Yet another item checked off my bucket list.
This is paired with the Hellwig rear bar.

Stock: hollow, 1-3/8 in, 12.5 lbs.
Note: stock needs to feature graceful curves because its a hollow tube.


New: Addco 526, solid, 1-1/4 in, 20.5lbs.


Addco hardware.


Endlink.


Result: This, plus tightening up some wiggle in the front bearings made the steering and ride very solid, and what I would call a high quality feel.
Ready to go wheel-to-wheel with my Mercedes.
Now just looking for some highway stretch with strong crosswinds, where my original peeve was.

 

Dang, that is nice rust free Aero, I wish my underside looked that good.


Where did you get the bar from? And what is with the 3rd sway bar bushing?

 

West coast and southwest only. Once into Mexico, once into Canada, on my shift anyway.
JEGS was the distributor. As I was making arrangements to cancel after a 6 week wait, the ADDCO factory finally shipped.
The third bushing in the center was factory original leftover. After I installed a new set about 10 years ago, the bushing was left behind doing duty as a backsupport for the front air dam, important at triple digit speeds on the back straight.

 

Another way to keep the undercarriage rust-free is to accidentally leave a PS cooling line loose, allowing fluid to spray all over everything. But you need to do it early in the van's life, before the rust starts.

 

Those rubber bushings wear out on mine more often than I think they should. However my ride is fine.
The connecting angle of your replacement bar looks like it will place more pressure on the bushings causing them to wear out quicker. Any thoughts?

 

I'm a fan of rubber versus other options (if any) and my philosophy is to just keep up on the maintenance schedule.

The bar's end points are exactly as original, it just takes a different route to get there. The links are low tech (with rubber bushings) and need a tighter refresh schedule.

My only immediate concern is with the (6mm???) bolts at the chassis mounts, due to increased stress and additional 8lbs of bar. It is on my list to replace with stronger, larger dia bolts. Also it seemed that the original design was using U-nuts on the far side.

 

One of the features of the aftermarket replacements for those bushings is that they're stiffer than the stock rubber bushings. This helps the stock sway bar work better, but is more important for stiffer aftermarket sway bars, which will put more pressure on all the attachment parts. Using stock, softer rubber bushings on a stiffer bar will make it less effective.

Ideally, I would like to replace all the bushings with bearings and heim joints. But that would require a different bar arrangement. Here is a picture of my Mustang with after market front suspension, where one end of the end link has been replaced with a heim joint.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1155523...54059748587122

Unfortunately, I could not find a ready-made bar that would allow me to replace all the bushings with bearings and heim joints.

 

And today was the day.


On the left, the original M8 bolts that had me concerned. 9.8 strength.
Both the bolt and hole were down to minimal thread, ready to pull out at "any" time.
As (bad) luck will have it this life changing event won't happen you are simply driving straight down the highway, without the thousand-foot drop off your port.


On the right, an M10, 10.9 strength.


In the middle, the helicoil repair with M8, 10.9 bolts.
This would have been comparable holding power to the M10's because the limitation is not the bolt, but the hole's threads.
The hardened helicoil brings us up to an effective M10 thread diameter at the junction with the soft steel.


We go with the M10 because the diameter fills out the bracket slots and eliminated the need for washers to provide coverage.
Since there is no lock washer used, and the head in non-serrated, and the hole is in soft steel...
we went with a locking compound and low to medium torque, say 20-30 ft-lbs.

 

I am surprised that when drilling out the factory hole that the it didn't "pop" out. It is only tack welded in.