ilike2eatricers

I bought some adjustable swaybar endlinks (front and rear) for my t2 and the directions provided werent very clear to me how to properly adjust preload to 0 (as recommended by mazdatrix). I have already have them installed but dont think I have them adjusted correctly. I have a tendency to understeer slightly if that makes a difference.

How do I deteremine where to position the swaybar? Do I just rotare the swaybar so that it doesnt hit anything and then adjust the links to match that height?

How much does ride height affect how much preload I want/ dont want?

CarmonColvin

To setup the preload on the sway bars you are trying to eliminate the torque put on the sway bars placed on them by the natural lean of the car (because the car does not have perfect weight distribution). For example when you get in the car there is ~200? lbs more on the drivers side than the passenger side. For example if that settles the drivers side down 1/4" lower than the passenger side it begins to torque the sway bars because they are going to try and bring both sides to the same height. This puts torque on your sway bars when they should be neutral and waiting for a bump or turn.

To setup the preload on my race car I would load the drivers seat with junk that would duplicate my body weight. The rest of the car would be in race condition (same amount of gas, air pressure in tires, etc.)

I would remove one front wheel and put a block under the "A" arm so it was the same height it would of been with the wheel on. I would measure from the ground to the center of the hub to get this right. I was able to use a few blocks of wood cut to size to accomplish this. So at this point the car was still supported by its sprung suspension. The only difference is that 3 corners are on tires and one corner is on a block of wood holding it at the same height as the tire/wheel would. Unhook the end link at the front wheel you have removed you will then see how much static torque is placed on the sway bar. Just adjust that endlink so that it easily bolts back up to the sway bar without having to push or pull the sway bar into place. If it is so far out of adjustment that you can't lengthen or shorten that end link enough just do it 1/2 the amount you can and then duplicate the effort on the opposite side of the car. I always tried to keep the sway bar in a position close to where the stock end lengths would of put it.

Then do the same procedure on the rear and you are set.

It is not very difficult but be VERY careful because the car is not supported on jack stands! But this is necessary so it is sitting on its suspension.

I did this procedure to my car every time I changed any of the coilover height settings. The first time is a pain in the butt. After a few times you will have the proper sized wood blocks and you will know what junk in your garage is equal to your body weight . And it is close enough that you should only have to touch one side of the car each for the front and rear.

Take notes! It will be beneficial to write down what you used to weight the car with, what block of wood to use, what tire pressures you used, how many turns it took to correct and 0 the sway bars out each time.

reza

Carmon,

Do you adjust your coilover height with scale as well?

ilike2eatricers

Thanks for the detailed explanation. The first time I did it I had a buddy (about the same weight as me) sit in the drivers seat after I had the car up on blocks of wood on each of the four corners so I had enough room to work under the car yet still have the sprung weight on the car.

I suppose I was more unsure about the positioning of the bar rather than the adjustment. Also my car has coilovers my ride height may be slightly off from ds to ps. I havent had the car corner weighted and not sure if I plan to or not but will a slight difference in ride height from ds to ps affect the my adjustments greatly? Is there a more accurate way to adjust ride height evenly other than counting the number of threads? I have threaded sleeves that sit on the perch of the spring and counted from the bottom up and also measure the distance from the center of the hub to the top of the wheel.

I didnt take into affect the weight of the gas in the tank. Thanks for mentioning that.

Rxmfn7

iTrader: (4)

Do adjustable endlinks make a huge (noticable?) difference? I have JIC coilovers with racingbeat swaybars, would being able to adjust the endlinks be a great advantage?

DamonB

I ensure the fluids and seat weight are in the car as it will be run. Remove both endlinks. With the car sitting at rest you want the swaybar arms to be parallel to the ground. Install the first endlink to hold the bar parallel. Install the second endlink and adjust its length so as to easily slip onto the swaybar.

Presto. No preload on the swaybar.

If your car is so low as to make this impossible put blocks under the suspension as CarmonColvin describes.

It's far easier to just jack the front end up and bolt stuff on and this is ok if your endlinks are not adjustable. If they are adjustable you need the car to be sitting at rest with its weight on the suspension.

DamonB

Not unless something is screwed up. Unless you're going to the track and can honestly tell the car acts different in one direction than the other you won't notice.

CarmonColvin

On one occasion I had the car on scales and properly corner weighted the car. Once that was done I didn't change much. Prior to that it was just guesswork based on tire temperature. It is not a perfect way to do it but I didn't have access to scales.

ilike2eatricers

Thanks for the replies. I think I should readjust them. The reason I got these were that my stock rear ones were cracked and thought I would upgrade since I needed to replace them anyways and also decided to get the front redone as well. My car is a street car but I'm trying to prep it for some track days in the future.

ilike2eatricers

I finally got around to adjusting them today and the endlinks scraped the chassis. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I can't rotate the swaybar any lower as to make sure it doesnt hit the chassis again. The reason I can't rotate the bar any lower is because the adjustable endlink cannot shorten enough, It scraped the chassis right where next to the brake line. I moved the line farther away to make sure it doesnt contact for now.



Recommendations? I'm trying to get everything set and back together by tonight so I'm waiting on replies. Thanks.

inflatablepets

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