Aspire sway bar

[Tex Law]

Looking for experienced opinions here.. Just got hold of an Aspire front sway bar. Thinking about installing it in my stock Festy with the 5/8 threaded rod in the rear beam. After doing a search, I see where some guys install the bar in the standard fashion (up & over the x member), and some guys just flip it over. Is it just personal preference or is one way in fact smarter than the other? Please advise.
Thanks,
Tex

[dragsterdave]

Well if you go over the cross member it will be really close to or be hitting on the front transmission mount. Also it will be touching your lower radiator hose , there is a right up somewhere I think on the sight. But if you go under the cross member you will need to notch it out . At least that's what I had to do , there's pics of someone doing that to .

[Bert]

My Aspire sway bar is entirely stock and goes over the cross member and hasn't given me any problems over the past 6 months. You will have to shorten the lower rad hose connection a bit (3/4 inch) and I don't know what the long term prognosis for that awkward situation is since the hose and bar still touch each other. You could install an Aspire rad but they're twice the surface area of a Festy job.
The Aspire mounting brackets are not compatible (bolt holes) with the Festy brackets (except for the cover plates) so you won't have to fuss around trying to get them loose off the Aspire. In my case the Festy bushings were in better shape than the Aspire ones so I used them instead. Only real obvious difference is in the length of the bushings; Festys are shorter.

If ever something was gratifyingly instant, the handling of the car around corners is vastly improved the moment you put one on.

Completing the connection at the lower control arms is not a dead simple operation (do this first before trying to mount the bar on to the frame) so I don't know just how it is that some folks have managed to flip the sway bar upside down for installation. Good luck.

[TominMO]

I have the Aspire bar (right side up) on my Festy, and the 5/8" threaded bar in the rear. Handles great around corners! Had to use 5mm wheel spacers in the rear, so the nuts on the ends of the bar didn't rub on my 185/60x14 tires. Wheels are Estrellas w/38mm offset.

[russian]

What about putting aspire swap bar upside down? Is not it easier, like you do not need to take the front side of the x-member? It always takes me a while to bolt x-member back...