Rear swaybar installation parts list:

1. Addco 7/8 swaybar
2. 2sRus High and Tight rear endlinks
3. Energy Suspension greaseable bushings (9.5158G)

Tools required:

1. Jack, stands
2. 14mm socket, 14mm combination wrench (x2)
3. Torque wrench
4. Dremel tool with metal grinding bit
5. Lithium grease

Procedure:

First, the good news. This is one of the easiest suspension mods to do. You only need a few tools. As with almost any mod, however, expect the unexpected as you go along.

Clear the decks for business by jacking up the rear end and pulling the wheels. If you have the engine splash guard in place, leave it there.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 718×514 and weights 96KB.

Grab a 14mm combination wrench and break the nuts holding on the stock endlink. The lower:

And the upper – and if your car is like mine, these come right off:

Leave the endlinks in place – they aren’t under load but they’ll help hold the bar as you go after the bushing brackets here with the 14mm socket:

As expected, the rear bar is ridiculously easy to remove. It’s almost insulting. Pull, a half-twist to clear the tailpipe, and out it comes. If you’re timing this job, you’d be at around the 30 min. mark by now. Here’s a parts comparison – note how the stock rear sway is a puny, little girlie swaybar, and appreciate the size and machismo of the High and Tights:

Speaking of the bushings, there’s a problem. The brackets are too wide and will not fit the holes in the underbody of the chassis. You could drill and tap a new hole (not recommended) or modify the bracket (recommended). Use the dremel tool:

You’ll grind the slots on the bracket inward toward the bracket saddle all the way up to the curve. Then the bolts will fit. Grease the bushings, grease the endlink ball pivots. Now, reverse all the above steps to install the Addco. (Make sure the curve in the bar points down.) It’d be nice to have a friend help but it’s simple enough solo. So easy, you’ll be laughing.

Note that you’ll need two 14mm combination wrenches to install the High and Tight endlinks. There’s a nut on the inside of the endlink you need to secure as you tighten the outer nut, which you can see in the comparison photo above.

Here’s the finished result:

In the above picture, follow the swaybar around to where it runs under the frame. There’s a slight indentation there made to accommodate the swaybar. The Addco is so large that it almost makes contact with the body. The ES bushings are large enough to prevent binding and contact, but on my car the clearance is really tight – maybe 1/32 of an inch. The bar rotates in place, but it doesn’t move up and down. So as long as you have clearance, you’re good to go. If you are getting contact, you’ll need spacers under the bushings, and maybe longer bolts.

If you’re clear, then affix the wheels, torque the lug nuts to 76 ft lbs and test the bar.

Driving impressions:
I already have the front Addco, which really planted the front – much more than a FSTB – so I was expecting good things from this mod. Just running the front bar, the back end breaks loose predictably and controllably. With the rear, you should have better cornering as you reduce the last of the body roll. On the other hand, I’ve got Che’s rear member braces back there already, so I wasn’t expecting any OMG! moments.

Backing out the driveway, I’ve got a berm at the end where the drive connects with the street. I felt the effect of the rear bar when the tires passed over this bump. Much more solid now. Heading out… Turn One. Nothing dramatic, but very nice. Turn Two. Ah, I see what it’s doing. The back feels tightened down like the front. Turn Three. Feels like the power of the car connects with the suspension immediately. Turn Four. Accelerating out of curves feels more authoritative.

On the way back, Turn Four is a sweeping right that I often use to test the back end, because I can break the tires loose an inch or two without drama. This time, I couldn’t do it. I didn’t go past 7/10 for the test drive, so I’ll need more time to discover the new limits of the back end – but they’re now beyond what they were. I recommend this mod very highly. PITA factor: One bottle of Stella Artois, and that only because of the bushing issue. Hat tip to lbridges for his advice with the procedure.

All the official installation guides can be found here:

http://www.3point0racing.com

These guides should be used in conjuction with the original installation notes, and contain our observations based on installing the braces onto my car. Note that in a few places the bolt sizes are different vs. the original instructions – the instructions below contain the correct sizes.

RSTB installation notes:

You will need: 14mm socket & ratchet, torque wrench

1) Undo the three nuts on each strut and the two holding the stock brace to the firewall
WARNING: The brace ends up VERY close to the battery terminal that is usually the POSITIVE terminal. DO NOT let the brace touch the terminal – sparks and exploding batteries will ensue if you do.
2) Leave the O shaped spacers in place, and offer the brace up to the car – you will likely need to attach one side then ‘walk’ the other down the threads.
3) You can either use no washers – in which case the strut bolt threads will be just long enough to end up flush with the nut tops (pic 1 below) or THIN washers (pic 2 below).
I’d recommend washers – or you will remove the powder coat from your brace (and the nuts will be really hard to remove next time)


4) Re install the firewall bolts first – press down on the brace end to ensure they go in without cross threading. Do up finger tight.
5) Re install the strut top nuts and torque to 59lb/ft (80Nm)
6) Torque the firewall bolts up to 59ft/lb

Done!

Opinion:

Well it started raining just as I went out to test this one, so the results may be a little skewed – but I’d say the difference the rear brace makes is very minimal indeed.

If you fitted this and went out 10/10ths on track you’d notice that it makes things a little bit more controllable as the car transitions from wehey to ohcrap, but I think I can safely say that for the road driver the difference is so small as to tend toward zero.

FSTB installation notes:

You will need: 12mm socket & ratchet, torque wrench

1) Remove the front plastics by pushing the center pin of each plastic clip down a small amount, then removing the clip.
2) Undo the three nuts on each strut top and set aside.
INFO: You now have two choices – either remove the C spacer and fit it above the strut brace (this will stop you removing any paint with the nuts), or leave the spacers on and lose a bit of powder coat..
3) Offer the brace up – it should be an easy fit.
4) Refit the nuts and torque to 29lb/ft – be very careful as these strip & snap easily on the stock upper mounts.

Opinion:

Quite simply, night and day – very much a “why didn’t I buy one years ago?” feeling. The front end is much sharper – better turn in, better feel in the corners and far far better stability under braking. I’d say this makes a significant enough difference that everyone should have one – it’s that good.

Right, now to fit the MSMB.

MSBM installation notes:

You will need: 10mm, 12mm, 13mm, 17mm socket, ratchet & torque wrench, round file

WARNING: Installation is a nightmare – you’ll likely need two people to hold stuff.

1) Remove the two stock plates (or your corky brace) by undoing the six bolts. Unclip the three hose clips (one sideways, two vertically) and remove.
2) Undo the two 10mm bolts show at the rear of each inner chassis rail
3) Undo the two 17mm bolts holding the front braces to the chassis rail, and loosen the two bolts at the front of the braces.
Swing the braces down out of the way. You may need to push up slightly to allow the bolts to spin out easily.

Front bolts:

3) Install the clips into your new brace as shown

4) Offer up the brace and get at least the far rear 10mm bolts, followed by one bolt in each corner of the centre plate.

5) Snug up as many bolts as you can get in, make a mental note of how far out each of the holes are.
6) Remove brace and adjust holes with the round file – I needed to adjust the front drivers hole in the centre brace, front nearside hole to the chassis rail and rear nearside hole (for the 10mm bolt).

7) Reinstall the brace and tighten all bolts gradually.

8) Torque the centre 6 bolts to 28ft/lb and the 17mm bolts to 55ft/lb. Tighten the 10mm bolts, but do not over tighten as these are small bolts.

Now I should add that the installation was a complete ballache on my car – it remains to be seen if this was my car, or the bracing.. but at least three holes needed adjusting, and the rest were very tight fitting indeed. This thing gets heavy after you’ve been holding it up for a while!

Oh – and it scrapes a ton getting over speedbumps:

Opinion:

Next to the front brace this made the biggest difference so far – the car is so much better behaved over rough roads, feeling very much like a much bigger car indeed (Mark reckons it feels like a Boxster now – I’m not sure that’s a compliment though!)
Generally speaking the car feels more composed in the corners, perhaps adding a little understeer however – although very controllable on the limit. Very, very good – and a huge difference over the standard Corky plate!

FMB installation notes:

You will need: 17mm socket, ratchet & torque wrench

1) Remove the four bolts holding the stock angled tubular braces on
2) Remove braces (they’ll already have fallen on your head anyway)
3) Offer up brace
4) Reinstall bolts and torque to 55ft/lb

Opinion:

Easiest brace to install by far. Significantly better turn in, and a cumulative stiffening and generally nicer feel to the whole car – rides better over bumps and rough roads. Zero understeer.. literally none at all, and you can absolutely throw the car into corners now.

Well, until you run out of bottle with Mark still saying “keep your foot in”, and use the A1 as an escape road off the roundabout… slight detour!

RLCB

You will need: 12mm, 14mm socket, extension, ratchet & torque wrench

Before starting: Remove the rear nappies
1) Undo the 12mm bolt holding the P clips for the handbrake cable
2) Undo the four 14mm bolts holding the small rear braces on
3) Offer up the RLCB and bolt in place – note that this is very tight on the oil filter and air con pipes if you have them
4) Torque to 28lb/ft for the dog bone bolts
5) Reinstall the P clips and torque to 14lb/ft

INFORMATION: The brace ends up very close to the oil filter and oil pan. You’re not going to be changing the filter without dropping the brace down..

Opinion:

This brace made much more difference than either Mark or I expected; there was a significant tightening of the rear end, making things much more predictable at the back and gaining us a good amount of grip while going round the rounadbouts..

RMB installation notes:

You will need: 10mm, 13mm, 17mm socket, extension, ratchet & torque wrench

WARNING: You may need an alignment after fitting this brace set as fitting requires removing the through bolt on the lower rear suspension arm. It may well also be easier if you have the entire rear of the car in the air on jack stands – we did one side at a time, using a scissor jack to jack the car until the suspension arm was aligned for the through bolt.

Before starting: Remove the rear nappies
1) Remove one of the two bolts that attach the petrol tank to the rear firewall
IMPORTANT: Do not remove both bolts at once, or the tank may drop!
2) Offer the brace up and bolt it in with this bolt loosely with enough play for you to remove the second petrol tank bolt and install this loosely.
3) With both petrol tank bolts loosely bolted, remove the through bolts from the lower suspension arms
4) Use the jack to bring each side of the car up – or push on the wheel if the car is in the air – until you can re-insert the bolt from the opposite side to standard (so the nut will be inside the turret of the brace)

5) Repeat for the remaining side

6) Tighten all bolts to stock torque specifications – 29lb/ft for the fuel tank bolts, 76lb/ft for the lower arm bolts.
7) Remove the through bolt from the chassis end of the strut rod
8)Install the small arms and bolt to the strut rod loosely
9) Attach to the RMB with the provided 13mm bolts, washers and nuts
10) Torque the above to 29lb/ft
11) Torque the strut rod through bolt to 58lb/ft
12) Cut the rear plastics as shown in the photographs and reinstall if desired

Opinion:

This one was quite tricky to fit – it’s very hard to get the through bolts back in through both the lower suspension arm and the bracing in one go – it took a bit of loosening and shuffling, but eventually it all went in.

This one made an amazing amount of difference – the car feels incredibly ‘pointy’ once this is installed, but at the same time suddenly feels like there is a lot more weight behind you (which there isn’t, since this is all aluminium). Again it gives even more of a ‘big car’ feeling, but everthing feels exceptionally well planted. Bumpy roads suddenly feel very smooth indeed, and the car just flies around the corners – there is now so much grip available you have to be doing something very very stupid to get the back end out – even if you have to step on the brakes while you’re very loaded up (silly drivers, pulling onto my roundabout!).

Overall:

The stage 3 package is simply amazing – this is now a totally different car, with more grip and roadholding available than anyone is likely to use on the road day to day. On the track, this car should be an absolute blast…

Today we’ll answer the age-old question: Can you be too braced up? Let’s find out.

First, you’ll need a couple of templates. The ones that ship with the Cusco are for Japanese frunk plastics and don’t mate with the US version. Use these instead (hat tip to TBK):

Open it in the image editor of your choice, scale it so that the 10cm scale is accurate, then duplicate and flip so you have a left-hand version. Print both. Cut out the square part and leave the circles. You’re ready to start.

Tools needed: The usual 12mm and 17mm sockets, screwdriver, dremel kit, Xacto knife, torque wrench, and an allen key set. Adult beverage of choice.

Lay the bar on the plastics, roughly in position to get a feel for it, and loosen the hinge screws. As you can see, the allen key is needed. Don’t even think about trying this job without it.

Lay a template on the plastics, using the circles as a guide. This takes nerve, because you’re only going to get one shot at this. Mess up, you’ll be asking Mr T for new plastics. Don’t mess up. Take your time. Sketch an outline of the bracket slot with a pencil. Lift the plastics and see where the strut bolts are. Lay the bar back down over your sketch. Make any needed corrections and hope you didn’t mess up.

Find a clear work area. Set the plastics down, break out the Dremel and set up a cutting wheel. Work up your nerve with that adult beverage deal mentioned above. Have at it.

The long cuts can be made with the Dremel. The short cuts at the ends of the spars you’ll need to make with an Xacto knife. Score the surface of the plastics, then push the knife through. The natural sawing motion will penetrate the plastics and achieve the cut. The Dremel heats as it cuts and leaves raised bubbles and stuff. As you work, continuously brush the debris toward the section you’ll remove while it’s still hot. Leave the cut-out section rough for the time being.

Go over to the car and remove the strut tower nuts. Remove the brackets. You could play a quick game of horseshoes with ‘em, if you wanted to. I didn’t feel like it. I was nervous about the plastics. Did I mess up?

Fit the bar and bolt it down. Screw the nuts hand tight. Use a socket and tighten ‘em a bit more. It is critical that no movement of the brackets takes place from here until you finish. Work on a level surface and the Cusco should just drop into place with no forcing or fiddling.

Now remove the hinge pins. At this point you’ll be somewhere around 1 to 2 hours into the job. For me, longer, because of the gasprings. These must be detached from their front mounting pins and the stock lid prop reinstalled. The hanging springs will be a source of amusement throughout the job. Be thankful if you don’t have gasprings.

Fit the right side of the plastics and see how you did. In my case a hole in one. Sort of.

It will be important that the plastics sit flush back with the firewall and that all the poppet holes are aligned. So get ready for fun and cut out the left side bracket hole in the plastics. See how you did. Now, using the pencil, mark off where you need to make additional trim to the bracket slots. You’re trying to make the minimum aperture, so take little bits off here and there, fit and refit the goddamned thing until it lays dead flat, no binding or raised areas, and the back of the plastics are flush with the firewall.

Dress the holes by using a deburring tool of some sort, like I am here, cleaning the cut edges. Use the Xacto knife. Sandpaper. Be careful and it will look perfect. More beverage.

Torque the brackets to 29 ft lbs. Some people at this point have snapped a stud off. From what I’ve heard, the repair is difficult. So take your time here and creep up on foot pound number 29.

You’re almost done. Fit the poppets. I had 2 extras just in case. Needed 1.

Fit the spare bin lid and install the bar. Almost zero space where the plastics guard the windshield wiper motor. Fit the left first. Insert pin, then lever it down to the right and you’ll be OK. Fit right pin and done.

Polish the bar and polish off more beverage. Plastics retained, bin lid functional. Far as I know, this is the only way you can do that.

Total time elapsed: 6 hours exactly. PITA factor: 4 Stellas.

Road Test
Wasn’t expecting a lot. I’m already maxed in front with everything else, this was the final piece, so a slightly heavier feel in the steering wheel and more solidity, plantedness, was all I expected, Confirmed. Just a slight improvement all around up front. At this stage, road that has my daily driver bouncing and bottoming out the struts is no problem in the Spyder. While I don’t have the total TOMS experience, this must be pretty close to it.

Update 03/17/07
You’ll probably discover that the windshield washer line crimps on the bar. Thanks to DaveS, I was able to resolve this.

In the dead center of the frunk lid reinforcement member shown in the pic below, drill a hole just slightly under 1/2 inch in diameter. You can go as low as 5/16 in. Cover the workspace with a cloth to catch the shavings. You’re drilling at a weird, upward angle, so be careful. I found that by starting with a 1/16 in bit and gradually working my way upward, I was getting clean cuts. Use a round file to finish.

Use the tip of a screwdriver to help the hose off its fitting. Insert a wire through the hole and wind the end around the hose. Draw it through. Fit a 1/2 in (or narrower) grommet over the hose and fit it to the aperture. Connect the hose and done. Although I don’t use this system (it’s a 202 thing), all parts of the car should be in proper order.

The springs were ordered from Inchcape Sandhurst and the part numbers are AM27911 (front) and AM27912 (rear):

Things I used:
A few tools:
- Sockets 14mm, 19mm
- Allen (hex) key 5mm
- Combination wrenches 12mm, 13mm
- Springs compressor

4 hands:
I thought this might work better with some help. I used my mate Kris of Belgium.

Rubber gloves:
There is a lot of dirt under there.

Stands:
I would not work on the suspension without having the car on stands. Accidents do happen (as, rather unconvincingly, demonstrated by Top Gear) and good stands could prevent a serious disaster.

A man-sized jack:
The standard Toyota jack is only good for changing tyres. I used a proper one as I needed to lift the car high enough to place the stands.

Ok, onto the interesting stuff.

Front:
First I loosened up the bolts that hold the brake disk and completely unscrewed the ABS sensor lead and break fluid pipe from the suspension…:

…while Kris of Belgium unscrewed the two of the three bolts that hold the shock in place:

While I finally had the shock free from all bolts, Kris of Belgium carefully unscrewed the last bolt. The shock just fell in my hand. Without the suspension to hold the disk in place, it will be hanging off the ABS lead and brake fluid pipe; it’s not such a good idea and Kris of Belgium decided to tie it up while I was working on the shock:

To remove the existing spring, I tightened the spring with a spring compressor and just unscrewed the centre bolt at the top (in the centre of the strut mount).

This is the stock spring in comparison with the TTE. Uncompressed the TTE is more that 30mm shorter but it’s a lot stiffer:

To install the TTE spring, I compressed it with a spring compressor and replaced the old one. Compressing the spring allowed me to put the strut mount back in place easily. One thing I noticed was that the strut mount is keyed; this made it easy to tighten in place. The shock absorber before and after:

To fit the completed item, I followed the removal process in reverse.

Front strut schematic and torque figures:

Rear:
The process is almost identical to the front but there is the extra complexity of the stabiliser mounts.

I unscrewed all the bolts (circled) except the stabiliser mounts which were a real pain in the derriere; I first tried the top one but failed miserably as it was too tight and access was very restricted. I then decided to unscrew the lower one:

It’s worth mentioning that these are not normal bolts; there is a hole where the bolt is screwed and an allen key is needed to hold the internal part in place while loosening up the actual bolt (otherwise it will keep rotating to judgement day):

As with the front, Kris of Belgium unbolted the top mount bolts and again, the suspension just dropped in my hand:

The difference between the rear springs is not as great as the front:

The spring installation is identical to the front and the shock was put into place following the aforementioned process in reverse…

Rear strut schematic and torque figures:

The whole process took an entire afternoon but it was worth it. Upon completion, the car was booked for a 4 wheel laser alignment to ensure everything was in order.

Result:
The difference is instantly obvious but I expect a drop of a further ~5mm within a year:

First impressions:
The difference is remarkable despite only having done commuting driving since installation; the car can now carry higher speeds while cornering and there is hardly any body roll. Chassis is as communicative as ever and comfort hasn’t been compromised. Turn-in seems to be a lot sharper as well although steering appears to have lost a fraction of its feel. This is not necessarily a criticism, just an observation.

All in all, if you’re looking for your first mod, this is the best place to start. If you’re buying now (new or used), tell your dealer you also want the “sports springs” accessory…

First of all the front brace:

Its a doddle, if you can use a trolley jack and a socket set its all over in 15 minutes. Take the old braces off, laugh at how feeble they look compared to the TRD girders, and bolt the new brace in. Four bolts, easy as pie… The only confusing thing was where to lift the car. The workshop manual says lift it on the front crossmember, but its covered in plastic. No bother though, I just ran my jack under and lifted away, the plastic sheet protected the member from the jack, and strangley was none the worse for it afterwards… Obviously, if in doubt, lift either side or use ramps!

The rears braces are subject to much confusion as to how to fit them. There are 2 main issues. Number 1 is do you fit them with the wheels dangling free, or on ramps with the suspension fully loaded? Whats the right way? This all stems from the TRD instructions saying you need to have weight in the car before tightening…

Number 2 is what to do with the handbrake cables. If you fit them above the braces they rub, if you fot them below the braces one good bump might tear them off… I cant help you here, save to say I fitted mine above the braces, as other than the possibility of rubbing there will be no further suprises this way. Also I intend to lower my car as soon as Slaceys Group Buy comes to fruition, which will help add a bit of clearance.

Going back to point 1 though. The fitting of the braces involves removing the bolt that connects the lower suspension arm to the chassis. With the wieght of the car on its wheels this arm is under load. To remove a key part of the suspension structure of a car whilst lying underneath it strikes me as a little silly to say the least. Not to mention bloody dangerous… Many people have found this bolt a pig to remove and re-fit, requiring much hammering and levering to get it in and out, This is because the lower arm is loaded and actually doing its job of holding the wheel straight. Jack the wheels off the floor and it takes minutes to fit each brace, with the bolts just sliding out.

Unfortunatley it now gets a little complicated, as the TRD instructions state you have to have the car loaded before final torquing down of the bolts. Here, for the first time is an explanation as to why…

There is circular rubber bushing in the end of the lower arm, the outer steel shell is part of the arm and thus moves up and down with it, the inner steel core that the bolt passes through has teeth in it that grip the chassis as you tighten it up, ensuring that the rubber filling in between the two steel parts of the bush is the bit that does all the moving rather than the whole bush rotating around the bolt. This is done becasue rubber needs no maintenance, no oiling, and doesn’t squeek, it also absorbs vibration. Anyway, the rubber core is designed to let the arm flex up and down. but it can only allow so much movement in any given direction without tearing the rubber core. The way to make sure you never put it under to much stress is to tighten the bolt when the suspension travel is in the middle, so the bush only has to flex a small distance before the end of the travel. Make sense?

Put simply it means this: For the good of your health do the actual installation part of the job when the wheels are off the floor, its safer and a lot easier… Once the bolts are back in and hand tight, you can then lower the car down on to ramps or blocks, so that the suspension is loaded, throw in some ballast, and the tighten the lower arm bushings safe in the knowledge that you wont be causing premature failure, and you want have a car falling on your head…

Hope this helps…