This is for the 1994-1997 DX, LX Accords. The 5th gen EX came with a rear sway bar, while DX, LX models did not. A sway bar is sometimes called a stabalizer bar in some of the shop manuals. This project shouldn't take more than 4 hours if you have the right tools.

<U>Parts Needed</U>

-- 1994-1997 EX rear sway bar from Junkyard
-- 6 bolts that should come with the sway bar (10 mm w/ 1.25 thread)
-- End linkage
-- 6 lock washers from Ace Hardware, Home Depot, etc...

Cost: ~ $70

<U>Tools Needed</U>

-- Electric Drill
-- Torque Wrench
-- Socket wrench w/ 12mm and 14mm sockets
-- 12 mm and 14 mm wrenches
-- Tapping bit -- 10mm w/ 1.25 thread
-- ~8.7 mm or 8.8 mm metal drill bit w/ self drilling pilot hole
-- motor oil
-- Helmes, Haynes, Chiltons or some other shop manual
-- Pencil or Marker

<U>Procedure</U>

Get sway bar from junkyard. Check the quality of the bushings, looking for cracking or other signs of wear. Replace if needed. May sure you get the 6 bolts that are for mounting the bar to the body.

Installation:

1.) Jack up rear of car and place on jackstands.

2.) Remove rear wheels. Makes things a little easier, but not required.

3.) Take the jack and put a cloth on the end of it. Put the jack underneith the muffler. Remove the muffler from the exhaust hangers, so that the muffler rests on the jack stand. Also remove the exhaust from the hanger near the front of the right rear wheel. Lower the jack until the exhaust will not drop any further. Mine dropped about 3". This is optional, but very helpful.



4.) Take the sway bar, and disconnect the end linkage from the actual "bar". Place the two bolts and two nuts aside where you won't lose them.

5.) Luckily, the sway bar will mount to already existing holes on the trailing arm. The hole should look like a circle, but with a flat spot.


This is a view from the outside of the car, looking through my rear driver's side wheel.


This is a view from underneith the car.

Attach the "end linkage" to the hole. You'll be able to tell which way to put it in. Having a shop manual will be very handy right now. After you put it in, it should look like this from the outside of the car.



6.) Have a , because this next part gets annoying as hell.

7.) The reason we lowered the exhaust is so that it makes it easier to manuver the sway bar into the correct position on the passenger's side. This may take acouple of minutes of guess and check. Be patient. Try to use the pictures provided here and your shop manual to determine how to allign it.

8.) Now that the sway bar is in the general area of where it needs to be, re-connect it back to the end linkage with the bolt and nut you set aside earlier. Only finger tighten, because you'll have to disconnect it later. Repeat on other side of car.



9.) Now, get your pen/pencil out. Manuver the body bracket on the sway bar so that it "fits" the best onto the body. Once again, you'll be able to tell when you're looking at it. Use the shop manual and the pictures here to help you.



Take your pen/pencil and outline the circles for the mounting bracket onto the body. Repeat on other side of car.

10.) Have another brewski, because now you're going to hate me.

11.) After you marked the circles onto the body, disconnect the sway bar from the end linkage, and set the sway bar aside somewhere. Get the ~8.8mm drill bit, the drill, and the motor oil out. Because you're drilling through metal with a metal bit, dip the bit into the motor oil every now and then to help with the heat. Drill all 3 holes. Be patient. Stop every 15 seconds to remove the metal shavings from the bit.

12.) After you've drilled all 3 holes, switch bits to the "10mm tapping bit." This is the most critical part of the install. If your drill has multiple clutch settings, set it on a medium to low torque setting. It is very, very, VERY important that you go extremely slow here. Dip the bit into the motor oil. Drill very slowly, every 10 seconds stop and remove the shavings. This is extremely important. "Taping" is a procedure that allows you to create "threads" so the bolt can attach to the body. If you go too fast, you'll strip the threads and the bolt will just spin, and then you're **** OUT OF LUCK. Repeat for all 3 holes, and on the other side of car. After you "tap" each hole, test it to make sure it is now threaded with one of the bolts you got from the junkyard with the sway bar.




This is what a tapping bit looks like.

13.) If the bolt threaded through all 6 holes, horray! That's the hardest part. Now, reinstall the sway bar to the end linkage. Finger tighten. Now, get the 6 bolts and put a lock washer on each one. Allign the sway bar body brackets over the holes, and thread the 6 bolts with lock washers. Finger tighten.

14.) Get your torque wrench and torque all bolts to about 25-30 lb-ft. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN the 6 bolts that attach the sway bar to the body. You don't want to strip them after all this work you've just done.

15.) Rehang exhaust onto hangers. Remove from jack stands, lower car. Clean up your mess, because you probably dripped oil somewhere.

16.) Go use your butt dyno to see how it feels. I noticed a lot less body roll taking sharp turns fast, and also the rear end wanted to stay planted, instead of slide out.

That's it! A cheap upgrade for us DX and LX people that weren't bling bling enough to get an EX.

Full gigantic high-resolution pictures are available here of the install

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4290505879&idx=8

You're final result should look like this:





[Modified by paul9luap, 4:26 PM 3/19/2003]

 

good post man. and mad props on the wal-mart mvp hydro jack. got one of those myself (along with the jack stands that came with it).

 

good god...the suspension techniques bar is sooooooooo much easier to install.


nice writeup!

 

nice nice... ... though i will upgrade to a st sway myself

 

Yeah, this was defintly the harder way to go, but it was also the cheaper way to go. I was just browsing a local junkyard and they had 95 EX just laying there, and I was like what the hell, let's try it.

 

Props
sound like a plan for 5th gen ppl.
lol our 6th gen 4banger got this one off easy


[Modified by iam7head, 8:10 AM 3/18/2003]