Rear sway bars review 7G - 8G

[mko]

OK I see everyone got crazy about RM Racing rear sway bars, so I decided to do a little review of what is available out on the used or OEM parts market. So let me begin:

Available from your dealer, on-line shops, local junkyards:

If you are lucky you'll find a 7G GS 4g64 DOHC, but by the time you come to your sences that you actually have found a DOHC 7g, you'll probably forget what you have come to look for - and in this case it's a rear sway bar for our 7Gs. Doing my research I used mainly two web sites for information about rear sway bars, and thanks to Peano and Dangerdanj I have accomplished what I had in mind.

http://www.dangerdanj.com/addco_rsb_install.htm

http://socallifestyle.com/swaybar/tutorial.html

If you take a look you'll see that there are three sizes available for our Gs. These are 12mm out of 7g GS, 15mm out of 95-99 2g Eclipse/Talon/ and 18mm out of 95-99 2g Eclipse GSX AWD. Now I personaly havent seen a 12mm out of GS, but it happens that I own the other two. Also the 15mm sway bar is available out of other cars that share the same suspension as 2g Eclipse and 7g Galant. That would be Crysler Sebring / 1995-2000/ and Dodge Avenger /1995 - 2000/; these cars come with rear sway bar stock depending on the letters / ES or whatever they have/ and it is 15mm. In order to install the sway bar you'll also need the lower control arms and the end links that these cars are equiped with. The 18mm bar that is in the GSX is a really nice piece, but as Peano mentions in his tutorial, there is a problem with exhaust pipe clearance, and more exactly with the loop over the rear cross chamber. I had the same problem with this bar even with my stock piping and when it was time to install the 3'', it was impossible to have them both at the same time. So I started thinking about solution of the problem........................................... ........................................... and I got it.

Now, this is where people got it wrong. For some reason 8G Galants share the same rear suspension as 7g, so in this flow of ideas the sway bar and lower control arms have to fit as well. So I went to the junkyard on a mission to prove that and this is where my tutorial starts:


I'm leaving the pictures a little bigger so its loud and clear, and I wont be talking about tools and where to start from - there is enough info in the other two tutorials.

So,....



The three bars top to bottom

1. 2g Eclipse GSX AWD - 18mm, exhaust clearance issue
2. 2g Eclipse/Talon/ GST/TSI/ - 15mm - very good choise
3. 8G Galant - 18mm - the better choise

I got out the "old" control arms and 15mm sway bar.



Installed the 8g lower control arms with end links / end links are not the same as the ones that I pulled out/



The clearance with the 3'' exhaust - It has a good 1/2'' to 3/4''.



18mm 8G sway bar installed on 7G.





I didnt realize untill I saw the picture that I didnt stick the sway bar in between the two lower control arms, but I guess Ill do it over the weekend, cuz Im too lazy right now.

This is how its supposed to look





Now, why I wrote 7G - 8G in the title!

Well, I swapped parts from 8G to 7g with no problem, so there is no reason why 7G to 8G wont work. So, for all you 8G-ers who are wondering right now, you can do it if you dont have it at all. Some of you do, some dont. The trick is that you cant cross match them like 7g/2g Eclipse or the other cars I mentioned/ control arms with 8G sway bar or 7G sway bar with 8G control arms. It just doesnt work - the 8 sway is a little shorter wide wise.
I can say there is a huge difference in handling between 15mm and 18mm, and it allows me to upgrade to 22mm Addco bar which is pretty sweet, so I'll enjoy my "new" mod and hopefully you will too.

Just for the record the Sebring and the Avengers come with 19mm stock front sway bar which is 1mm more than ours. And I have it installed too, but no pix - sorry

This mod costed me :

8g rear sway bar $10.00
8g lower control arm x 2 = $20.00
end link x 2 = $ 6.50

total : $36.50

[Ruslik]

hmmm very nice research man

[DOHCstunr]

I've always wandered if the 8g control arms would work. tubular OWNS stamped steel.

so tell us this, any interference with the 8g bar?

[mko]

NOne at all. Works like it was meant to be there

[mtcavity1]

Nice R&D work Chris!

[kolio]

i tried fitting the sway bar at the junk yard and it's didn't fit right.

the bigest problem is the plastic ended endlinks. they snap too easy

[mko]

these are metal, out of 1g Diamante

[peanotation]

awesome write-up......god i love this forum when people actually post like this.

i should say that even if you don't have a 3" exhaust, the bigger problem with the 18mm GSX bar is that it hits the toe-control nut/bolt on the rear crossmember. god i wish i knew what the proper term for that was....this thing:

green arrow is where it hits the nut on the crossmember, red exhaust.

anyways, when you installed the 18mm bar...you didn't have problems with the brackets being too big to line up with the holes on the crossmember?

[mko]

When I had the GSX on my car it happened exactly what you re talking about. I took the left rear wheel and pushed the sway bar over with my foot so it slides in the bushings. The endlinks will allow you to do that so you clear the nut

Im using 2g eclipse brackets and GSX eclipse energy bushings from autozone, which are exactly the same size as stock ones, along with the 18mm sway, so no problems fitting it at all

[jerald]

nice rear sway bar...where i can buy that one,,it is for 7g or 8g?

[raks_22]

i think i gonna go to the junkyard :B

[Apex91]

Does anyone have the MB# for the rear lower control arms? I cant seem to find them on rockauto/ebay :/

[master_visionary]

Off to the toy store ...lol that's what I tell my wife when I head up to the yard

[mko]

Does anyone have the MB# for the rear lower control arms? I cant seem to find them on rockauto/ebay :/

1995-2000 Avenger/Sebring
1995-1999 Eclipse/Talon

Rear cross member MB948996

Upper control arm left MB914441
Upper control arm right MB914442

Lower control arm left & right MB864722
Lower control arm left & right MB864727

Trailing arm MB864731 *******

Link, rear suspension assist left MR124293
Link, rear suspension assist right MR124294

Rear suspension knuckle with abs left MR519519
Rear suspension knuckle with abs right MR519520
Rear suspension knuckle without abs left MR519521 *******
Rear suspension knuckle without abs right MR519522 *******

[Apex91]

1995-2000 Avenger/Sebring
1995-1999 Eclipse/Talon

Rear cross member MB948996

Upper control arm left MB914441
Upper control arm right MB914442

Lower control arm left & right MB864722
Lower control arm left & right MB864727

Trailing arm MB864731 *******

Link, rear suspension assist left MR124293
Link, rear suspension assist right MR124294

Rear suspension knuckle with abs left MR519519
Rear suspension knuckle with abs right MR519520
Rear suspension knuckle without abs left MR519521 *******
Rear suspension knuckle without abs right MR519522 *******

<3 ty so much