Aspire sway bar in a BP Festiva

[Jasin]

Anyone put an Aspire sway bar in a BP Festiva? I assume it would be same as in a 1.3 but I was just wondering.

[elcamino1]

It will fit,engine size don't matter!

[Jasin]

OK!

[neanderpaul]

Mine are both in. We had to make a near solid front motor mount.

[Jasin]

It won't work right without cutting away some of the front mount then?

[skeeters_keeper]

"some" is an understatement... making it fit with the BP + G25 is a lot harder than with the B3/B6/BP and festiva trans (its not the motor that makes the difference, its the trans).


If you're using the festiva trans, no problems (although I and several others have modified our front trany mounts anyway to make it fit a little better), if your using the G25... its a little more difficult. We have the mount made for the G25 with the aspire swaybar, but since the swap isn't running yet we can't report on just how well it worked, but it should be OK. to give you an idea: we used a rear EGT trans mount, cut and drilled the Xmember, bent, twisted, then welded two pieces of 1"x1/4" steel, and added a 6" long bolt with spacers, and have < 1/8" of clearance in about 4 places (hence the solid ploly mount Paul mentioned). If you have a cable clutch G series trans it'll be a little easier, but still harder than the festiva trans.

[Jasin]

Great info thanks

[ejp2fast]

do all aspires have sway bars?

[oxbrain]

I can't see how stiffening the front sway bar would do anything but hurt cornering ability.

[FestYboy]

^^ what!?!?! ummm wow


i'll walk away from that

[FB71]

I can't see how stiffening the front sway bar would do anything but hurt cornering ability.

you got it bass-akwards... stiffer swaybar = better cornering

[festivaWES]

lol only half of the aspires had front sway bars then other half had torsion (sp) bars

[oxbrain]

you got it bass-akwards... stiffer swaybar = better cornering

The aspire rear beam shifts weight to the outside rear in a corner, reducing bodyroll and allowing the inside front tire to do more work. The combination of reduced rear traction(one tire is doing more of the work) and increased front traction(more even work load) balances the understeer built into the festiva. With the aspire rear beam and sufficiently stiff springs the bodyroll is minor enough to have no effect on the suspension, increasing overall grip compared to a stock suspension. Stiffening the front swaybar will off balance the car, causing more understeer and reducing the overall grip of the car.

You might feel quicker turn-in, which would definitely make the car feel faster.

[Silv3rBull3t]

BOOYA oxbrain nailed it! Personally I wouldn't do it. The Festiva tends to understeer even moreso than most FWD's and putting a stiffer front bar I personally think would only make it worse. Alot of FWD AutoX cars do NOT run a front bar at all... Just some food for thought. -Kyle

[Teqnyck]

^^^ What he said.