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Just installed Tarrett front bar and drop links. Have a question
Last night I installed the 26.8mm GT3 style front bar from Tarett along with their drop links on my 987. Due to some corrosion issues, I also installed new rod ends on the steering. I took it out for a drive to make sure everything was good. At first it seemed fine. Violent inputs left to right driving at 30-35mph made no noise. I took it to a church parking lot and went almost full lock left and did a big circle, then quickly transitioned to the right and it made a bit clunk on the initial transition but fine once into the right circle. Then I transitioned to the left and it made the big clunk again on initial transition again. All subframe bolts and endlink bolts were torqued to spec.
The drop links seemed a bit long. I have their position adjusted to the second softest position on both sides and the drop link is almost as short as it can go. Does this sound normal?
With the drop links being that short, the bar only clears the control arm by maybe 3/8" when at full droop. Is this what others have experienced?
I have not put it back on the lift to look at it yet. I will do that after work today. But is there something specific I should be looking for other than signs of bar to control arm contact?
Last edited by Spectre23; 04-20-2018 at 03:50 PM.
Reason: Spelling errors
The noise is not normal. The bar may be shifting to the side at each transition. Make sure that shaft collars are up against the rubber bushings on both sides so the bar is fixed side to side. 3/8" clearance is fine at full droop. It can be less, and will increase as the suspension gets loaded up. Feel free to post or email me pictures of the install, and I'll he pappy to take a look.
I put the collars on in the same position as the stock bar before the install. But once on the car I saw there is probably a 1/4" - 3/8" total gap from collar to bushings. That's total, not per side. So could the noise be the bar shifting and the collars hitting the mounts?
Pulled it apart. I can see where one of the collars was hitting the bracket strap above the bushings. Centered the bar better, moved the collars. Wifey is out there tightening up the collar screws while I find the torques again. She's a good woman
Bar is centered, droplinks are at the same angle and slide in the holes with no forcing required. Collars are against the bushings on both sides. I couldn't get good pictures of this. I did notice that where I had the droplinks adjusted to, the rod end was hitting the sway bar at full droop and when the wheel was turned. I lengthened the links 4 full tuns. This moved the sway bar to about 3/16" away from the control arm at full droop but, as you said, it gets more clearance once the suspension is compressed. The noise is still there. It does it in both directions on initiation of the transition from one direction to the other. It makes no noise in steady state turn. Here are some pictures:
Bushing seems to be seated ok and collar against the bushing.
Very little clearance between the bar and the arm. But droplink is extended 4 turns from where it was.
You can see the mark on the bar where the arm was touching it prior to lengthening the bar.
Other side, collar against bushing, bushing seated well.
The problem has been FOUND!! Woohoo. Now for today's edition of I can't believe how stupid I am: The clunking is the battery. Yes something completely unrelated. Previous owner didn't have a battery tie down bracket on the car. battery was sliding side to side while testing the transitions. The funny part is, I checked the battery before the first autocross because I knew they would look at it. It didn't move. Tech passed it too. But at that first autocross it has a small clunking noise. I sprayed all bushings with oil before the next autocross. And the noise was gone. Now while testing the sway bar it was back. I think there is some double sided sticky tape or something on the bottom of the battery that occasionally made this not an issue. But based on the rust and dirt in the bolt hole, I would say it hasn't had a bracket for many years. It will Monday...
Just to test the theory, I duct taped some wood blocks to the battery to hold it in place while testing. All is good.
04-20-2018, 12:39 PM
Just installed Tarrett front bar and drop links. Have a question
