Re: [E36M3] Help needed from RD Sport or Racing Dynamics sway bar owner

[Neil Maller <neilmaller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 1/10/99 2:33 AM Barrett Nicholas barrettn@domain.elided wrote:

>I have a set of RD Sport sway bars that I'm having
>trouble getting the rear bar to fit properly.

Barrett,

The RD bar does have a slightly different bend than stock, but otherwise 
it fits in a similar way.

(As an example of the differently bend, on my car the stock bar allows 
the suspension to droop enough to change rear springs with the bar in 
place. The RD bar has to be detached for this as it hits one of the 
control arms first.)

Jack the rear of the car, support properly, remove rear wheels. Remove 
rear bar, links, upper link brackets.

Set the RD adjustable links to the same length as the fixed stock ones. 
Once the car is back on its wheels, the clearances will all be OK. 
However during assembly you might possibly need to compress the 
suspension just a bit with a jack under the hub or lower control arm. I 
didn't have to do this but it was close, so I can imagine that minor 
diffferences between cars could make it necessary. The 96 and later M3 
has a clearance notch stamped into the muffler, the 95 apparently didn't. 
If you do jack, be very careful not to lift the car off its jack stands.

Mount the links into their inverted U-shaped stock top brackets, and 
attach these to the upper control arm, with the links hanging down 
through the hole in the lower arm and free at their lower ends.

Some people recommend wrapping the area of the bar inside the new 
urethane bushings with Teflon pipe tape, in addition to greasing. I did 
this.

Slide/wiggle the new bar roughly into position. I found it impossible to 
hold in place well enough to get the chassis brackets on without a helper 
to support the bar on the other side. You may be more ingenious than me. 
Maybe roughly wiring the other side would help? Once you have the bar in 
place and the chassis brackets loosely bolted, you can wiggle it back and 
forth to get it roughly aligned.

Now lie under the car (securely on jack stands etc.) and rotate one bar 
end up to its link. Assemble with the supplied spacers such that the link 
deflects laterally as little as possible. Oddly enough I had to use a 
slightly different spacer assembly at either end to achieve this. Tap the 
bar laterally to centre, tighten the chassis bracket bolts and any others 
you may have left free.

I don't usually use a torque wrench for this kind of work, just snug 'em 
down firmly without over-tightening. A short-handled (6" or so) ratchet 
will help prevent over enthusiasm unless you have Popeye forearms.

I'd suggest setting the rear bar full soft (outermost holes) to start 
with.

*****IMPORTANT*****
Replace every single stock nut you remove with a plastic insert locknut, 
even if this means a parts run and delaying your installation until next 
weekend. Trust me, you'll be thankful later.

Incidentally, although I use the RD bars in conjunction with a Koni/H&R 
setup in summer, for winter use I refit the stock springs and shocks. The 
stock suspension along with big RD bars drives very nicely indeed. You 
get the comfort of softer springs, but the sharpness of the stiffer bars.

Regards,

Neil
96 M3

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