Sway bar question

[driftdevil]

How will the FM sways affect the handling of my car? I've got the AGXs and eibachs on it already. And how much will putting these on jack up my alignment?

[Miatamoto]

How will the FM sways affect the handling of my car? I've got the AGXs and eibachs on it already. And how much will putting these on jack up my alignment?

It should help prevent body roll and I'm not sure how it will effect the balance of the car. Somebody else will have to chime in on that.

It shouldn't mess with the alignment at all.

[driftdevil]

sweet. I'm going to pickup an FM cat and RB mid pipe for $175 (all I have to do is get a muffler setup) and the guy has a set of FM sways for $160.

[POS Racing]

Make sure it's the correct set of FM Sway Bars for your car.

1990-93 sizes are 7/8" front and 5/8" rear. 1994-05 sizes are 1" front and 5/8" rear. These sizes are typically not harsh enough to cause damage to the stock swaybar mounting points.

[driftdevil]

They're coming off a 94M

[POS Racing]

They're coming off a 94M

So would those be the correct size for you 1992 Miata??

1990-93 sizes are 7/8" front and 5/8" rear.

[driftdevil]

They're
Front= 1"
rear=5/8
How much of a diff will that make?

[POS Racing]

They're
Front= 1"
rear=5/8
How much of a diff will that make?

Quite a bit since they are not the correct ones for a '90-'93 car.

Actually I'm not 100% sure why they offer 2 different configurations for the 90-90 and 94-97 cars, but there has to be a good reason, I loved the 7/8" bar that I had on the front of my '92.

You may want to ask Flying Miata before you piss away cash.

[driftdevil]

Nice to know. Thanks for the heads up. Just found out the mid pipe will work but the cat is diff.

[POS Racing]

Nice to know. Thanks for the heads up. Just found out the mid pipe will work but the cat is diff.

The 90-93 1.6 Liter cars are different in several ways over the 94-97 1.8 liter cars.

[driftdevil]

I'm still finding that out. I wish they were the same I keep finding 1.8 parts.

[POS Racing]

I'm still finding that out. I wish they were the same I keep finding 1.8 parts.

[driftdevil]

More like

At least the mid pipe will fit 90-95

[Miatamoto]

Driftdevil, let me know if the guy will sell the FM cat by itself and how much.

[Sharpie]

Nice to know. Thanks for the heads up. Just found out the mid pipe will work but the cat is diff.

The front flange of the cat is different for 94+

Bret has some great stuff he's parting out. I emailed him about the torsen, but can't afford it right now. My dad was looking at that mid-pipe too.

[Titus]

The 1.6 cat has the same size rear flange as the 1.8 but the front flange is smaller on the 1.6.

If you plan on buying the mid-pipe, be aware that it will only work with a Racing Beat muffler. Your stock exhaust is one piece from the cat back, including midpipe and muffler. While most companies use a separate mid-pipe and muffler, they don't follow any sort of standard that allows compatibility. Furthermore, I believe that Racing Beat is the only company that actually sells the midpipes as a seperate piece.

[Miatamoto]

Buy the midpipe and get a muffler shop to make you a muffler section. It should be pretty cheap.

[Titus]

More on the sway bar compatability:

The shape of the 94-97 1.8 front swaybars are identical to the front 1.6 bars with the exception of the length of the bar after the bend for the endlinks, the 94-97 is about 3/4" longer (the rears are the same). -> |______|
If you have a 1.6 aftermarket bar that is 3 position adjustable you might be able to use it in a 1.8 chassis if you get lucky and the outer most mounting hole (soft position) will match up with length of the 1.8. A 1.8 bar in a 1.6 chassis would be the opposite using the inner most (stiffest position). Since you will be using the last adjustment position you'll loose the adjustability feature though. Otherwise, to install a front 1.8 bar on a 1.6 car you can redrill a new hole approx 3/4" closer to the bend (always compare and measure.) Most of the aftermarket bars have enough of a flat mounting surface to support the new hole, otherwise you might have to put the bar on a bench grinder to make the flat mounting area larger. This works fine on a solid bar but a hollow bar may not have enough meat in that area for that to work. (again, always compare and measure).

[Treibenschnell]

After I get my car together, you're more than welcome to come by and drive my car... I've got the front FM sway.

[icepenguin66]

More on the sway bar compatability:

hmm...interesting info you posted there. So why the heck are they different lengths? Are the control arms different? I didn't realize the 1.8 M1's had different sway bar mounting positions.

As far as affecting the handling...not completely sure if this is right or if I have it backwards, but I believe increasing the rear bar induces understeer and a larger front bar induces oversteer. Only if I could find that Grassroots mag with the "How to set up your suspension" article!