Rear MSA sway bar installation question
 

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum, but have been a lurker on z31performance for a number of years. I'm almost done my z31 project but have run into a bump on the rear MSA sway bar install, which I thought would have been a lot more straight forward.

I purchased MSA front and rear sway bars some years ago for my 86tand I was running only the front MSA bar while I left the back one stock. After refinishing my rear subframe and adding an LSD, I’m ready to install the rear bar.

So so I got under the car yesterday and I had some initial obervations. Firstly, the new bracket holes didn’t quite fit on the mounting studs on the rear crossmember. 30 seconds of light filing and they cleared the studs easily. Then, I had a hell of a time getting everything up and bolts started and needed to use a jack to help, which I guess isn’t so unexpected. But when I took a closer look, it seems as though the sway bar makes contact with the crossmember not to far away from the mount closer to the centre of the car. Is it supposed to touch like that? Hopefully the pics below work.

https://imgur.com/4fp0HuZ

https://imgur.com/78zbFUG

https://imgur.com/a/LhVmPtL

https://imgur.com/a/2yQ5bPb

https://imgur.com/a/HQ3vmqI

The other things is that it looks like the bar bushing doesn’t quite come together completely and deforms slightly when I tighten it all the way. Is this normal?

in any case, it’s installed and the mounts just needs to be snugged up before I install the end links. I don’t remember if the bars came with instructions but I’m pretty sure I lost them.

I referenced an image of another rear sway bar on the net and it shows the ends of the bar that connect to the end links sweeping up, not down, as seen here:

https://imgur.com/a/lLjP4bP

Does anyone have a picture of a rear MSA sway bar installed for a reference? What am I missing here, I'm scratching my head.

Thanks!