Racing beat sway bars

[johnadoo]

I dont know if this has been discussed before but will the racing beat swaybar from an MP3 fit the 1.6 sedan?

[Hughes412]

You'd have to change out the strut also. The sway bars are to thick and when you hook up the endlinks from the struts to the swaybar they tear the struts. If you go to racing beat.com you can read their write up on it. You need to get the tokico blues (or any strut for the MSP). They have a beefier endlink connector that is needed for the thiker swaybars.

[chiefmg]

What hughes412 said. Also, be advised that while installing the rear sway bar is fairly easy, the front one is a PITA. You have to drop the front subframe in order to change it out. I looked at it from a lot of different angles but there is no other way to do it. You will need an impact wrench and a lot of patience. I would recommend planning ahead for this job, if you want to put in improved engine mounts you can do the rear mount at the same time as the front sway bar and save some additional hassle.

[johnadoo]

thanks for the info...I noticed in one of the development pics of the rear swaybar...the endlink mounts are fabricated and bolted-on...what if i do the same and have a reputable shop do this for me?

[Hughes412]

If your talking about bolting a peace on to the strut you have to be very carful. You cant bult it tight enough to hold it inplace with out crushing the strut. And you can't weld it because of the gas and or oil over heating. This is why I haven't upgraded mine yet. I'm gona wait until my struts are gone first then save up and do all of it at once. Which it coming up soon.

[NegatiZE]

http://www.morrownet.net/negatize/swaybars/index.htm

[Hughes412]

Yea, see he already has the Tokico struts. If you look at the struts where the endlinks conect and then look at yours you'll see the differance. Plus I wouldn't use the AWR endlinks that he has. I saw what they can do to a strut. Peepsalot had one tear out of the strut. They make way tomuch noise and unless they have fixed it, they don't have enough movment. I would just go with the MSP endlinks and swaybars.

[shabaka]

i'ld disagree about the end-links
they are a very nice addition to the bars
mine were binding a bit but after looking closely at them
i had them installed wrong
now... absolutely no noise or problems

but mainly you don't want stock springs with the bars and/or stiffer struts
it will not give you ballanced results
and you will realy want both F/R bars on the car, also for ballance

i regret not doing the motor mount big time

[johnadoo]

right now im using H&R springs coupled with Koni adjustable yellows inserted in the stock strut. What if i have them removed again and have those endlinks welded on...since the shock would be separrated, the risk of a blowup is nil right?

So if i have the rear swaybar installed, i also need a lower front bar? I already have a tower strutbar. where can i get the lower? Thanks peeps, you are a lot of help!

[shabaka]

two things
1) you might be confusing your "bars"... a lower tie-bar is sweet to have, i have one right now and it most certainly helps with initial turn-in...that piece ties the frame together, like your strut tower bar

but we're talking about sway-bars(anti-roll bars...whatever) that links the
movement of the suspension side-to-side to aid/control body roll in a corner
so front and rear when used together yeild the best results

2) yes...if you have empty strut tubes you could weld-on extra metal to the existing
tabs for the end links...koni inserts sound prety sweet didn't know they had an application for the protege
glad i saved my old struts

[TampaSport20]

And you can't weld it because of the gas and or oil over heating. This is why I haven't upgraded mine yet. I'm gona wait until my struts are gone first then save up and do all of it at once. Which it coming up soon.


Umm...the Mazdaspeed Green Adjustables don't have the beefier tabs on them, however the guy that had them before me DID weld thicker tabs on to be able to mount the racing beat swaybar.....

So I have to correct you...YOU CAN WELD ON THICKER TABS....

however if you go thru this much trouble to use a racing beat sway bar with crappy DX struts , YOU ARE AN ASSHAT ! (thumb)

[macklum]

I have a LX and I run with the Mazdaspeed swaybars front and back ,I have had no problem with the tabs at all

[johnadoo]

I have a LX and I run with the Mazdaspeed swaybars front and back ,I have had no problem with the tabs at all


What modifications did you do?

[macklum]

What modifications did you do? On the rear I used the spacerblocks from AWR Racing , The front bar was just a remove the old install the new . other than that none

[Hughes412]

On the rear I used the spacerblocks from AWR Racing , The front bar was just a remove the old install the new . other than that none


Then your a very lucky guy, or you drive your car like a granny!

[TampaSport20]

um...he has a 2.0L LX guys...more than likely it doesnt have the crappy struts

[Hughes412]

um...he has a 2.0L LX guys...more than likely it doesnt have the crappy struts


No, he has the crapy ones (unless he already changed them). I have an 03 2.0 lx. I've already looked into doing the swaybars and the struts. You might also want to check out the clunck fix kit from (I think it's) AWR. If you don't lower the car then you might not need it, but if you do lower it ( which you should while it's torn apart) you will end up getting the same noise from the rear of the car just like the MSPs have.

I guess it's all in how you look at things. Racing Beat says to change the struts if you use their swaybars. You don't have to if you don't want to. You might get lucky and never have a problem. But they said that for a reason. And the way I see it is why spend the cash for them if your not going to drive it hard. So it's up to you.

[macklum]

I still have the stock struts , They are ready to be changed. Not much compression left in them ,still have rebound control , I dont drive like a granny , i push the car to the limits .

[johnadoo]

theres a sale now in AWR its a kit that has the swaybar, adjustable end links etc...is this what you got? for $300++

[macklum]

theres a sale now in AWR its a kit that has the swaybar, adjustable end links etc...is this what you got? for $300++ All I got was the blocks that are shown on the parts page ,they are about 25 bucks .