Spin9k

Was that a single or double flush toilet you experimented on , didnt realise they were so innovative in the USA :D

cheers
michael

 

Guys

As per whitelines e-mail i have sent them a list of the group buy members they will send out the front and rear clamps as soon as they have them .

cheers
michael

 

Just finished installing my clamps to front and back. All installed without removing the sway, but I have to say the fronts were a little tight for finger space.

A friend with his new euro accord took a look at my solution so we ended up making a set for his whiteline swaybar on his euro and installed them after mine.

Took some pictures which I will post later. But now I have to go to work for a catalogue photoshoot. Lucky me!

 

Thanks for your continued work L&L. It looks like this saga will have a happy ending after all.

 

Here are the pictures of the fix for the swaybars I did.

I have to say the rear end of the car now certainly feels different. While the sway was moving/sliding the rear felt a little unbalanced is all I could say. With the sway properly positioned and fixed the rear at first I thought was moving around but after a few km's of driving I realised that was happening is I am now more able to steer the 8 throught the corners with just the throttle. Now that I am more use to it... Brilliant :D

 

Glad you stop the movement for 100km

What do you think it will happen on the track at 140kmh??? partically it is the S blend before the Dandenong corner of Sandown?

:o

 

ILIV48

Nice job can you post pics of finished product ,

cheers
michael

 

That's easy to answer... I will be passing you :p :D

When you look at whiteline and what they say actually works, what I did is a lot more sturdy & stronger.

Went for a spirited drive up lake Mountain last night at midnight with my old car club. Half way up the mountain a vtir civic with coilovers and everthing alse was trying to stay on my tail when he ran off the road and into a ditch & rock wall. His car is still up there. We pulled the car out of the ditch (by hand) but the front suspension was nackered. All the control arms were bent, twisted strut, the car was going nowhere.

Still he was an idiot. I was staying well within the cars limits and he was all over the place. Guys were on the CB telling him to slow down but he was not listening

Checked the sways again this morning and still no movement. So hopefully all looks good.

 

I did. They are at the bottom of page 7.

Cheers

 

Thought others might appreciate an update to the lateral stops I put in (see my above posts), and it is not very good .

I'm going to the track tomorrow, and I though I owed it to my safety and my car to check how the pieces I installed were doing. They've been on the car since March 25 approximately.

In the back the rubbery pieces were demolished - as in shredded by the serrations in the clamps - the bar hadn't moved fortunately- yet - so anyway I got the hose and aluminum ala ILIV48 and redid the back. ILIV48's solution is the best idea I've seen, I really like it, and holds the most promise of working long term. A BIG THANKS TO ILIV48 !!!!

I looked again at what Whiteline had sent, and I don't think it would EVER really do the job, no matter what they say. The forces are just to much, the grip surface too small, AND, MOST IMPORTANT, I took these little clamps things to a friend and he says that you would need a SPECIAL TOOL to crimp the raised bulge in the metal together to get them to work - I doubt any of us have that tool, so sending these to us is a WASTE of time, to say the least. I COULD NOT INSTALL THEM EVEN IF I WANTED TO. If anyone doubts this, I noticed when I was in the front wheel well, that the rubber accordian boot on the steering arm just happens to have that same type of clamp on it, and YUP, sure enough, the raised piece is crimped together. So my friend was correct, and there was NO WAY in hell I could have installed those, even if I thought they would actually be sufficient.

In the front, I had used a tough plastic ring cut from the 'crapper' flapper as someone called it. It held up well, but unfortunately the bar was moving and had pulled to the drivers's side some. Not good . So using ILIV48's solution again, but I made the piece about 2.5" long for perhaps better grip, I installed the fix.

Well, I'm getting a little tired of doing this, and after tomorrow if this doesn't work I'm likely taking these bars out. I really think Whiteline should revisit "FROM THE BEGINNING" what they threw together for the 8. NONE OF US SHOULD be doing this kind of work after paying for a sway bar custom designed for our cars IMHO.

I believe they thought "oh just another simple stiff bar", and DID NOT track it, or put serious stress on the install. Maybe a drive around the block to see if they hit anything in the suspension. Any engineer worth his salt would have seen the metal clamps on the OEM bar, and AT A MINIMUM thought "HUMMMM??? Why do you suppose they would have put those there if it wasn't essential?"

I'm not out of hand dissing these guys, but what is a rational person to think other than that? My honest opinion, I really don't know if what we are earnestly trying to do IS THE SOLUTION. I hope to hell it is, I don't want to kill myself obviously.

Truth be told I think Whiteline, should redo the bars with the metal clamps ala the OEMs and replace all ours that they had sent these, but that's just my opinion. How otherwise can they be sure everyone is capable of correctly installing these things? Even if an adequate fix is supplied, who knows how long that will be (they can't tell us!), and anyway what a PITA. It's just not the way to do business.

As you can tell, I just a little depressed, tired of screwing around with these things for the THIRD time, and even a little apprehensive of taking this HOME-BREW MAYBE-SOLUTION to the track (no offense ILIV48 I wouldn't go tomorrow if I didn't have faith in what you designed)

I'll report back what happens tomorrow, if I make it back, that is.

 

Spin9k

Fully understand your frustrations Whiteline certainly should have crimpted those clamps ontu the swaybars as the original mazda swaybars have been done , whilts they are triyng hard to rectify this problem it has left a sour taste to both there overseas and local buyers .

Good luck on the track and certainly report your findings to us , as i was driving yesterday i could feel the cars momentum altering , so for the guys whitout these clamps take it easy on the roads until a proper more permanent solution to fix this situation is found .

cheers
michael

 

I actually toyed with the idea of using 2 of the stainless steel clamps on each rubber piece but decided to try 1 first thinking if it started to move I can always add a second. Have done some more hard driving and no movement yet where before with this amount of driving the sways would be pushed over as far as they could go. My fingers are still crossed.

You certainly can feel the difference Michael with the clamps on. The rear end behaves very differently. Takes a little to get used to... Very direct!

 

Spin9k

Check your P M' s

I have taken the liberty and have forwarded your post ontu whitelines .

Stuart (ILIV48)

Driving in a straigh line it feels reasonable but on directional changes it can be scary , so once again take it easy we dont want any accidents out there .

cheers
michael

 

No need to worry about me. Just ask Taka who was stuck behind me last week!

I have fun but always keep the car well within the limits. I don't like doing stupid things, it's just not worth it.

 

I too originally had planned on two clamps on the front, but the problem is getting in there easily, so I just hope the aluminum 'shield' will extend the clamping force enough to compensate. I could go to the trouble of removeing the bottom plastic on the car, but just don't have the time before tomorrow. Fingers crossed .

 

Just a thought if one was to place one of the rubbers and one of the clamps on both sides of the bushes wouldnt this totally eliminate any chance of sideways movement .??

cheers
michael

 

guys, you can buy two piece bolt on shaft clamps from mcmastercarr.com, I use them on all my swaybars, go to the site and do a search for "shaft clamps" then pick the right size, I usually undersize it a smidge to get a good tight clamp on the bar


BTW, I am in the process developing an adjustable "speedway" front swaybar for Solo2 use, similar to the bar TriPoint sells for the RX7TT.

Details to hopefully follow soon.

TeamRX8

 

They look good. Where can I buy them from locally?

 

wish i found this thread BEFORE i special ordered and paid for the Whiteline Sway bars .... damn.

 

Track Update - Back from NHIS - couple of pics here https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...747#post850747

but as to the sways, I think they stayed put fairly well. I've quickly peered under the car this morning and can't see significant lateral movement. Unfortunately due to the complete washout during the time on the track, I wasn't really pushing it like I would have in the dry either. Nevertheless, I'm encouraged that the home-brew soution to Whiteline's lack of engineering held up.

As to the effect of the sways - even with only driving 7/10th - I think they are fantastic, the car is a changed animal from last year when running bone stock. With both set to full hard, I had to deal with some oversteer, but hard to tell the root cause. Ended up lowering rear tire pressure 4.5 lbs from the front (37.5 f 33.0 r), just because the car was so tailhappy in the rain. Under power, because of conditions - heavy rain - 52 degrees out - stock bridgestone tires pretty worn, esp in back, I got to feel what it was like to drive an "OVERpowered car"!!:D

Can't wait to stretch these sways on a nice dry hot track.

 

Great to hear your in one piece after your track day pity it was wet

cheers
michael

 

Spin9k sounds like a tough day of driving. Glad you arrivied home without any scratches. I hope our next track day is not like that!

 

any of you guys regret getting the Whiteline sway bars?

 

No regrets... A little annoyed at their oversight but at the price I got them I am happy.

My fix is still holding so it seems to be working well.

I would just advise anybody considering them should wait until Whiteline bring out their fix!

 

No regrets here either. If you can imagine that it is possible, the car performs even better with swaybars.

After seeing whitelines dodgy quick fix, I decided to make my own clamps similar to ILIV48. Installed them on the weekend. They are doing the job nicely. The back ones were quite easy to fit. The front ones were a total bitch to get to without taking the swaybars out or the plastic cover off. Little fingers and the abiltity to work by feel required!