bimmerworld swaybars fitting Qs

#1

the world would be such an better place if things came with instructions and note to Bimmerworld, when you have something that is not symetric, why let your client trying to figure things out by himself when it would be so much easier to give an instruction sheet with a couple of self explanatory pictures; we are not all sharp tools, i am definitely not and letting me trying to figure it out is a receipe for disaster :angry:

anyway, trying to fit the rear one, already spent 4h going not far and posibly wrong. I started by blank fitting the swaybar mounts to drill the holes through the trunk, that could be the first mistake as now my holes are drilled but once the swaybar and bushings are in the the mount nothing line up anymore.
As for the question, is the swaybar supposed to be fitted that way (end going down) or with the angle part the other way (with end going up):

#2

[strike]Down. Youā€™ve got it upside down. The halfshaft will hit it when the suspension compresses. This is probably what Tom Hall fought with a couple weeks ago.[/strike]

Later edit. Both the ā€œupside downā€ and also the reference to Tom Hall turned out to be wrong. Shit. I hate it when that happens.

#3

thanks Scott, so I am not the only one stupid enough to make the mistake? makes me feel better! :laugh: Tom, I dont know you, but thank you!
Good thing I didnt put the diff back up thenā€¦

Iā€™ll make sure to take pictures when I am done, for my fellow dumb friends who might want to do the same thing later.

once I finish assembling the new bed (manufactured in maylasia by 6 to 10 year old in their after school classes but which nonetheless came with a 2 pages instruction manual :lol: ) I get back to it. Still on track to keep on schedule although brasilian chick might not get much chat time :slight_smile:

#4

Ranger, what the heck are you talking about? My car has been out of commission since March so how could I have fought with a awaybar problem a few weeks ago? And besides, you know Iā€™ma great mechanic and would never install a swaybar upside down, thatā€™s just dumbā€¦ Oops, sorry Ludo:laugh:

#5

well actually i think it was the correct way around, as itā€™s the only way to have the hump to clear the diff. I gave up for tonight, ended up doing the padz and a couple of other things instead. Rematch tomorrow, for the moment swaybar lead 2-0.
I had done the same job on Z3 coupe and E36 M3 in less than an afternoon both time but those reinforcemnt thingy are beating me up pretty good.

#6

[quote=ā€œludoā€ post=67938]well actually i think it was the correct way around, as itā€™s the only way to have the hump to clear the diff.
[/quote]
Hmm. Well, if the bend over the diff is correct than Iā€™m wrong re. the end of the bar going up or down. I could have sworn that the ends of my rear BW bar go down but thereā€™s no denying the orientation of the bend over the diff so I apologize for giving you bad info.

#7

see pƮc:
http://store.bimmerworld.com/bimmerworld-e30-3-series-swaybar-packages-p1408.aspx

Iā€™ll have a go at it after engine building lesson 101

#8

I was the one fighting with the BW bar (Tom Rust :slight_smile: ) My bar is also oriented as pictured above - holes up. I took down the half shafts and loosened the differential. I could fit it over the differential with the bend in the bar facing down but, there was no way it would fit over the fuel line with the holes facing down - that I could tell.

I called BW. They could not give a definitive answer on the orientation of the barā€¦ I sure wish it came with basic instuctions.

I also called a local shop in Atlanta. They had a e30 M3 on a lift. Itā€™s bar had the holes facing up.

My plan is to remove the shock and spring then jack up the trailing arm to see if the sway touches the half shaftā€¦

#9

same as you, if hole facing up i couldnt get it over the fuel tank filler line, and then I realised than when I would try to put the diff back in place it would not clear the bar with the hump going down.
If I ever manage to get the mounts to line up with the holes I drilled, Iā€™ll test the interference, springs and shocks are off the car. If I am done before you, Iā€™ll post pics/video.

What were your symptoms? My worry about the reinforced mount is that you can not apply leverage to hold tightly the bushing so under use, it might be moving around a little longitudinally (a opposed to axial rotation, not sure I am clear).

#10

I think the bushings will hold the bar in place. I think a little longitudinal movement is okay. Iā€™m really not sure thoughā€¦

Iā€™m using IE mounts that were on the car. The BW mounts would not line up with the IE mount holes - same set up as Ranger.

Okay.

#11

which end links did you us Tom? I noticed that the one on previous sway bars were definitely longer than bimmerworld supplied ones, could this be your issue? (probably the swaybar end hiting chassis.

I finally managed to get the mount in using some not so gentle persuasion, I was probably too shy before :slight_smile:

#12

Hmm.

After your post I had to go back and figure out what was going on. It turned out to be email address confusion. A couple weeks ago I was in a week-long email conversation with someone re. similar problems and, lol, the whole time I thought it was you.

#13

[quote=ā€œludoā€ post=67951]which end links did you us Tom? I noticed that the one on previous sway bars were definitely longer than bimmerworld supplied ones, could this be your issue? (probably the swaybar end hiting chassis.

I finally managed to get the mount in using some not so gentle persuasion, I was probably too shy before :)[/quote]

Hey Ludo. I have Eibach links. They seem longer than the BW links. Iā€™m going to order BW links.

How did you load the car to install the links? My jack would not jack the car high enough to drop it on ramps safely. I have a buddy with a lift.

#14

Hmm.

After your post I had to go back and figure out what was going on. It turned out to be email address confusion. A couple weeks ago I was in a week-long email conversation with someone re. similar problems and, lol, the whole time I thought it was you.[/quote]

Thanks for your help Ranger!

Tom Rust

#15

Were you guys able to get the bars installed? Iā€™m considering this set for myself. Any track time on them yet?

#16

Mine are installed but not tested so I cant comment much past the fact that at that price I would expect instruction, clearly labelled parts, torq spec. sure none of that is hard to figure out, but why should I even bother with having to worry about it when one simple sheet would adress all that?! :dry:

#17

Wellā€¦ I ended up removing the BW bar and installing a buddyā€™s Racing Dynamics bar.

We installed the BW bar, painted the half shafts, did some ā€œspirtitedā€ figure eights in a back parking lot in second gear and determined the bar hit. I did buy BW links. They seemed to pretty much match H&Rs. PLEASE NOTE I used IE mounts NOT BW. Thatā€™s all I can figure why it hit.

I donā€™t race Spec E30 so Iā€™m not worried about. The car performed very well at Road Atlanta this past weekend with zero issues.

I have a very slighly used BW bar for sale on bfc in the e30 suspension sectionā€¦

Iā€™m not sure what Iā€™ll do if I ever go racing.

Tom Rust

#18

Make sure your endlinks are set nice and long and your bar shouldnā€™t contact a halfshaft.

After CMP in Feb I loosened my BW rear sway one hole because I was spinning a rear wheel at turn exit. After the Roebling weekend last week I found that the rear sway had been contacting a halfshaft. This didnā€™t happen at CMP. Before looking at the endlinks, because I knew that others had experienced this issue too, I contacted BW to see if by chance there was an ā€œearlyā€ and ā€œlateā€ version of this bar.

BWā€™s suggestion was to extend the endlinks.

Last night I pulled off both ends to see just how long the threaded part of the endlinks wereā€¦Theyā€™re pretty darn long. I decided to leave 10 turns of the endlink shaft threaded in, and with that as a minimum, dial out pre-load. At endstate I probably ended up with close to 20mm longer endlinks. Iā€™m comfortable that this issue is fixed.

#19

Hate to resurrect an old thread, but Iā€™m having a b**** of a time with the BW sway bars. When I finally get the poorly made mounts hacked into place, I want to make sure I donā€™t end up installing the bar upside down.

Iā€™m trying to follow the discussion in the thread, but I canā€™t figure out what the final ā€œcorrectā€ way is ā€“ possibly due to edits.

The original post shows a photo of the bar, but I canā€™t tell from the wording (ā€œthat wayā€ vs ā€œthe other wayā€) as to which way the OP thinks the photo is (ā€œupā€ or ā€œdownā€). Sounds like Ranger said the right way is ā€œgoing upā€ ā€“ which is what I think the photo is showing.

Is this correct? As in, the photo in the first post is the right way?

I canā€™t imagine pointing down makes much sense as you would lose a bunch of the leverage by having the holes vertically overlap ā€“ seems they need to be laid out horizontally to have any significant adjustability effect.

Thanksā€¦ and sorry for the dumb question.

Som

#20

The pic is correct. Focus on how the bar goes over the diff. Due to the shape of the bar thereā€™s really only one way the bar is going to go over the diff. Then the ends of the bar will be correctly oriented. Make your end links nice and long and test the clearance to your half shafts.

When I first put the bar on I was also unsure re. which way went so I pulled it back off and tried to put it on the other way to see what it looked like. What I found is that the bar would only go over the diff one way. That made it unambiguous.