Front swaybar rod ends position question

[slpro1207]

After installing the front swaybar I find my rod ends do not reach the first hole in the bar as illustrated. I left a little more than the proscribed 1/2 inch of thread on both male and female. Even going to the second hole I needed to unscrew the ends 4 1/2 turns. Have I made a mistake or is this normal. I tried unscrewing ends to reach first hole and just won't reach.


65865

[wareaglescott]

I notice yours has 4 holes. My kit was produced last May and only had 2 holes. They must have changed something since then. I notice the instructions on the FFR page for the front sway bar have not been updated since 8/17/15. They tend to change things without updating the instructions. The picture in those instructions look like mine does. IF you have no binding and everything looks like it should work good I would think you would be ok. Maybe someone else will chime in or give FFR a call tomorrow.

It is possible with yours having four holes your piece is longer and maybe your 2nd hole is right where the first one used to be??

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=57637&d=1471546503

[Duke]

They should be Flying Miata bars. Call them and see if they changed the design to 4 hole from 2 hole. www.flyinmiata.com/

[ricobrafan]

The bar looks like one from VPM and not FFR. I installed one in my MKII with no issues. Follow their directions for stiffness settings and set up.

[slpro1207]

This might be a silly question, but what is VPM? I have noticed that all if the illustrations and picture show only 2 holes on each side. Both my front and rear bars have 4. Maybe with this bar I should not cut rod ends. And I haven't seen any instructions on setting stiffness. Where should I look for that?

[johnnybgoode]

VPM is a vendor. Your front bar looks similar to mine which is a VPM bar installed on a MKII. The four holes allow you to adjust the stiffness of the bar. The first hole from the end is full soft, the fourth is full stiff. Either one of the two middle holes is not a bad starting point. Just make sure both sides are the same and that there is no pre-load on the bar. With the wheels on the ground and at ride height you should be able to slide the bolt out of the bar without any tension. If the bolt does not slide in and out easily you have some pre-load. Adjust the end links until the bolt slips easily into place. If you have to move to the third hole from the end to make this happen that would be fine. As a point of reference I have my VPM bars set a full stiff in the front and full soft in the rear. This seems to work best for my car. Good Luck. Scott
65919

[slpro1207]

Johnnybgoode...mine does look like yours and your information was most helpful. Thank you. I have a plan now.

[CraigS]

Usually you need to connect the link on the other side of the shock mount to use the other two holes in the bar.