Car: 2001 Jetta Wolfsburg Edition (1.8T)
Bar: Autotech Lightweight Rear Swaybar
Installation time: 50 minutes
Tools needed: jack, jackstands, moly grease, silicon spray, set of metric wrenches, set of metric sockets, drill, 10mm drill bit
Installation
The Autotech Lightweight Rear Swaybar comes with the following: bar, 2 long bolts, 2 bar mounts with moveable joints, and 2 bar mounts with fixed studs. Below is a picture of all the included parts, with one bar mount already in position on the bar.
We began by jacking up the car, getting it up on jackstands, and laying out all of the parts and tools needed.
We sprayed the silicon lube on the bar, and slid the bar mounts with the fixed studs onto the bar at the ends of the straight section. The directions state that the measurement should be around 29" -- but the most we could get was 25.5"
We measured 12 3/4" out on each side from the center of the torsion beam, about 1.5 inches from the leading edge of it as per the directions. This is where we'd drill the holes. This required using a smaller drill first before moving up to the larger 10mm drill. (My father is the one drilling)
I had heard that drilling the torsion beam was really hard -- that was everyone's reason for wanting Neuspeed rear bars. Drilling the two holes took less than 2 minutes total with a regular drill.
Next we removed the lower shock bolts. Because the car was on jackstands, the weight of the rear suspension and wheels was being held up by the shocks. This made removing the bolt a little harder. We decided to hold up the wheel a little bit to get some tension off the bolt.
Once the bolts were removed, the rear suspension REALLY hangs. Now would be a good time to install new rear springs.
Now we're ready to insert the new longer lower shock bolts, and the rear bar mounts. This required lifting the tire again -- we used our props from above.
Here's a shot of the bar ready to be installed. The bar mounts that are on there were coated with moly grease prior to their assembly onto the bar. It might be nice if any of the manufacturers put grease fittings on those parts.
The bar was put into place, and all of the attachment points were tightened down and checked for alignment.
This is a shot of the car finished, and still up on jackstands.
Here is a picture of the completed install with the car off the jackstands. Stealth!
