP intercooler.
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Old Jan 2, 2005 | 12:06 AM
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Originally Posted by the_glass_man
At one point it had your old ECU
I think my ECU is like one of those trunks in a Bus Bunny cartoon that gets sent around the world and comes back with stickers from everywhere it's been plastered all over it. People should have signed it before passing it on.
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Old Jan 2, 2005 | 03:25 AM
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OK, I did a little more work on the design, and now it looks like nothing I've seen before except the Roman numeral II, and I don't think that's copyrighted...

"Stubby" on the left, full height on the right.

Attached Thumbnails Any interest in billet sway bar mounts for the FD?-sway-bar-mounts-3.jpg  
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Old Jan 2, 2005 | 05:46 AM
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Originally Posted by jimlab
For some reason I got disoriented while trying to figure out what this picture was. Now I see that it shows the top of the radiator, relocated downward by the mounts. It had me feeling a bit queasy for a moment there before I got my bearings.

-Max
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Old Jan 2, 2005 | 02:37 PM
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Originally Posted by jimlab
No, and no offense to David, but I don't think they provide any benefit at all. A larger mounting pad at the top of the mount is all that is required in my opinion, to spread the load over as large an area as possible, and that's what I tried to accomplish.
I think having a bigger and flatter contact surface will help over stock mounts but the weakest strength is side to side motion where this doesn't help as much. Another thing to consider is that raising the sway bar position may cause greater forces to be exerted. I think it was Damon B that was talking about it in a thread.

Originally Posted by jimlab
That, lighter weight, and a lower price.

I haven't decided whether or not to make a "full height" version or a version which lowers the radiator. Trev and I had excellent results with the FTL mounts which dropped the radiator about 1 5/8". Unfortunately, Trev's schematics are gone, so I'd have to mock up my Koyo and "re-invent" the upper brackets.

Have you considered making your radiator bracket adjustable? I can think of at least one way of doing it. Have a series of holes in the radiator bracket and one would just slide the radiator bracket up or down and change a couple of bolts (going into/through part of the sway bar mount) to change the height. Of course you could get fancier than this. This would be a real nice feature I'd like to see. If you still don't understand I could probably draw something up for you.
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Old Jan 2, 2005 | 05:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Matt Hey
I think having a bigger and flatter contact surface will help over stock mounts but the weakest strength is side to side motion where this doesn't help as much. Another thing to consider is that raising the sway bar position may cause greater forces to be exerted. I think it was Damon B that was talking about it in a thread.
It seems like raising the bar would shorten the lever arm (of the mount itself) and reduce the forces where they bolt to the frame rail. I hadn't thought of it before, but it seems like that might be the primary feature that reduces the chance for damage. Do you mean that raising the bar makes the mount stronger or weaker, all other things being equal? Do you have a link to DamonB's post?

-Max
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Old Jan 2, 2005 | 06:03 PM
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Why I think the sway bar should be at stock height

Last edited by DamonB; Jan 2, 2005 at 06:06 PM.
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Old Jan 2, 2005 | 06:43 PM
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Originally Posted by maxcooper
It seems like raising the bar would shorten the lever arm (of the mount itself) and reduce the forces where they bolt to the frame rail. I hadn't thought of it before, but it seems like that might be the primary feature that reduces the chance for damage. Do you mean that raising the bar makes the mount stronger or weaker, all other things being equal? Do you have a link to DamonB's post?

-Max
If you run a sway bar mount like this you've GOT to raise it. The stock sway bar mount is basically the lowest part of the front of the car. They do hit curbs frequently but since they are designed to fold up/bend it doesn't really do any damage other than ruining the sway bar mount.

If you had a solid/billet sway bar mount with the sway bar at stock height then when you hit something with it you'll likely do some serious damage to the frame rail. Some systems need a weak point so they "fail safe".
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Old Jan 3, 2005 | 03:04 PM
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Originally Posted by maxcooper
It seems like raising the bar would shorten the lever arm (of the mount itself) and reduce the forces where they bolt to the frame rail. I hadn't thought of it before, but it seems like that might be the primary feature that reduces the chance for damage....-Max
If the vert links are well aligned, horizonal forces at brackets will be low. If misaligned, then a short bracket helps with the bigger horizontal forces. It does not help reduce the moment due to the offset nature of the bracket, where normal high vertical forces creates a moment, bending the bracket like a high side load would. Big foot print brackets do help with this.
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Old Jan 3, 2005 | 03:48 PM
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Ill take a set
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