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Please let us know how it goes. Obviously, plastic is much easier to cut than steel. I got a steel sleeve and still figuring which is the best way to cut it.
Mark your 6mm section lengths on your sleeve bar. Obviously you'll need two.
Place the hollow bar in a vise so about 10mm or so sticks out so it can be cut easily
Use a hacksaw or a motorized equivalent mini-cutter
After the first piece is cut, loosen the vise, feed the bar out, tighten, and repeat the procedure.
Does this make sense? You may want to take a file or equivalent to smooth any burrs.
Consider that the sleeve should not really need any special adhesive to hold it in the 13mm bar hole, as that is taken care of as the link nut is torqued down. Both sides drawn together will press the sleeve into place. Or am I wrong.?
Sorry - if you posted it I overlooked it - I did not mean to plagiarize. On the bright side I am glad my shop classes in Middle School has stayed with me! I'm glad we agree
The install is scheduled for Saturday and I shall report back.
Update on ISF Rear Sway bar install stock suspension
I had the ISF rear sway bar installed along with new ISF bushings, and new stock SC430 MOOG Sway bar links. The issue was the sleeve that goes into the ISF bar. It was child's play, or a doddle for our UK friends. The install tech agree with the speed shop when he installed the plastic sleeve - he said it would last as long as the new bar links.
The tech measured inside the ISF bar hole, marked, and then cut to length as the procedure above. Afterwards he took some sandpaper to square it and smooth it. It was about 6mm or 3/8s of an inch long.
The link bolt fit perfectly inside. The taupe object behind it is part of the ride height sensor assembly.Its subsystem comprises an arm with a bolt that attached the lower part of the SB Link. BTW unfastening this is NOT mentioned in the Service Manual I have. SB links in the rear are not keyed to the side as are the fronts.
The SW bushings were a tight fit on the bar and chassis so we lubricated them with some tire dressing. We kept the stock SC 430 brackets.
Although we followed the procedure in the service manual we did not have to take the rear exhaust off. We did take off all four wheels. However we did remove two bolts that held a frame member forming a "V" from either side of the car rear so the new ISF bar could more easily be installed. We also loosed - but did not remove - the bolds holding the rear shocks. This made the lower mounting arm on each side open up a bit so the new SW Link could be inserted more easily. We used all the torque settings in the Manual. The careful installation took two hours.
Although I have put only 100 miles on the car the handling is as following. Less understeer, less steering lock required, much less body roll, a more secure ride, less apparent noise in the cabin, less dipping on bumps and potholes. Some people might characterize it as a firmer ride. Compare it to properly inflating the lumbar support. At first it seems intrusive; then you drive a few miles and like it. The car glides better and you are not anticipating the next bad spot in the road. Thus you are more relaxed driving. My passenger agreed with me.
Stock (RWD) cars are often built with excess understeer for consumer safety purposes. This mod cures that fault. One can almost drive by throttle now. I would expect the installation to "even out" with about 500 miles of driving.
I would definitely recommend this mod to all those who want to preserve stock chassis height yet improve on the road handling and ride without spending excess time or money.
PS
I want to thank all those who installed and opined before me and those who recently weighed in!
Good to know Ivan. So is all you did listed in post # 184 to arrive at those results? The 2 hour installation was done by a mechanic, right? So for those of us non-mechanics it would likely be double or triple that, I'm guessing.
@ivanj That's good news. I've installed mine on Sunday as well but have not test drive it yet as I discovered my radiator has been leaked the day before. I use my original sway bracket together with ISF swaybar & poly bushing. I had to trim my poly bushing a little bit on the sides to make it fit the original bracket. Over all, it took about 2-3 hours for me to do the installation with me laying under the car since I have no lift.
I also have the Cusco strut tower bar installed so my car should be firmer front and back.
Hopefully I have time to replace my radiator this coming weekend and then a test drive.
Good to know Ivan. So is all you did listed in post # 184 to arrive at those results? The 2 hour installation was done by a mechanic, right? So for those of us non-mechanics it would likely be double or triple that, I'm guessing.
The work was done by a tech. I read to him from the Service Manual for torque specs, etc. Two hours for just the procedure. But there is procedure time, people-time and elapsed time
Elapsed time: we tested the car on the road. Since we took all the tires and wheels off the car, we added 10mm purpose-built precision spacers and new chrome bolts to the wheels to have the non-stock Lexus wheels resemble stock offset. I prepared these whilst the tech was doing the heavy lifting on the sway bar. We checked the wheel torque specs when I returned to the shop. So I'd say the overall time was 3 hours since we took breaks and so on. Oh, trimming the plastic sleeve properly took some time.
I would have a lift, modern tools, a torque wrench, a service manual, ALL the parts, and take your time. An assistant is helpful. An assistant who is a mechanic/enthusiast is more helpful!
I've found that the car is very neutral - don't have to put as much lock into the wheel for curves and can steer it with the throttle. However, it is not as forgiving on slippery roads, such as when there has been dry weather for several days and then a drizzle, but this might be due to my rear tires going off. The car dips and bottoms less on uneven roads. Much less body lean.
The car also rides much better. It makes less noise when it goes over bumps and tracks better. Just seems quieter in general. This might be a combination of the better wheel offset with the new bar, bushings and sway bar links. I would not want poly bushings unless I tracked the car.
If you know how to drive or have taken a driver's school this is definitely an advantage over the stock bar even if you don't drive "sporty." I'm retaining the front SB. The car retains or has enhanced "luxo" ride with crisper handling. The Lexus service manager asserts the LS430 and the SC430 should last 500k miles with proper maintenance. He sees more LS in the northeast but several are at that mileage. He says they are sought after. He does recommend a complete transmission drain and magnet cleaning but I haven't dared ask him how much!
Consider doing this upgrade first before coilovers etc. You may save a lot of money that you can put into something else.
I did the same drive today into our local mountains (big bear, ca. that I did with our Sc stock. Then the same drive with the is rear bar. Then the same drive today with the super pro (figs) front bar and the 45’s
wow. Stock was scary. Massive body roll. Braking on every corner.
50% improvement with the rear bar. Still leans but reduced. Could go slightly faster in turns. Better.
ahhhhhh today. Square the turns. Zero braking needed. Turn inside fellow drivers being aggressive in twisty medium speed two lanes on a side road across the mountains.
45-50 mph in 25mph turns.
Car needs variable ratio geared steering. Now I notice the extra steering wheel turning needed.
could hardly wipe the grin off my face. Sorry. Wife did not enjoy being thrown around the turns after a hour or so of this.
never left the lane. No crossing over into other lanes to slow the body roll.
crank it.
the Akebono ceramic pads are really progressive and much stronger than the oem brakes. Race brakes.
front only. Will do the rear as needed.
did the same brakes on our ls460.
same results..
talking to meister about coil overs and there comment matches what I feel.
they said the oem spring rate was correct but they were too long. A shorter spring is stiffer.
plus less high speed compression dampening and more slow speed compression dampening will reduce the kickback from square edges and stop the bottoming in rolling dips.
fixable.
REALLY driveable hard now. Not before.
the guy that sold the Danzien bars said the car drive beautifully but bad reviews here cost him the biz.
he was correct. Firm but not stiff. Needs the coil overs. But 80% good now.
i wish I had a way to give a mental video tape of the drive today.
Very minor lean regardless of how tight I turned the car. Go for it.
here is the figs info
Front Solid bar 30mm provides close to 75% increased rate .
has anybody installed also new front endlinks from Figs together with their front sway bar upgrade? Does that make sense when you're in the process anyway?
has anybody installed also new front endlinks from Figs together with their front sway bar upgrade? Does that make sense when you're in the process anyway?
Steve
I think it depends on what you want to use the car for and how you drive. I wanted a neutral car on the highway with less body roll. I made the premium renewals of the rubber bits front and rear and replaced the rear Sway bar with the ISF bar to make the car neutral on the highway. (The car was designed as a luxo cruiser, not a Corvette or NSX eater.) As it came from the factory it had more understeer built in for liability reasons - many RWD cars of the era did.. I'm happy with the car - having the right wheel offsets helps too. The car is low enough given the highway and back roads around here. I thought about it and dialed it in - for my purposes.
If you want to track the car etc. I would first go to a driving school and learn the different suspension characteristics. Then follow some of the contributors like Bacardi who I believe track their cars.
(When it comes to change tires I am serious contemplating the Michelins Caflashbob uses or whatever their upgrade is next year. I also want to sell my stock wheels (see Marketplace) and get the Enkei PF01s for lower unsprung weight; mechanics, experience and Lime Rock Park has taught lower unsprung weight helps braking and handling)
Back to your issue: Since the heavier duty REAR figs bar is NLA I would be careful putting in a heavier front bar with the ISF rear bar. You might go from an understeering stock suspension to a neutral car (stock front with ISF rear) to one that has oversteer with the FIGS front bar even with the ISF rear bar. One certainly doesn't want this on wet roads.
I always like to do things in stages and see how the modification works rather than putting in everything at once. BTW I have an '02 that might have different suspension characteristics than later models.
Last edited by ivanj; 08-29-19 at 11:44 AM.
Reason: spelling and terrible typing
Figs sourced the bigger front bar from superpro in Australia. A group buy here might be needed for the involved parties to build a quantity,
i cannot stress how different the car dtives with both the front and rear bars installed. Tiny bit stiffer but it is a pleasure to drive on twisty roads now. Before it was a barge. Terrible. Now I can turn inside other cars on dual lane tight radius turns.
i would contact FIGs as superpro mentioned they bend up the bars from time to time.
well worth the effort IMHO.
Now the car could use variable ratio steering to lessen the turning necessary on the steering wheel.
Done. Upgraded the front/rear with SP/Lexus sway bars and adjustable endlinks since the car is MeisterRed. Really a difference like day and night.
Thanks for all the usefull intel here and special credit to Mike and his crew for their splendid service.
Cheers from the other side of the pond
Steve
I 2nd that.... I recently did the Aristo front/ISF rear swaybars and the car is so much better, it feels like what it probably should have been stock. Thanks to everyone who figured this out/pioneered it!
06-19-19, 06:22 AM
Vise, mark, cut?
