how to fit an AE92 sway bar

[NZAE92]

hey
does anyone know how to fit an ae92 sway bar into a corolla with no holes for the bar to go into the firewall do i have to take the wiper motor out or anything technical like that
cheers

[SuperRA]

Originally Posted by NZAE92

hey
does anyone know how to fit an ae92 sway bar into a corolla with no holes for the bar to go into the firewall do i have to take the wiper motor out or anything technical like that
cheers

Wiper motor?? Perhaps you are talking about the strut tower brace? The sway bar mounts underneath the car, far away from any wiper motors.

[SCT]

Now if you're talking about the strut tower bar, YES you have to drill the two holes for it on the firewall for it to be 100% effective.

You can either drill a hole slightly small so the bolts can self thread the holes which doesn't require taking the wipers or cowl cover off OR you can drill them big enough for the bolts to fit through and put a nut on the bolt on the inside of the firewall which involves removing the wipers and cowl cover. I suggest the first.

[NZAE92]

yea i was thinking the same thing bout the first one aswell it should be an easy job just need to find the right sized drill bit lol and a decent drill i think my dad has a good one will a battery drill be fine?? it should be. pick a part here i come lol

[Ghostyman]

If it's a good drill, you'll be fine. If it's a bad drill, you'll still be fine but it'll take a long time.

I'd recommend tapping the hole instead of letting the bolt do the work but I'm not sure how thick the firewall is there -- trying to thread the bolt into it might not work that great and it might rip out quickly.

[NZAE92]

i don't have any tapping equipment but i found my dads powerful plug in drill that will definitely get through the wall and its old to so better than all this new plastic crap lol just like old Toyotas built better than any new car lol

[SCT]

When you get a strut bar from a junkyard, just grab the two bolts that mounts it to the firewall. Go to an auto part store and they should sell metal drilling bits. You would have to drill a small hole first, than go halfway bigger then up to the size you want; so that's 2 or 3 drill bits. Drilling in steps is easier, they DO sell step drill bits which is like a cone shaped drill bit.

[SuperRA]

Originally Posted by Ghostyman

I'd recommend tapping the hole instead of letting the bolt do the work but I'm not sure how thick the firewall is there -- trying to thread the bolt into it might not work that great and it might rip out quickly.

I doubt that tapping will help as the sheet metal will probably be too thin. What you can try doing is drill the hole extra small like 1/2 the diameter and then hitting a tapered punch through to make the hole somewhat funnel like. Then you can locate some "body bolts" which have a taper on the tip of them so they can form the thread as you screw it in. If that fails, then you can still drill it out an use a nut on the other side. I'm going to try using a nutsert thingy.

[SCT]

I did it to mine, I drilled the hole so it was slightly smaller than the bolts. Then I slowly wrenched the bolts in until it stopped, don't force the bolts when it feels and looks like it's flush perfectly. The sheet metal is roughly the thickness of a popsicle stick, maybe slightly thinner.

[SuperRA]

Originally Posted by SCT

I did it to mine, I drilled the hole so it was slightly smaller than the bolts. Then I slowly wrenched the bolts in until it stopped, don't force the bolts when it feels and looks like it's flush perfectly. The sheet metal is roughly the thickness of a popsicle stick, maybe slightly thinner.

Ah, if it's that thick, it's probably ok. I'll still try to make that drawn in feature when I do mines.

[NZAE92]

thanks for your help everyone.
I have successfully fitted the strut brace and i can feel a difference,
it's alot more sensitive and i can accelerate in the corner with out having to worry bout understeer lol.
The firewall is thicker than a popsicle stick here it's about maybe 0.5cm's we use metric here so someone can calculate that into your terms lol. it took a while to get through it with a plug in power drill but i have done it so im happy lol
thanks for everyones help again i appreciate it i can finally relax for a while and stop trying to search for more stuff to buy lol until next year when i start to make my exhaust syatem in technology at school lol