The box that was waiting for me when I got home:
This is how everything was wrapped inside the box. Very thorough/careful packaging. The endlinks (pictured in the white foam pouches) were actually inside a smaller white box filled with foam packing peanuts, not pictured here:
All of the pieces unwrapped:
First-class. I like seeing "Made in USA" printed on the major components:
One downside was that there was a small chip in the red coating (powdercoating I believe) on one of the flanges of one of the bars, down to the bare metal. I will coat this with some paint after installing it to inhibit corrosion. Otherwise, these parts feel and appear to be extremely high-quality and so far I have no regrets with my purchase.
The other downside is that I am going to have to buy a triple-square spline type bit for my ratchet wrench in order to remove the sway bar bushing brackets, but I suppose this is no fault of Eurocode since the OEM bolts have this type of socket head. I just mention it as a heads-up for anyone budgeting/planning to do this modification, so that you go out and get this tool ahead of time to save yourself any rework and aggravation. The Eurocode instruction manual says it is a 10mm socket, and you can get the appropriate triple-square spline type driver from Amazon among other places:
http://www.amazon.com/Vim-Products-1...sxp_grid_i_1_0
I am planning to install the rear bar and endlinks first and drive around to get my impressions of having just the rear upgraded, and then install the front bar and links later. My car is a non-sport diff model and I already have the Alu Kreuz brace installed, so I'm thinking the result of having just the rear bar and links upgraded will not be too extreme (while I imagine doing the same thing in a sport diff equipped car would result in too much oversteer). But ultimately I plan to end up with both bars and both sets of links installed, with the rear bar at the 'stiff' setting and the front bar to 'soft'.
I will update this thread ASAP, hopefully this coming weekend, with initial impressions and any relevant commentary regarding the installation process.
Update#1 (June 5th) - Rear sway bar and endlink installation and impressions
Installation took me 4.5 hours. Yep, you read that correctly. Here's my story:
* I backed the car onto my ramps to get the back end up in the air. Eurocode's instructions give you the option of doing the work on jackstands or ramps when installing their solid endlinks, so I chose ramps because it is easier/quicker than jacking up the car.
* I got underneath and pulled the rear mufflers out of their hangers to get the rear exhaust out of the way (BTW, get one of these if you haven't already....it saves a lot of effort and frustration: http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-38350-Ex.../dp/B0012S9A5U )
* I removed the bolt that connects the stock endlink to the lower control arm, no both sides of the car, per Eurocode instructions.
* I removed the 10mm XZN bolts securing the sway bar mount/bushing brackets to the chassis. At this point the sway bar and endlinks are no longer bolted to the car. So at this point the sway bar and endlinks should be simple to remove from the car, right?
WRONG. fucking WRONG.
To the best of my ability, I could not maneuver that thing out. The endlinks interfered with the lower control arms and adjacent suspension member (not sure what it is, it's sort of a curved shaped piece above the lower control arm toward the rear of the car). So then I thought "OK, no big deal, I'll just reach in there and rotate the endlinks relative to the sway bar to put them into a position that will allow the bar+endlink to come out of the opening".
fucking WRONG again. There was no way those endlinks were rotating relative to the bar with the limited leverage you have on them in this position, at least not with with the torqued OEM bolt holding them together. So then I thought "hmm, ok, well I guess I need to loosen that bolt to relieve the squeeze between the endlink and the bar and then I can rotate the endlink. Should be as simple as putting my 16mm socket on the head of the bolt and cranking away".
Goddamn it, fucking WRONG a third time!
(Side note: Eurocode's instruction manual says simply "Remove the stabilizer bar from the car" LOLOL)
Anyway, there isn't enough clearance between the head of the screw and the strut to get a ratchet wrench with 16mm socket on there, and if you slide the bar over to gain more clearance then you don't have enough room between the lower control arm and the adjacent suspension member to actually turn the wrench. What WOULD HAVE BEEN F$%^KING AMAZING is if I had a 16mm ratcheting box wrench, but the instructions did not include this in the list of necessary tools.
(Anyone getting bored yet?)
So I started going at it with my 16mm combination wrench. First, though, I remounted the sway bar to the chassis with the 10mm screws and bushing brackets to prevent the bar from walking around while trying to loosen the endlink bolts. Due to the limited space between the suspension members, I had to do a sequence of incrementally turning the wrench one way, then flipping it the other way and tuning, then flipping it around and using the box wrench end to turn it another increment, then repeat, and repeat, and repeat.
It took me probably 20 minutes to turn the screw ~3 turns. The endlink still wasn't loose enough to be rotated by hand in this position. I said FUCK this, I'm going to the hardware store and finally picking up a set of Craftsman or Gearwrench brand metric ratcheting box wrenches. I get to Sears hardware and they have various sets of 6-8 metric wrenches, but none of them, repeat NONE, included a 16mm wrench. 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19. WHERE THE HELL IS THE 16MM wrench?!? I found one sold by itself for $29 while the sets of 8 were priced around $70, and I said "ok, now fuck THIS! I'd rather spend an extra hour turning the crappy wrench I already have then get blatantly taken to the bank on this one tool".
Went back home and got back to it with the 16mm combo wrench. Finally got the driver side link loose enough to move it. Went to the passenger side and started in on that sucker. Went a bit quicker since I knew the endgame but still probably ~20 minutes until that one was loose enough to move. Finally got it repositioned (just about dropped a nut in doing so). Now, with both endlinks positioned to be parallel with the end legs of the bar, surely it will just wiggle right out of position.
Round four: *ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh* (buzzer sound) You, sir, are fucking wrong again. I spent another half hour or more trying to figure out just exactly how to get this thing out. Finally, I realized that part (if not all) of my problem is that the car was on ramps, which I'm pretty sure minimized the space between the lower control arm and adjacent suspension member, through which the sway bar ends must pass to remove from the vehicle. So I got out my scissor jack and my floor jack and jacked up the rear of the car to unload the rear suspension. (NOTE: Eurocode's instructions tell you that the installation can be performed on ramps, but I'm not really seeing how that's possible.)
Now, with the suspension unloaded I was able to get both ends of the bar out and then it was just a matter of walking the bar along the top of the exhaust pipes and mufflers and out the back of the car. The finish on the stock bar is scraped to hell from all of this.
We are currently at ~3.5 hours since start.
Installation of the new equipment was relatively simple. Installed the new endlinks to the sway bar ("Stiff" position) and torqued the bolts, lubed up the new bushings and fit them to the bar, fished the bar+endlinks assembly over the exhaust just like the old one came out. And somehow, the new bar+endlinks just fit right into the suspension without any fuss. I was expecting a fight since the bar diameter is larger than stock, but it went right in with no issues.
The bar did get a little scuffed up where it bends up into the suspension, due to having to rest it on the lower control arms while getting it positioned. Tip to prospective DIY'ers: leave the bubble wrap on the bar in those locations until after the bar is installed.
The new endlinks resist rotation pretty well, but you can position them as needed by applying some force and they won't just flex+jump around like the crappy stock rubber ones.
Took me 4.5 hours from start to clean-up. I'm not really happy about that. There must be something simple that I missed. Did I not need to rotate the endlinks relative to the bar in order to remove it from the car? If so, what's the trick to properly maneuvering the bar to get it out? Seems like I was always running into the exhaust pipe, the bottom of the gas tank, or both.
Impressions
So finally at 11:10 PM I got to take the car for a drive. I noticed no unusual sounds which was a good start. It seems that I can feel some more feedback from the road but maybe that's placebo (noticed the same thing after having my Alu Kreuz installed). Turn-in is more crisp but there is still some body roll and the feeling like the car wants to fly off on a tangent, although noticeably reduced from stock. Maybe not night-and-day, but noticeable. Still some noticeable body roll.....I'm guessing this is due to the front end of the car, where I'm sitting, having the stock bar and therefore exhibiting stock levels of flex, while the rear of the car is tightened up. Feels almost unbalanced. I think it will feel better with the front bar + endlinks installed in the "soft" position. I bet a sport-diff car with just the rear bar set to "stiff" setting would feel pretty unruly.
I'll do some more driving tonight and post up some more thoughts. My drive to the gym is mostly winding back roads so I will have plenty of opportunities to observe the car's behavior.
Thanks to everyone for putting up with my ranting.
More impressions
Got some time behind the wheel tonight, still with just the rear bar and endlinks and Alu Kreuz installed. The car is noticeably more planted when pushing it through turns. I took some turns faster and more confidently tonight in the rain more than I ever have before in dry conditions. The key for me is that the decreased body roll means less weight shift / wobble back and forth when coming out of a turn, which allows me to get on the throttle sooner and heavier and really accelerate out of the turn.
Anxious to get the front bar and links on this weekend, if I can muster the courage to do it myself.
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Originally Posted by drob23
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