Swaybars

[Ben 0]

Is there any added benefit to having the sway bar mounted

on the shock?

The reason I ask is I want to shorten my shocks and put coilover sleeves on

but the sway bar mount is in the way.

Can I just convert my sway bar to bottom mount without any issues?

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

[thorburn 121]

I take it you have an old 325 with strut mount sways?

These have the same control arms as an e36. So mounting them will be no problem. Just get different endlinks

There is a good discussion of strut mount sways vs control arm mount on bimmerforums. I'll try find it again

I think the gist of it was people found they had a better 'feel' from the strut mount. The only other bennefit was that you can run a thinner sway that weighs less

OT/ what strut inserts are you going to use?

[pureboiracer 0]

it basically acts much like a lever. if you think of a lever and then imagine the pivot point to be the inner ball joint then the further out from that ball joint the swaybars connected to the more leverage it will have and the smaller the swaybar has to be.

[pureboiracer 0]

thats what i was trying to say in a round about way

Edited May 14, 2010 by e30li

[tibbs.james 1]

bit of a hijack I know

but can somebody provide a decent photo of the strut Mount Swaybar setup ?

[thorburn 121]

http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/html_project/...g/sway_bar2.jpg

Is there any clearance issues if using an e36ti sway bar (25mm one) on a 6 cylinder?

does anyone use adjustable endlinks for adjusting the preload on the bar?

Edited May 14, 2010 by bbs

[Ben 0]

Ok so considering my shock inserts will be stiffer than stock

and the springs are fairly hard at 10kg/550lb,

Will the roll stiffness still be noticeable if i used my existing

sway bar in the lower mount position?

Is there a thicker OEM sway bar I can use to

"balance" the suspension? ie. 328i, Msport

Thanks for the words of wisdom so far has been very informative

[pureboiracer 0]

IMO its not worth the hassle, if your that anal about getting a bigger sway bar (which i dont think is always a good thing) then just stick with an uprated swaybar in the factory position, too much hasle for no, if not negative gains...

[thorburn 121]

Using a 26 mm bar with the direct set up will cause massive sledging (understeer) unless the rear is also significantly upgraded AND all the springs are up rated as well (And all the compression and rebound in the shocks also proportionally increased).

Most GOOD aftermarket bars and the BMW M Sport bars increase roll force by 20 to 40% max - direct connecting a 26 mm bar from geared increases it by 100% making it the dominant element in the suspension - so transverse stiffness on the front axle will be way out of proportin with the rest of the suspension. And suspension is all about balance.

The M3 runs a 23.6 mm bar from memory direct geared so the bar is about 30% softer than a 26 but when geared directly (100%) it equates to about 40% stiffer than the 2:1 geared 26mm bar.

And: what do you mean by pre loading a sway bay it is designed to be "unloaded" when the car is static or going in straight line.

early m3's had 22.5mm sways. m3 evo's have 23mm.

25mm was a bad choice to base that on. Instead if one was to use a 23.5mm bar from a 318 would this be an acceptable sway bar?

I was wanting to know if people use adjustable endlinks to adjust preload.For me i would like to get rid of any preload caused by changes in corner weight and lower suspension. Or is this not noticable until you go to extremes?

Ok so considering my shock inserts will be stiffer than stock

and the springs are fairly hard at 10kg/550lb,

Will the roll stiffness still be noticeable if i used my existing

sway bar in the lower mount position?

Is there a thicker OEM sway bar I can use to

"balance" the suspension? ie. 328i, Msport

Thanks for the words of wisdom so far has been very informative

the 328i with motorsport suspension has 25.5mm swaybars

What swaybar's do you currently have?

Edited May 14, 2010 by bbs

[westy 614]

Whats peoples take on welding non-insert shock bodys, E36/46 style?

[westy 614]

I'm not so much concerned with distorting the tube as I am with destroying the internals of the shock with the heat generated.

Also, are you saying you have had a Koni insert fitted to the 325 shock body?

This would have meant cuting the body to remove and replace the insert yes?

[Ben 0]

I'm not so much concerned with distorting the tube as I am with destroying the internals of the shock with the heat generated.

Also, are you saying you have had a Koni insert fitted to the 325 shock body?

This would have meant cuting the body to remove and replace the insert yes?

Watch this

It explains most of the procedure.

The heat shouldnt be too much of a problem if

you just weld with a series of spot welds.

Otherwise I think E30 shocks use a collar nut at the top of the shock body.

Could cut one of those off and weld it to the E36 one maybe.