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    #1

    Holes for rear swaybar not lined up

    Finally got around to putting the PI swaybar on the rear. I had already checked that I did indeed have the holes drilled in the lower control arm. I lined up the holes as best as I could and got this:




    I know I've got it too far back here, but the alignment issue is vertical






    Am I making some weird mistake here? Is there any way to drill the holes out so that this work? I thought about trimming or bending the lip on the control arms, but I'm not sure if I'd weaken them too much.

    Anyone run into this? thoughts? I fought with it for about 10 minutes and it's just not possible to thread the bolts in there, and I was using the stock hardware. The bar is jammed right up against the lip of the control arms.
    Last edited by johnunit; 09-29-2011, 01:48 AM.

    85 4 door 351 Civi Crown Victoria - Summer daily driver, sleeper in the making, and wildly inappropriate autocross machine
    160KMs 600cfm holley, shorty headers, 2.5" catted exhaust, 255/295 tires, cop shocks, cop swaybars, underdrive pulley, 2.73L gears.
    waiting for install: 3.27's, Poly bushings, boxed rear arms, 2500 stall converter, ported e7's, etc

    06 Mazda 3 hatch 2.3L 5AT (winter beater that cost more than my summer car)
    Tags: None
    #2
    I recall reading in the stickies/FAQs how police LCAs had the lip thing specially tweaked for swaybar clearance. Looks like you've just verified that!
    2012 Mazda5 Touring | Finally working on the LTD again!

    Comment

      #3
      well that'd be inconvenient in the extreme. At least the handling seems to be ok with just a front PI bar.

      I was pretty sure there were people putting PI bars on cars that were born without rear bars at all though?

      85 4 door 351 Civi Crown Victoria - Summer daily driver, sleeper in the making, and wildly inappropriate autocross machine
      160KMs 600cfm holley, shorty headers, 2.5" catted exhaust, 255/295 tires, cop shocks, cop swaybars, underdrive pulley, 2.73L gears.
      waiting for install: 3.27's, Poly bushings, boxed rear arms, 2500 stall converter, ported e7's, etc

      06 Mazda 3 hatch 2.3L 5AT (winter beater that cost more than my summer car)

      Comment

        #4
        You gotta bend the lip down a bit.
        ~David~

        My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
        My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

        Originally posted by ootdega
        My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

        Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
        But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

        Originally posted by gadget73
        my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.



        ​

        Comment

          #5
          makes sense. Can this be done with a vice grip and some popeye-wannabe forearm strength?

          85 4 door 351 Civi Crown Victoria - Summer daily driver, sleeper in the making, and wildly inappropriate autocross machine
          160KMs 600cfm holley, shorty headers, 2.5" catted exhaust, 255/295 tires, cop shocks, cop swaybars, underdrive pulley, 2.73L gears.
          waiting for install: 3.27's, Poly bushings, boxed rear arms, 2500 stall converter, ported e7's, etc

          06 Mazda 3 hatch 2.3L 5AT (winter beater that cost more than my summer car)

          Comment

            #6
            Yep! Eat your spinach

            Pete
            Originally posted by gadget73
            For other types of inquiry, more information is required. Please press 4 to speak to a representative who can help you with your question. This call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes.


            2003 Grand Marquis Ultimate, the "Stealth Bomber": http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...-Grand-Marquis
            1991 S-10, 'Bulldog', 2.5l 5 speed: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...375#post698375
            1985 Town Car, 'Faded Glory', gone but not forgotten. 84/87/91/97 MGMs too.

            Comment

              #7
              I've not actually done it yet, but lip bendage has got to be a lot easier than drilling for the weird plate mounting system included with the G-Max aftermarket swaybar.
              2012 Mazda5 Touring | Finally working on the LTD again!

              Comment

                #8
                Actually, you shouldn't have to bend the lip at all. I've installed PI RSB's on 3 of my boxes, (2 CV LX's / 1 MGM LS) none of which came from the factory with one but did have the 2 holes in the LCA's, and all went on without a problem. You first push the bar up between the LCA's at an angle, so that it clears them completely, and then you have the bar hovering up above the LCA's. Then you can bring it straight down into place on the arms with no problem or resistance, and the holes should line up. If they don't then obviously either something is tweaked on your car, or the factory stamped the holes in the wrong spots on the LCA's. Could probably just egg out the holes to make them line up with the bar. If in that situation myself, I would probably go harvest some CVPI LCA's, which are made from a thicker gauge steel anyway.

                Comment

                  #9
                  I'd love to get the CVPI LCA's, but my odds of finding a pair, at least locally, are incredibly low. Also, time and money don't really allow for the purchase and installation of them and new bushings.

                  It's definetely not a tweakage thing, once I got the bar above LCA's, it pretty much dropped down like you said. The issue was purely interference between the lip and the bar. Or at leas that was all that was hitting. If anything, the fact that either PI or custom boxed LCA's are hopefully in this car's long term future makes me feel better about getting a little mean with the factory ones.

                  85 4 door 351 Civi Crown Victoria - Summer daily driver, sleeper in the making, and wildly inappropriate autocross machine
                  160KMs 600cfm holley, shorty headers, 2.5" catted exhaust, 255/295 tires, cop shocks, cop swaybars, underdrive pulley, 2.73L gears.
                  waiting for install: 3.27's, Poly bushings, boxed rear arms, 2500 stall converter, ported e7's, etc

                  06 Mazda 3 hatch 2.3L 5AT (winter beater that cost more than my summer car)

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Strange, I didn't have to bend the lip on my original lower control arms. I didn't have to do it on the ones I put on when I did the rear end swap...

                    Comment

                      #11
                      so it sounds like the verdict is: sometimes they messed up the holes or something, I got one of the ones with messed up hole placement or something similar, and I can either manhandle the lip out of the place with little to no negative effects or keep my eyes peeled for PI LCAs?

                      85 4 door 351 Civi Crown Victoria - Summer daily driver, sleeper in the making, and wildly inappropriate autocross machine
                      160KMs 600cfm holley, shorty headers, 2.5" catted exhaust, 255/295 tires, cop shocks, cop swaybars, underdrive pulley, 2.73L gears.
                      waiting for install: 3.27's, Poly bushings, boxed rear arms, 2500 stall converter, ported e7's, etc

                      06 Mazda 3 hatch 2.3L 5AT (winter beater that cost more than my summer car)

                      Comment

                        #12
                        I had to do exactly as you suggested, visegrip bending, bar's been on since I think this spring.

                        I figure I'll change the arms if'n I ever change the rear axle.

                        Pete
                        Originally posted by gadget73
                        For other types of inquiry, more information is required. Please press 4 to speak to a representative who can help you with your question. This call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes.


                        2003 Grand Marquis Ultimate, the "Stealth Bomber": http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...-Grand-Marquis
                        1991 S-10, 'Bulldog', 2.5l 5 speed: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...375#post698375
                        1985 Town Car, 'Faded Glory', gone but not forgotten. 84/87/91/97 MGMs too.

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Yep... you gotta bend the lip on the control arm a touch. I had to do this on my 88 MGM, I used some big A$$ chanel locks and bent the lip, then a BFH and beat it in place. once its bolt down, its not going anywhere.
                          2003 Town Car Signature - 3.27 RAR, Dual exhaust and J-mod - SOLD 9/2011
                          89 Crown Victoria LX HPP -- SOLD 9/2010
                          88 Grand Marquis LS - The Original -- Totaled 5/2006

                          I rebuild AOD/AODE/4R70W/4R75E transmissions....Check out my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/North...48414635312478

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Some control arms have a little less bend to the lip, and the PI bar fits. Others, you gotta tweak it to make it fit. Yours appears to be one of the latter. If you've got either a hand brake or a pair of vise grips and some steel stock to make a halfass hand brake, you can get a neater looking job, but regular old channel locks or vise grips will do it.
                            86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
                            5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

                            91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

                            1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

                            Originally posted by phayzer5
                            I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

                            Comment

                              #15
                              Johnunit, if you're going to go to the trouble of changing the control arms, replace the bushings in all of them while you're at it. Chances are they're messed up anyway.

                              88Grandmarq, why is your name green?

                              Comment

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