Took on the minor project of replacing the rear sway with something heavier today. Reading through the directions, no sweat...

But they leave out some vital information - at least they did on mine - so I just wanted to give those considering the project a heads up.

Overall, a fairly strait forward project. Wheels off, springs/shocks came off easy but then came dropping the sub frame. Directions said pulling the two bolts on each side would allow it to drop down enough to wiggle the bar out....not so on my '08 vert.

In addition to all the things in the directions, must also loosen the added support bars that fan out from the center of the rear sub frame and push them to the side. Then, hidden behind the heat shield by the sub frame there is another bolt holding the frame in place. To get at it I removed the to small (10mm?) bolts that held the heat shield in place above the exhaust pipe. Tried bending it back a bit but it wasn't far enough so out came the tin snips. A few cuts and bends I then had the room to get at the last remaining sub frame bolt. With that out & a little prying I easily got enough room to get the old bar our and and the new one in.

It went together as easily as it came apart. Just wanted to warn you of the hidden bolt that will drive you nuts if you don't know it's there.

After that I't all easy.

Happy motoring.

 

the early cars had only 2 bolts - the later (04/05) models has a bolt in the center as well - as you discovered.

 

Same thing happened to me. Had to cut away some insulation to get to the middle bolt.

 

I just did mine last week, so I'll chime in. I didn't move or loosen the cabrio braces from the body to the subframe at all. In fact, some people say those help align the subframe to make it easier to get it bolted back up.

I undid the Cabrio-specific center subframe bolt via a hole I made with tinsnips, too. I also removed the two heatshield bolts with 10mm heads, as mentioned above.

To get the bar out, you need to pull it out the driver's side. The obstacles in your way are the three rear upright weldment on the subframe that reach up to the body of the car; where the bolts are installed. The other obstacle is a wiring harness just to the driver's side of the center bolt weldment. It is this wiring harness that makes removal out the driver's side preferrable.

Push down on the passenger side of the unbolted subframe if you need to (it will rest atop the exhaust, limitting how far down it will drop), and push the bar toward the driver's side. The bent end of the bar needs to squeeze between the body and vertical weldment part of the subframe. Once the bar is pushed over the passenger side obstacle, go over to the driver's side.

To get around the driver's side vertical part of the subframe, pull the end of the bar toward the rear of the car until it has squeezed through (from front-to-rear) the gap.

The next logical thing to attempt would be to squeeze the bar through the gap between the center bolt location's vertical weldment (tower), and the body. Do not do that. From the driver's side, move the whole bar out the driver's side as far as you can until you hit that center tower, then move your end of the bar toward the back of the car so the bent end of the bar moves around, not over, that center tower. It will clear the wiring harness this way, as well. That's it.

 

I just replaced my sway bar on my 10 'vert, and have to agree that the directions (usually) do not mention the center 5th bolt. When I replace a part, I look at multiple directions. The Alta directions note that the convertible has a fifth bolt but doesn't say where it is. I first loosened the chassis braces before I figured out where the 5th bolt was. After much struggle, I went to the local Ace they luckily had a stubby ratchet, which worked. I did not remove the heat shield nor cut anything. However, I can guarantee you that the fifth bolt is not torqued to 122 ft/lbs.

 

Either you are a leprauchan or you have longer arms than an olympic swimmer. Either way it's kind of impressive. The slit in the heat shield can be very small. It needs to be centered and right up against the front of the subframe.

 

I don't recall the heatshield being the issue. The problem was the bolt is within a metal frame so there's not much swing on the ratchet and then the muffler is pretty close. I ended up hold the ratchet on the bolt with the left hand and reaching around the muffler with the right hand to tighten and loosen. Kind of like hugging the muffler.

This is on an R57- not a 53m so that may be the difference

 

Ah, in that case, please insert some snide remark of your choice about you being in the wrong forum with that post, then.

 

Doh! Actually, I knew it was in the R53 forum, but sway bar, since the bars are interchangeable between generations, I though my comments my be relevant. I suppose the exhaust are different though, so DOH!

 

I can't blame you. I'm suprised there is much difference since our suspensions are so similar. Until reading your post, I would have assumed there isn't much difference at all, but I just don't see being able to get around our R52's heatshield like that.

You are of course welcome here. As long as you don't brag about your turbo and we don't mention ours are prettier, we should all get along fine!

 

I won't brag about my turbo if you don't whine about your supercharger.

I've always liked the SC whine.

 

Ha. Well put.

 

Major Bump...

Does anyone have a picture of where to put the hole in the heat shield. Gonna do my sway bar on my 06 MCS Cabrio tomorrow.

Thank you!!!

 

I found that BlimeyCabrio had solved this problem years ago on this thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/r52-cabrio-talk-2005-2008/49265-rear-swaybar-on-a-convertible.html

Gotta poke around on his blog for pics, but I just took the bolt out without any heat shied mutilation.

 

You can see and/or reach around the heat shield enough to know where to cut when you are under there. Sorry, but I don't have any pictures of it. It isn't hard to figure out in person.

 

I figured it out. Blimey has a good post about this on his blog. Didn't have to cut the shield after all.

Thx!