Hey guys I'm getting a 27mm whiteline FSB and I have no idea how to install it I didnt think it would be that hard but somewhere I saw "drop the subframe" and now I lost all confidence in myself a DIY writeup would be awesome.
It's so easy... Don't worry about it. If you can't figure it out by looking PM me. It's as easy as rotating tires. If you can't figure it out call Will at SOG and he'll hook you up.
You will need some metric wrenches and sockets, don't remember sizes right now, but a whole set is really nice. 1. Put the front end of the car on ramps, and chock the rear wheels 2. Rewmove the plastic under cover, it just gets in the way. 3. Take out all the bolts in the subframe. Keep track of the bolts as there are something like 9 total(please correct me if wrong, its dark outside) set subframe aside. 4. Undo the 2 bolts at the endlinks where they attach to the bar, or just replace the endlinks too (4 bolts total) because you should if you haven't already. 5. Undo the brackets that hold the bushing and bar to the frame (4 bolts total), the bar should now be off the car. 6. Find new (yellow) bushings and grease packet. Grease the inside of the bushings well. 7. Put the bushing on the FSB and the put the brackets on the bushings, they should hold themselves in place while you loosely fit the brackets back onto the frame (arrow goes toward the front). If they fall off, no big deal, but this is where a buddy will help. 8. Tighten the 4 bolts on the two brackets, but make sure the bar can rotate and move side to side at this point. 9. Bolt the bar to your new endlinks (or old ones if you still want them). Check to make sure the bar is centered, and tighten the bolts to the endlink. Do not over-tighten as the link needs to be able to move. 10. Put all the other stuff back on in reverse order: subframe, undercover. 11. A common fitment issue is bending the endlinks, or the bushing inside the links. This can be fixed with spacers and/or spherical endlinks. Pics might come later, when its not a Sunday evening.
dropping the subframe is very easy. I'm 140lbs and had no problem doing it myself. it's good to drop it for access to the bolts (where the sway attaches to the frame) so you can make sure you torque everything down correctly. otherwise, I don't see how you could get a torque wrench on some of the bolts w/o removing the subframe. btw, here's an excellent write-up (with torque values) (don't let the site address scare you, it's just the sway bar writeup): http://www.sexyracing.com/tilt/howto/wrx/frontswaybar/frontswaybar.html I followed this write-up and had none of the common maladies, i.e. clunking, popping, etc. -jimmy
That is a nice write up, pics and everything. I thought getting the subframe back on was tricky, so I used the jack to hold it up on one end while I bolted another. If you can, try to get a buddy top help you, will make the whole install much easier. I tried installing the bar with the subframe on and its ridiculous, much easier to just take it off.
If you just loosen the last bolt on each side of the sub-frame you can slide the sub-frame out/off. That keeps it from just straight dropping on you, or having to use jack-stands or another person to hold one end. Then when you get ready to put it back on, you can slide the subframe onto those bolts and put a screw in the front of the sub-frame and tighten it down per specs then.
Well finally installed it took me freaking 5 hours mainly cause I had to find all my tools that were strewn about the house and actually go buy some cause some just happened to "disappear" I'm gonna start putting a lock on my damn tool box (end rant) but now its time to test it out oh yeah STi FSB for sale now lol but seriously it is
close call today I checked all the nuts and bolts to re torque them down and the passenger side endlink to sway bar nut was halfway off but besides that no problems so far