Aspire VS Fetiva swaybars -- with pics!

[Damkid]

my parts car has the aspire sway bar installed, i never took it off or i never installed it, the next time i'm out there (possibly today) i'll take a few pics

[F3BZ]

Nate doesn,t mention it but is the aspire bar pictured from a manual or ATX car? there is a different part# for each (but bracket and clamp nos. are the same). could the ATX bar be even thicker still?

[skeeters_keeper]

I'm pretty sure the bars are the same "depth", so the susp geometry shouldn't be affected, but that is one measurement i didn't make! undfortunetly i don't have a festiva bar off of a car so i won't be able to confirm that they are identical.


Also, my bar is off of a manual car (well it was in the back of a manual parts car, the guy has 3 aspires all manual so i'd assume its a manual). Not sure about the difference from manual to auto but I highly doubt that they are of a different thickness.

[Rumnhammer]

mounting brackets

Make sure that you go easy with those ES brackets, others on here have tried them and because they shift back and forth due to having slots instead of single holes. This causes the bar to move under load.
Yes the brackets mount up good, but it doesn't do you any good if they keep shifting back and forth. I have these too, and what i did to solve the problem, because I wanted to keep the bushings, was to cut the bushings down until they fit in the stock swaybar brackets. That way you get the best of both, the brackets stay in place and you still get to use the urethane bushings.
Chris Rummel

[FB71]

I used the ES bushings and brackets, but I welded heavy washers to the brackets to keep the bracket from shifting.

[IdealSociety]

i did have the moving bushing problem, so beware anyone without a stock motor! they WILL shift unless you mod them somehow as FB71 above has^^^

[Damkid]

i did not know that.... i'll have to look into this

[skeeters_keeper]

i did not know that.... i'll have to look into this

I hadn't heard of this either, and have had no problems so far... I'll have to keep my eyes on it though and perhaps make a bracket if they do move.

[elcamino1]

Had them in for about 3000 miles without any problems.
But I'll keep an eye on them.

[Collin3388]

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16645

just did the swap....its a little iffy since you have to force the mounts up to fit in....its so incredibly close that forcing it didnt seem like it would be a problem....and i got it up and over that tranny cross member but it fits snug up against the radiator mount and the motor/tranny mount

the improvements are well worth the 10 bucks and 1 1/2 hour to install