Update: bwoody Rear Bar + modded Progress Rear Sway Bar [pics]

[kevinmmccormick]

OK, so after much deliberation after a previous thread I decided to not cancel my order for a Progress rear sway bar, even though I already have its mounting holes occupied by a bwoody rear strut bar.

My rationale was that I would benefit in different ways from each bar. The bwoody bar helps on keeping the car stiff and straight, but I'm still experiencing some significant body-roll while auto-x'ing.

I figured I would take the chance and mod the Progress rear sway bar to make room for the bwoody bar to pass through. After some careful measuring and the help of an insane mech. engineer, we performed the cuts on the sway bar. Worst case, the thing breaks and I'm out the money it cost for the sway bar. For your pleasure and enjoyment, I've included some pics of the process.

It's getting installed on Tuesday, so I'll let you guys know how that goes. If we didn't leave enough room for the bwoody bar to fit, we'll just trim more off, but our measurements seemed to check out about right.

[Eco-mod, what do you think?]

The original unmodded bar, shiny and new:


What the ends look like before the mod:


Tool #1: Bad-ass pneumatic grinder:


Tool #2: Bad-ass band-saw:


Highly sophisticated measuring equipment (went for about 27mm clearance):


The grinder, grinding away:


What the ends looked like after the mod:


The "finished" product:

[06RL]

I love it measure with a micrometer mark where you are going to cut with a 14MM marks-a-lot.

[mantiskungfu]

NICE!!! I just might do this

[GraphiteLexIS300]

I was really impressed with the strength of the sway bar, it took a long time to cut through it. I don't think the all purpose wheel/grinder liked it very much. There's still so much weld left, I think we hardly weakened it at all.

(BTW, I'm the "insane" one)

Sorry to threadjack, but here's what I'm currently building...

[scarlett_trocar]

Originally Posted by GraphiteLexIS300

Sorry to threadjack, but here's what I'm currently building...

Um, are you building an indistructable casket/coffin?

[kevinmmccormick]

Originally Posted by scarlett_trocar

Um, are you building an indistructable casket/coffin?

Well, technically he's building a car for Formula SAE, but I suppose that if things don't go well out on the track it could double as one.

[GraphiteLexIS300]

It was originally going to be a coffin, but we decided to make it a car instead. Here's a preview of what the finished product should look like.

[PuSha050]

that thing should b bad ass

[GraphiteLexIS300]

Just in case anybody is interested, the chassis is finished, here is a pic:

[GraphiteLexIS300]

Complete with suspension, hubs, and brakes: