I'm installing my Alta swaybar this afternoon and will be following the instructions on Mini Mania's web site.

I know many of you have installed a swaybar on your MINI, so do you have any advice?

Thanks in advance.

 

It took about 3 hours to put the new swaybar in and the whole operation was much easier than I expected.

Now for the road test.

 

Congrats, Brian! Great first mod!
I had Randy install mine while he was here for MMW in August. Glad you didn't have any problems.

 

Congrats! I have an Alta sway bar on the way too. Any thing you noticed that wasn't on the instructions?

 

Not that I'm the expert but the Alta intructions were not much help. I followed the instructions from Mini Mania

A couple of things I noticed during the installation:
- I spent too much time figuring out how to jack up the car . I eventually used my Sears motorcycle lift to jack up the side of my MINI and then I put the jack stands onto the normal jack points.
- Prying the sub-frame down was a creepy afair. It felt like I was doing something that was hurting the car. At one point I used my MINI OEM jack to pry the sub-frame apart enough to squeeze the sway-bay through... In hind sight, it was nothing to worry about.
- I also heard that lifting the sub-frame into place could be difficult with one person. I used my motorcycle jack to lift the sub-frame back into place (from the center) and surprisingly it went back together very easly!

You will get the sway bay in with out any problems.

The fun comes when you drive the car afterwards.

It seems like it is your normal car except when you make a sharp turn at high speed. Try letting off the gas in the middle of a high speed turn. WOW! lots more oversteer!!!!!!!

It's going to take a few weeks to get used to this!!

 

Too late as I did not see this Saturday, but make sure you do not torque the shock tower bolts too high like I did. The manual says 75 lb-ft but it can only take about 65-70 before breaking. Better leave it at around 55 or so unless ou want to spend 2 hours drilling your bolt for a screw extractor.

 

well, you already did this install but I'll add a couple of comments that may be helpful to others about to install a sway bar

I've done the install 3 times now, on 2 different cars, and this is my final thoughts, which may be overkill but I like things done right.

1) I replaced the upper shock bolts as recommended by bentley manual, they are inexpensive, and can be bought through MINI dealers. I can't remember torques, but follow whatever is correct (maybe about 45 foot pounds???????) The new bolts have thread lock on them, and they can be easily cross threaded on install so hand tighten to get em started

2) I used locktight on the sway bar bushing bolts, as they can come loose (mine did on one install). I also centered the bar and tightened the bushing bolts when the subframe had been dropped, which made the tightening of those bolts easier

3) I used lock tight on the sub-frame bolts, and they are torqed to 100 nm or 74 foot pounds, I think but double check torques.

4) follow Randy Webbs instruction guide which is on-line and very helpful...

 

stupid questino.. but on the alta .. which is the heaviest setting?? is it the hole nearest the ends of the sway bar (below the middle ) or the others (above the middle).

 

The stiffest setting is the hole the farthest away from the end.

 

thanks!

 

Not true! According to the Alta installation documents and the Out Motoring web site (step #9), "On sway bars with multiple stiffness settings, the holes closest to the front of the car generally are the stiffest setting".

 

The holes farthest from the ends of the bar are the closest to the front. Many other cars they are mounted from the rear, but not on the MINI.

 

Hey Creeker (and Kellzir) what made you decide to go Alta?

On another note - I grew up in Boulder Creek! Wave if you see a IB/W. :smile:

 

Cuz i got a great deal from Jonathan over at Worldoneperformance.

 

Yo, so did I! I am installing this weekend.

 

Make sure you folks install the bar right side up . A buddy and I did mine upside down the first try. I need to find the pic of that around here.

 

1) I replaced the upper shock bolts as recommended by bentley manual, they are inexpensive, and can be bought through MINI dealers. I can't remember torques, but follow whatever is correct (maybe about 45 foot pounds???????) The new bolts have thread lock on them, and they can be easily cross threaded on install so hand tighten to get em started

do you mean the two M10 x 40mm self locking bolts
also do you have a part number for these?
will be doing my swaybar soon
thanks for the advice

 

Just to clarify, the softest setting is the one farthest out toward the end of the short arm of the bar. The closer you get to the bar, the less your leverage against the torsion.

 

Correct!

Did anyone notice the large amounts of trailing throttle oversteer after their swaybay was installed?

 

i had more or less the exact same problems!! i didnt like this DIY project.. it got done eventually but very painfully.

 

Anyone else replace the upper shock bolts? I'm sure the engineers have their reasons, but the one time use bolt thing doesn't resonate with me.
I know Randy didn't replace any bolts at the last pulley party...
Good idea on the locktite!

I'll be doing this soon.

 

After I sheared the head off one of them trying to torque them to the incorrect spec listed in the outmotoring how-to. Of course, I don't recall what that torque spec was, so I couldn't tell you if they updated in instructions over the last few years or not.

 

Like I said, I sheared one off as well. Trust me, drilling into one of those bolts to try to get a bolt extractor in there is not fun and adds a couple of hours and lots of pain to your install.

If I change the bar out again, I will buy some replacement bolts first.

 

That's what I posted earlier. Softest is closest TO the end of the bar, stiffest is farthest FROM the end of the bar:smile:

Glad we got that straight.

 

Any answers to these questions?