ZCAT3

So this brings me to my final question - I presume that shortening the effective length of the sway bar "tightens" it up - in which case I would move the drop links toward the rear of the car to tighten the bars?

jhunt@huntinter

The closer the drop links are to the cross bar the tighter it is. The more the two sides of the car are tied together and the less lean. Start with both in the middle or a bit looser. Then adjust from there, hopefully at the track.

ZCAT3

I have a track day in a week - I was not planning on taking the 930, but maybe I will just to do a tuning session.

ZCAT3

Hey Guys - I got everything back together and went for my first test drive. Everything feels good, but at low speeds you can hear what I presume is the front sway bar literally clunking around as I hit bumps. It is quite pronounced and not what you would expect in a high end sports car - not to mention that my wife will kill me if this is the result of this project. Is this normal - I hope not? Presuming it is not, what do you suggest? I would guess that it is the inside U collars (see picture above) hitting the inside mount as the suspension moves slightly side to side at slow speeds. As suggesteded by TRG I set these as tight as I could against the inside of the inner mounting collars, but I would guess there is some slight play. Please tell me I can make this noise stop???

jhunt@huntinter

Before you do anything else try squirting the joints with WD-40. If that fixes it (and it does on mine for a few weeks at a time) then you might consider getting rubber jackets for the joints and filling it with grease.

John

ZCAT3

John - what joints are you talking about? The holes / collars where the sway bars pass through?

I test drove the car after I had installed only the rear bars and did not hear any noise at that time.

jhunt@huntinter

Those have nylon sleeves and shouldn't clunk. Try the WD on the heim joints.

ZCAT3

Well I thought it might be tight with the gas tank and apparently it is. I just went through everything again - pulling off the drop links and outer collars and it is all good. The bar slides smoothly in the collars with no preload and all fittings are tight. I just had my wife drive around the block slowly while I ran along and listened at both wheels. No noise at all from outside the car. I then opened the trunk lid and draped myself over the fender while she drove along by Braille and I listened to the inside of the trunk. The noise is coming from the gas tank - it is the bar flexing slightly and banging the tank. The bar runs so close to the tank that I cannot even slide a piece of paper in there.

jhunt@huntinter

Now that is a very funny picture I have in my brain ROTFLMAO... driving by braille

BJJones

Hi Bill

Can you not slacken off the tank securing bolt, move it foward, get some sort of padding between the two and then put the tank back in place?

Or how about a stainless fuel cell? with more clearance, I know a place in the UK that knocks them up for about £150 GBP

Geoffrey

Bill,

Are you doing our Hudson Valley Region DE at Lime Rock March 31? If so, maybe we can get together and I can help get your car sorted out. My bar (27mm) has 1/4" clearance to the fuel tank, I wonder why yours is so close?

ZCAT3

Thanks Guys - I did drill exactly in the center of the circle marked in the fender by the 3 impressions put there by the factory. I do believe I have some wiggle room to move the tank forward a bit and can probably also add some padding there. I will look at that this morning. Driving wise the car felt great - but with only a few gallons of gas in the tank, the clunks from the bar echo quite a bit. It is weird as the car is totaly silent from outside - all the noise goes right to the passengers.

Geoffrey - I wish I could be at Lime Rock - having grown up in Webster I sometimes miss my NY roots. But it is quite a drive from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Geoffrey

For some reason I though you were in NJ. I guess I missed your location - DOH!

ZCAT3

Well I pulled the gas tank forward and probably now have 1/4 inch clearance - it made no difference. It certainly seems like the sound is coming from the tank and the car bumps along - could something have come loose inside the tank that is now banging around in there?

EDIT: I just went through it again - it is definitely the bar itself slopping around in the mount. I wonder if the mount and bar do not match as they should? You can walk along with the car while someone else drives and hold your hand on the bar and feel it moving around and hear it making clunking noises. The other thing that is interesting is that the collar studs on one of the front mounts were longer than the other.

jhunt@huntinter

did you do the wd40 test yet?