I picked up a front sway bar off an 84 at a local Pick n Pull today and am following the directions here:

http://fierozone.tripod.com/weekend/swaybar/

But I have a few questions, mostly numbers.
1) They say to mount the sway bar brackets on the frame, you use 5/16" (or 3/8") Grade 5 bolts which you have to drill holes for. They do not, however, specify how long the bolts should be. Not more than an inch or two I would guess, but I need to know when I go parts shopping tomarrow.

2)They buy aftermarket end links and modify them. However, they buy the 3 1/2" end links with a 7" bolt, then replace the bolt with a 5 1/2" bolt. Why not just buy shorter end links to begin with? Will that work? And what size/length endlinks would I get?

3)I read in another post that the directions I linked to and am working off of are not quite complete, that a little more modification is needed. Could someone elaborate please?

Thanks in advance.

You will love having a sway bar in the rear. ITS AWESOME. I did mine alittle differently than the page you listed. I put my bar on facing forward instead of rearward. I used Energy Suspension brackets and endlinks that I got for under $20 from autozone. The reason you use the shorter bolt is because you do not use the top poly bushing on the endlinks because it will hit the axle. It is a very simple mod and there is a huge improvement. Sorry I cant help you with bolt sizes,I did mine a few years ago. I do know they are not very long, MAYBE an inch or so.

1) I did use 3/8" bolts and had no clearance issues with the E brake cable. It IS a tight fit, but it worked fine. Length was probably 1 1/2". I just grabbed the longest ones that were "all thread" to the head in the bolt bin.

2) You can use shorter links. Look at the pictures on the web page. The first picture of the bar installed has the center tube about 1" long or so and that's what I cut mine down to. The second picture shows a really long link which is pretty silly to have, IMHO. Regardless, you need to eliminate or, as I did, drastically trim the poly busing on the top of the control arm to keep it out of the CV boot. You can also put the link with the bolt head at the top and the nut down, which gives you a little more clearance between the boot and the bolt. You can use an existing hole in the A arm for the link but you'll have to ream it out a little. Make sure you put a piece of tin or something between the A arm and the CV boot in case your bit grabs and then threads through the hole. If you don't have a shield, you WILL trash the boot.

3) Not much more information. Drill 4 new holes, ream two more, modify your links, and bolt it up.

John Stricker

Thanks guys. +s to ya. I have another question too.

The site says and the pics show an endlink kit that is labeled 3 1/2" but the whole thing is 7" long. What is the 3 1/2" measuring? The distance in the middle of the links between the bushings?

Bump before bed.

quote Originally posted by Fastback 86: Thanks guys. +s to ya. I have another question too. The site says and the pics show an endlink kit that is labeled 3 1/2" but the whole thing is 7" long. What is the 3 1/2" measuring? The distance in the middle of the links between the bushings?

yep that is how long the sleave is

Thanks Brian. I just had a brainstorm too. I asked about the bolts they used to secure the brackets to the frame, and something just now occured to me. I have all 4 bolts that I took off the donor car to get the sway bar off. I don't have the nuts, but I can get a set of those easy enough. Can't I just use those 4 bolts instead of trying to find new ones the right size?

Keep us posted on how it turns out. I'll be doing the same thing soon and was planning to use the same write up as a guide. From the sound of this thread there are a couple different ways to do it. Does anyone know of other good write ups on the web? Here is one brief write up I found where the mound the bar with the ends facing the rear. http://www.mindspring.com/~martinwhite/fiero/swaybar.html

Vin

I'm doing this right now also. I'm trying to have in mounted pointing back also. Since I have no Cat, I think I can do it that way. I'm doing rear struts, rear poly & rear sway bar all at the same time, should make for a happy tight rear end. But, I did find a ripped CV boot....

Now that was darn near perfect!!!!

Great pics and descrip. I'll be doing the same on mine

Thanks.

Arn

quote Originally posted by vlatus: Keep us posted on how it turns out. I'll be doing the same thing soon and was planning to use the same write up as a guide. From the sound of this thread there are a couple different ways to do it. Does anyone know of other good write ups on the web? Here is one brief write up I found where the mound the bar with the ends facing the rear. http://www.mindspring.com/~martinwhite/fiero/swaybar.html Vin

Well I was out gettin parts today, and what do you know it I forgot the 3 1/2" spacers. Looking at the two different links posted, it may work either way. In fact, I may use the extra bushings as spacers. Most likely though, I'll just swing by the store again tomarrow and get some nice tough 3 1/2" spacers, provided those are common enough that I can find them. I'll keep you guys updated, but I probably won't get to the job till later this week or the weekend.

quote Originally posted by wuzzy: You will love having a sway bar in the rear. ITS AWESOME. I did mine alittle differently than the page you listed. I put my bar on facing forward instead of rearward. I used Energy Suspension brackets and endlinks that I got for under $20 from autozone. The reason you use the shorter bolt is because you do not use the top poly bushing on the endlinks because it will hit the axle. It is a very simple mod and there is a huge improvement. Sorry I cant help you with bolt sizes,I did mine a few years ago. I do know they are not very long, MAYBE an inch or so.

I did mine like wuzzy and I've tried it both ways. To me the way wuzzy did it works MUCH better, but everyone has their own opinions.

Phil

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87 FIERO GT 2.8 5spd

GM auto tech for 27 years. Specializing in electrical and computer problems. Now on workers comp. and it looks like I will be unable to return to work as a tech.