Steeda 35mm front sway doesn't fit 04 cobra

[kurtfriedrich]

From some discussions and advice on the SCCAforums, I decided to try the Steeda 35mm front sway bar on my 04 Cobra for better Solo 2 times. After spending a few hours under the car last night, I am very dissapponted to find out it doesn't fit. I am annoyed Steeda sold it to me in the first place, they shouldn't guess, now I have to spend another 2 miserable hours under the car to put back the stock one.

The problem is the casting that holds the oil filter is quite different on the supercharged engine, as it has a large coolant water hose connecting to it. When the car is at rest, there is only 3/8 inch clearance between this hose and the bar. When the left wheel drops down 1 1/4 inch in suspension travel, they are touching, and if you jack up the frame and take all the weight off the wheel, the bar is making a huge indent in the hose. Worse yet, the point at which it hits the hose is really close (1/4 inch) from the casting where the hose attaches, and I would bet as the wheel travels up and down under load, it its banging the casting too.

Since it is a saturday, I can't get a hold of Steeda, but they better be willing to not only pay me back for it, but also for the shipping here and back, which was about $30 each way. I wish I could charge them for 4 hours of labor too.

Anybody else out there tried to upgrade their sway bar on an 03/04 supercharged Mustang?

Kurt

[Firme]

03 Cobra Toy has the Steeda 35mm sway bar on his car..

http://www.svtcobraclub.com/forums/vbgarage.php?do=view&id=742

check out the pics

[kurtfriedrich]

03 Cobra Toy has the Steeda 35mm sway bar on his car..

http://www.svtcobraclub.com/forums/vbgarage.php?do=view&id=742

check out the pics
Thanks for the pointer Firme, I hope he jumps in here and gives me some secret to dealing with this. Not only do I not want to go thru the work of redoing it, I really wanted to have this for Solo.
Kurt

[03 cobra toy]

Kurt,


There may be a problem with stock ride height and the Steeda sway bar.
I would lower the car and check the clearance of the hose. If you have good hose clearance then I would simulate the car going around corners by jacking up one side of the car then checking the clearance...I hope this helps...I sent you a PM with my phone #

David

[kurtfriedrich]

is just changing the springs enough to lower the car? if yes, do I just need 4 springs, or do I then also need other Misc parts to make that work?


here is a pic showing the 2 bars, the steeda has a much narrower bottem area for the engine;

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kurtfriedrich/images/swaybar.jpg (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kurtfriedrich/images/swaybar.jpg)

Kurt

[Firme]

hmm... I wonder if they sent you the right part....

To lower the car, you just need 4 lowering springs (pretty much all the popular aftermarket spring lower the car, I suggest H&R springs). The only other part recommended is camber/caster plate for ease of alignment and for the possibility that the factory plates might not allow for proper alignment after lowering (each car differs). Maximum Motorsports makes some sweet Camber/Caster plates.

[kurtfriedrich]

I tried a few more things,
I turned the steering to full lock both left and right and re-measured - at least it doens't get any worse, seems to maintain the same distance from hose to bar.

Then I loaded the front seat with 200 pounds, hoping that would change things, but it didn't. Seems like when the frame goes lower, it maintains the same 3/8 clearance, but when the frame goes up realtive to the wheel, then the 3/8 goes to zero with 1 inch travel, and at 2" of travel, it's pressing into the hose firmly.

If it was just the hose, I think I would leave the bar on and monitor the condition of the hose every month to see if it is getting worn ... but where the bar hits it is REALLY close to the casting where the water hose attaches, and I am really concerned that if I hit a pot hole, that sway bar is going to smash into the casting, and chip a piece off - at which point I now have pieces of metal running in my water coolant. That would seem like a real bad thing.

here are 2 closer pics; these were taken with the frame up 2 inches relative to the wheel. The first one is shot from under straight up, the second one is shot looking across, parallel to the bar. You can see a scratch on the bar where the hose clamp was digging into bar until I rotated the hose clamp to get a little clearance.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kurtfriedrich/images/swaybar1.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kurtfriedrich/images/swaybar2.jpg


Given all this, I am not so sure changing springs will change the relationship between the sway bar and the water hose.

03 cobra toy, have you ever jacked up the frame on the driver side and taken a look at how close your Steeda is to this coolant hose?

thanks
kurt

[03 cobra toy]

Given all this, I am not so sure changing springs will change the relationship between the sway bar and the water hose.

03 cobra toy, have you ever jacked up the frame on the driver side and taken a look at how close your Steeda is to this coolant hose?

thanks
kurt

I would call Steeda...My car is very low and that gives the bar more clearance...One year of racing and not one problem with the lower hose...

[kurtfriedrich]

I called Steeda, the good news is, they say they have sold quite a few of these on 03/04 Cobras, the bad news is, they do admit that this situation is something to be delt with. They say based on frame and engine mounting variations, this is not a problem on some and is something to dealt with on others. They said using lowering springs would make it worse, but my idea of adding a few spacer washers between the frame and the mounting brakets would be fine, and that I would not need to adjust the end links. So I think I'll go that route. thanks for all suggestions,
Kurt

[03 cobra toy]

They said using lowering springs would make it worse, but my idea of adding a few spacer washers between the frame and the mounting brakets would be fine, and that I would not need to adjust the end links. So I think I'll go that route. thanks for all suggestions,
Kurt

When the lower control arm goes up (car goes down) and moves SB down/back and away from hose... Steeda is wrong ! Lowering springs would help... :D
See pic

[kurtfriedrich]

When the lower control arm goes up (car goes down) and moves SB down/back and away from hose... Steeda is wrong ! Lowering springs would help... :D
See pic
Maybe you are both correct. Note that my problem is in the opposite direction, when the frame goes up, realtive to the tire, that's when I am in trouble. So if I reverse the sense of your statement, I think it agrees with Steeda ...

When the lower control arm goes DOWN (car goes UP) and moves SB UP/FORWARD and TOWARD from hose...

I appreciate you taking the time to think about this. I notice that in the pic you sent me, your wheels are off. Next time your car is up on a rack with the tires still on, do me a favor, and check the clearance. This is an exaggerated situation, I realize, but with mine, the sway bar is moved about an inch forward and making at least a 1/2 depression in the hose. The good thing though, is at least as the bar gets closer to the hose, it seems to also move forward, which gets it away from the end of the casting. I am pretty confortble with the bar pushing into the hose every once in a while when I hit a big bump, its that casting that I worried about.

Kurt

[Firme]

Here is what 03 Cobra Toy said

When the lower control arm goes up (car goes down) and moves SB down/back and away from hose... Steeda is wrong ! Lowering springs would help... :D
See pic

which is what lowering the car does....

here is the diagram

Lowering the car will push the bar down/back, the only way it would go back up and forward is when it is jacked up, or when the car is airborne/front raises alot.


BTW, steeda told me that coil-overs were bad for road racing :rolleyes:

[kurtfriedrich]

Your pic is correct, but note that the spot where the sway bar is touching the coolant line is on the inside of the two frame attachment points, and exactly as you say, "Middle swivels down and back" which puts it right into the coolant line junction with the oil filter / cooler casting.


thanks for your continued interest in this!

Tonite I am going to wrap the attachement point of the hose wehre it attaches to the casting with 1 layer of duct tape, and then I will moniter the wear on the tape. Once thing is for sure, unless I get the front end of the car to bounce up at least 1 1/2 ich, nothing is going to happen. I am going to a solo 2 on sunday so sunday night I should have a pretty good idea if it ever even makes contact.

Kurt

[GUMBALL]

Firme:
I don't know who told you that coil-overs are bad for road racing - but obviously he has NEVER been to a road race event. Take a look at photos - most club cars and ALL purpose-built cars are coil-over.
The main reason for this, it allows a wider selection of springs, and it is much quicker to change springs - a consideration when you might be doing that after each session.........
Also, just an observation, I constantly see posts here regarding problems with products from Steeda.........

[Firme]

kurtfriedrich, you might want to consider ditching the Steeda sway bar and looking into a Kenny Brown sway bar. You might get better clearance out of it. Kenny Brown makes different stiffness ranges of Sway Bar's though, so you will have to figure out what stiffness you need for auto-x in correlation to your present front/rear spring and shocks.


Firme:
I don't know who told you that coil-overs are bad for road racing - but obviously he has NEVER been to a road race event. Take a look at photos - most club cars and ALL purpose-built cars are coil-over.
The main reason for this, it allows a wider selection of springs, and it is much quicker to change springs - a consideration when you might be doing that after each session.........


:rotf: I think you misunderstood the comment dude. notice the " :rolleyes: " smiliey following that comment? Also, check out my sig (on my first post on this page). I am too poor to go all out and get all the good stuff, but I have started at least. This line of my sig in particular might interest you.... "03 Bilstein Shocks/Struts, MM front Coil-Over kit" Also, if you look at any other posts I have made regarding Coil-Overs, it apparent that I a true supporter of the setup.

As far as that comment.. let me explain. I also have a Steeda sway bar. I really dislike Steeda, but at the time, the Kenny brown sway bar was too expensive for my budget and I could get a deal on the Steeda, so I called up Steeda for research and to see if the Sway bar was a good match for my setup. I get on the phone with a "suspension Tech" and this is what follows....

Me: "Hi I was calling to see what the stiffness of your front sway bar is, and if it was in the recommended range for my setup"
Tech:"what is your setup"
Me:" 01 Cobra with 03 Cobra bilstein all around with MM 350# front Coil-overs and H&R rear race springs"
Tech:"Coil-overs?"
Me:"ehhh, yeah"
Tech:"what is main use for this cars suspension performance"
Me:"Handling, open tracking, occasional auto-x"
Tech:"we don't recommend coil-overs for handling, they are only good for drag racing"
Me:"You have got to be kidding me right, and what do YOU recommend for handling?"
Tech:"Our 5 link suspension"
Me:" You did hear me say I had a 01 Cobra right?"
Tech:"yeah"
Me:"So you recommend me get a 5 link suspension for my IRS???????????"
Tech:"It is the best out there"
Me:"you obviosly know nothing of Cobra's, IRS, or Coil-overs" CLICK

I think with my luck, I might have gotten the dumbest or newest guy at steeda, cause I'm sure someone over there at least knows better than that.

[kurtfriedrich]

[QUOTE=Firme]kurtfriedrich, you might want to consider ditching the Steeda sway bar and looking into a Kenny Brown sway bar. You might get better clearance out of it. Kenny Brown makes different stiffness ranges of Sway Bar's though, so you will have to figure out what stiffness you need for auto-x in correlation to your present front/rear spring and shocks.QUOTE]

After I race on sunday, including the 100 mile drive there and then back, I will decide to stick with this or ditch it. thanks for the suggestion about Kenny Brown.

Kurt

[GUMBALL]

Firme:

I think you missed reading my comment, as in "...HE has never....." .........notice I was not referring to you............

I saw your signature regarding the upgrades on your car.........

agree with you regarding the Kenny Brown adjustable front bar.

[Firme]

Firme:

I think you missed reading my comment, as in "...HE has never....." .........notice I was not referring to you............

I saw your signature regarding the upgrades on your car.........

agree with you regarding the Kenny Brown adjustable front bar.

:doh2: saw that, but I thought that you thought that I thought what he thought was right :doubt: :rotf: :dunno:

:cheers:

[Lumpydogs]

Firme, Thanks for clearing that up :D

[kurtfriedrich]

So yesterday I put a double layer of very thick washers under each of the 2 bolts on each side between the sway bar bracket and the frame. I now have about 1/2" clearance between the bar and the cooling hose when sitting normally. I am going to run with it that way and inspect it after every race, but I think I'll be ok now.

Kurt