Project Nissan Sentra Spec-V part 4: Installing Sway Bars

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The front bar was also a huge challenge for the build team at Technosquare. On the Spec-V the front sway bar is mounted very closely to the lower control arm. There is no room for conventional end links to allow for adjustment. If adjustable end links were used the angularity would be extreme and the adjustments would not be effective. The entire front of the car is also crowded so there is no easy place to mount a Speedway racing bar without sacrificing a lot of ground clearance. Progress custom built a big 27mm diameter solid bar for our project (the stock bar is 24.5mm and hollow) but it was not adjustable.

spec v lower arm mod

Here Ritchy makes a cardboard pattern for our lower sway bar mount.  He will later transfer this to metal to make the actual part.

Technosquare cut the ends off of the Progress bar and welded adjustable blades on the ends of the bar. To get clearance for spherical bearing end links we had to build mounts on the bottom of the control arm. Making the mounts on the bottom of the control arm also reduced the angularity of the end links to a more normal amount.

ritchy wantanabe welding

Ritchie welds in the mount after transferring the pattern to steel and cutting it out.

modded spec v lower arm

To get clearance the end links pass though slots machined into the lower control arm. The control arm had to be reinforced to make up for the slots weakening it.  Yeah we know its in single shear but we didn’t have much choice here.

Unfortunately we had to build a tunnel right through our lower control arm for the end links to pass through making for some pretty evolved fabrication.

spec v lower arm and adjustable front swaybar

The final product shows the blades welded to the Progress sway bar, the reinforced control arm and the clearance slots.  This could be the worlds most complicated swaybar mount but its the only way we could think of to make it work.

It’s a lot of work to make the sway bars on a Spec-V adjustable but the end result is going to be a faster, more versatile and easier to set up car.

 

Read the rest of Project Sentra Spec-V
Project SE-R Spec V

 

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