Author Topic: Doubleing up the rear sway bar  (Read 5182 times)

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Offline Spoony

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Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« on: Mar 15, 2010, 09:17AM »
I've just replaced the original 270,000km old shocks (rear were well toasted as it's a tow whore). 
It's only my stock daily but the U13 is a great cheap roundabout and tows bikes/ski's really well for a 4cyl.   

I found sourcing parts is getting harder,  shocks I had to go Monroe up front but got KYB Excel G's for the rear. Things have definately improved.  Need an alignment though as the front shocks have enlongaed hub mount holes for camber, no idea where I should set, it's at max camber and its well visable even on a stock height car, not the best driving experience hehe.

I tried to order a whiteline rear bar just to make it a bit sharper and less boaty in the turns (the stocker is like a bloody twig!)  but no longer available.

I've seen it done on other cars and was thinking some how running a second standard bar links to the original should surely help.  Has anyone done this?? Thoughts?
So far total cost 2.5years running including all maintanence/repairs and car purchase it's upto only $2000, so whatever I do it's on the cheap! hehe.

Offline pedro666

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Re: Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« Reply #1 on: Mar 15, 2010, 11:02AM »
selby may have one, i got one for my u12 from them.
the words "race car" spelled backward still spell "race car"? 




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Offline slim

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Re: Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« Reply #2 on: Mar 15, 2010, 08:04PM »
I found sourcing parts is getting harder,  shocks I had to go Monroe up front but got KYB Excel G's for the rear. Things have definately improved.  Need an alignment though as the front shocks have enlongaed hub mount holes for camber, no idea where I should set, it's at max camber and its well visable even on a stock height car, not the best driving experience hehe.


could i see a pic of the camber plz. my front tyres wear heavily on the outer shoulders. And the mounting holes

I may still have my stock rear sway bar if you want a dodgy weld 2 bars together job
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Offline Spoony

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Re: Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« Reply #3 on: Mar 15, 2010, 09:40PM »
Sorry can't help you now, got an allignment done today, much much better had like 9mm each side too much toe in etc. 
With the new shocks the cars much better, still has the usual U13 body roll I think a rear bar would help lots with. ?

I'll contact Shelby but if I can work out how to link em together (zip ties?? hehe) I'll definately be interested in your old stocker.

Offline Jono

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Re: Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« Reply #4 on: Mar 17, 2010, 02:21AM »
if I can work out how to link em together (zip ties?? hehe)

If that doesn't work try hose clamps  :P
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Offline MAG86

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Re: Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« Reply #5 on: Mar 17, 2010, 10:05AM »
search for 'double rear sway bars' on the R31club forum
it is fairly common practice for the budget drifter noobs. full writeups, pics, tutorials, the works.
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Offline Spoony

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Re: Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« Reply #6 on: Mar 17, 2010, 10:11AM »
Lol & hose clamps,  maybe some U bolts? (actually I think I've seen that done lol)

Cheers, will have a search.

Slim, were about's in Aus are you? (If you still have that bar?)

Offline Spoony

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Re: Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« Reply #7 on: Mar 17, 2010, 12:02PM »
Stumbled on this article on Autospeed below  (oddly, I'm not allowed to post links ??)

Does seem the easiest way to do it (D mounts/bushes as clamps).   I'd probably just do that on the ends of the bar, and piggy back the chassis D mounts that exist with the new bar/mounts.
Should work in theory.  Really need a second bar to 'mock' up against it first.




Adding a Second Sway Bar
Now this is the real bargain approach. What you do is to parallel another sway bar with the original. While that might seem like way overkill, it isn’t necessarily. Let’s take a look.

Take car that runs a 27mm front sway bar. It’s a rear-wheel drive car with plenty of torque and without an LSD, is prone to lift an inside rear wheel in cornering. A bigger front bar will keep the car sitting flatter, providing better traction at possibly the expense of a little loss in front-end grip.

No upsized bar is available from other models of the same car (ie 27mm bar was the largest size used) but what if we add a second 27mm bar to the front? All other things being equal (which they aren’t), that would double the front sway bar stiffness.

Doing the maths above shows that to double the stiffness of the 27mm bar, we’d have to increase its diameter to 32mm. Hmmm, doesn’t sound so great a jump now, does it? Or, by adding a 25mm bar (easily sourced from an earlier model) to the standard 27mm bar, the stiffness increase would be approximately like upsizing the standard bar to just under 30mm.

 So how do you add a second sway bar? The exact approach depends on how the sway bar is mounted but one method involves cutting off the mounting ends of the second bar and then clamping it to the original. Strong clamps can be easily gained if you buy a whole bunch of original sway bar mounts – they’ll have the right strength and also come with D-rubbers to suit the sway bar diameter. All you’ll need in addition are some high tensile nuts and bolts... and even including the sway bar, the total of that lot can be under fifty bucks!

Here’s how to do it:

Go to a wrecker and obtain a second standard sway bar. Compare it to another standard bar to check it’s not bent, and make sure it’s not rusty or otherwise stuffed. When you’re doing your comparison, make sure that there’s room to fit it below the standard bar, without it hitting anything even with suspension and steering movement.
Buy eight (yep, eight!) sway bar mounts and rubber bushes. These don’t have to be from the same make and model of car, but make sure the rubber bush is for approximately the same size bar (eg within a few millimetres). These rubber bushes can get chewed-out over time, so inspect the rubber before plonking down the cash.  Hold the new sway bar up against the original and work out how the two are to be attached. A couple of approaches can be taken but easiest is to do as is shown here. In this a diagram the black sway bar and red mounts are the originals. The green sway bar has had its ends cut off and is then is clamped to the original using four clamps. Unlike in this diagram, the new sway bar is usually mounted directly below the original.
Each clamp is made by using a pair of sway bar mounts bolted together, mounting faces of one clamp against the mounting faces of the other. The original rubber bushes are retained but the bar no longer swivels within them. To join the clamps make sure that you use high tensile bolts (available from bolt stores and industrial suppliers) and not cheap low quality hardware store nuts and bolts.
The original sway bar is most easily shortened by being cut with a friction saw. Shorten the arms only by the minimum amount to provide clearance to the original suspension mounts. If you shorten the arms too much, you’ll find it hard to retain enough space for adequate clamping. The greater the distance between the clamps on each side, the better will be the security of the system. Again check that nothing touches at full steering lock (front) and with full bump and rebound (front and back).

Offline Colby

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Re: Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« Reply #8 on: Mar 17, 2010, 01:02PM »
I was going to do the rear double bar a while back.  all you need to do is change the bolts at each end to a slightly longer set and get a few extra rubber bushes so both bars fit on the bolt.
Then for the mounts, use some rectangle steel tube with holes drilled to mount the second U clamp and rubber bush for the new bar.  The original one will just sit inside the tube.
If that makes sense?  its not a hard thing, but you may want to strengthen your sway bar mounts if you upgrade... they have been known to break off from the body of the car.

Offline slim

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Re: Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« Reply #9 on: Mar 17, 2010, 11:07PM »
Lol & hose clamps,  maybe some U bolts? (actually I think I've seen that done lol)

Cheers, will have a search.

Slim, were about's in Aus are you? (If you still have that bar?)

im in perth, wa. i shall see if i still have the bar in dads shed on mon. 99% sure
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Offline pedro666

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Re: Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« Reply #10 on: Mar 17, 2010, 11:39PM »
would the j30 bars fit the u13? or is it just the u12?
the words "race car" spelled backward still spell "race car"? 




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Offline Spoony

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Re: Doubleing up the rear sway bar
« Reply #11 on: Mar 18, 2010, 08:07AM »
Only Perth ay, that's on the same patch of dirt as over here still (Brisbane) ;) hehe.

J30, Maxima?  I would have thought they'd be wider, but I guess could share the same rear suspension subframey bit?