ghunt

I wanted to upgrade the spindly-looking factory rear swaybar links, but the prices of the aftermarket ones made my eyes water, so I decided to build my own.

Started simple enough- A polyurethane link bushing kit, some generic Prothane swaybar brackets (and bushings), 1 1/4" wide, 1/8" steel strip, and some 1" steel pipe that I expanded and bored out slightly to fit the aforementioned polyurethane upper bushings.




I then reinforced everything with extra plate/gussets and fully welded the assembly (and I only have a flux core welder so don't make fun of the splatter!)



And, finally, here there are after being plasti-dipped with upper bushings installed:


And installed on the car:


I think all told including the bushing kit, bushings and steel I have around $50 in the pair of these. Better than $200, I say

I do have one question for you guys. The extra (lower) bushings I bought, I got 20mm because that's what the link kit said on it. When installed on the swaybar and tightened, there's a gap around the bar with those bushings. Is that normal? It almost looks like it would need 19 or 18mm bushings to fit snug, or is the gap to allow for grease?

BigDinTexas

Great work... Looks good and your ingenuity to fabricate these is beyond what I could do...

My only concern is about safety. Since this was obviously not "engineered" in the traditional sense, could there be a flaw unseen that could lead to a failure while driving? Would that open you up to litigation if the failure causes an accident and it is demonstrated you modified the suspension this way? Just thinking out loud, so to speak.

Don

ghunt

I can't imagine these could fail so spectacularly that they would cause an accident...at least I'd hope not!

The only part I was iffy on was the pipe end where the top bushings go. I plan to inspect them every so often to make sure nothing weird is going on.

baddog671

Even if they failed, I doubt that would do anything. Take them off, you can still drive fine. The 94-98 rear sways didn't even have them.

Unless you mean it snapping while in an aggressive turn...

dmhines

V6 cars don't even have rear sway bars .. at least my 2006 didn't.

2cokeman

Even the V6 had Stab links in the rear, even back to 05 S197, thats what these are, NO?

TRexGAWD

Love reading about people who fabricate parts.. I wish I had more time to do the same still, that's all I use to do with my older cars... As far as failing, unlikely and even if they did it wouldn't cause any kind of catastrophic event I would think..

ghunt

I really like doing the fab work...I came from the Thunderbird/2.3L Turbo world where if you wanted something you usually had to build it! Plus when I build something it usually keeps busy so I don't go wanting to spend money on other stuff

stang8psi

you plasti dipped it???? why not paint it??? looks like a 5 year old welded it!!!! sorry but stock was probably better!

ghunt

Wow, thanks ********. Sorry, we don't all have megabuck tig welders.