Project Nissan 350Z Part 2 – Installing KW Clubsport Suspension and Whiteline Sway Bars

,

With our dampers figured out we turned our attention to the sway bars.  Since the car is used in such a wide variety of driving events, we decided that the bars needed to be adjustable. We installed a set of Whiteline adjustable bars.  The Whiteline bars are two way adjustable in the front and three way adjustable in the rear.  We believe that bar adjustability is important in a track car, especially Sera’s multi use track car as it enables quick adjustments to changes from track to track or changing from track days to drifting.

The rear bar is three way adjustable (part number BNR30Z) and has urethane bushings and new chassis brackets

The Whiteline bars are slightly smaller in diameter compared to the stock Z bars, 32mm vs 34mm front and 20mm vs 21mm rear but unlike the stock bars they are solid instead of tubular.  This increases the stiffness of the bars.  The adjustability also changes the bars stiffness from 100 to 150% greater than stock from the soft to the hard setting.  The bars are held to the chassis with urethane bushings for less compliance than the squishy stock rubber bushings. The bushings are knurled on their inside diameter to help hold grease for squeak free performance.  The front bushings use the stock mounts and rear mounts are provided for the rear bushings.

The front bar is slightly smaller in diameter than the stock bar but being solid it is much stiffer.

The Whiteline bars are precisely CNC bent for a perfect fit and are powdercoated for corrosion free durability.  The bar ends are one piece forged into the bar itself, not welded on.  This is a considerably stronger way to make a bar.  The rear bar has clamped on urethane locators that ride on the main swaybar bushings much like the stock bar so the bar cannot shift back and forth during use.  The front bar uses Whiteline’s billet aluminum Lateral Locks.  The Lateral Lock clamps onto the sway bar and butts up against the swaybar bushings preventing the bar from moving back and forth.  The lateral locks are also available separately from Whiteline so you can use them to secure any swaybar.

Like the front bar, the rear bar is also slightly smaller in diameter than stock.  It is also solid rather than tubular in construction.

To couple our bars to the suspension, we used the Whiteline heavy duty link kits.  Although the Z has ball jointed and stiff end links which are pretty good for performance, they are not adjustable for length. The Whiteline end links use low compliance steel ball joint ends for play free articulation, and their adjustable length keeps sway bar preload at bay when changing ride height, corner weighting or adjusting our sway bar between different settings. 

The stock end links are high performance parts with non compliant ball joints and solid construction.  They are not adjustable for length.