Here is how you put a ITR sway bar on a 90-93 interga. The reason for doing this is to stiffen up the ride and man it really does. The stock sway bar is 14mm and the ITR is 22mm, so there is a big difference.
First you’ll need to drain all the gas from the tank, jack the car up so its even and take off the stock sway bar.
The Second thing we did (emphasis on we because you’ll need two people for most of the install) was take out the rear seats to locate the fuel pump. Disconnect the fuel pump, unscrew the cover and there should be another connection to disconnect.
Under the car there’ll be some other different connections that will need to be disconnected. Place a jack under the gas tank to support it and remove the two holding straps that secure the tank. Note: I had to use a board along with the jack to get enough surface area to support the gas tank. You also have to remove the cover over the other gas lines.
After the straps are removed you can begin to lower the tank, but DON’T LOWER IT ALL THE WAY! Lower it until you can see the gas line that feeds into the tank through a banjo bolt. You’ll have to remove that banjo bolt and the line to remove the tank. Be careful to save the two crush washers on the banjo bolt incase replacements are not available in your area. It is best to replace them, but they can be reused if absolutely necessary. Same goes for the crush washer on the gas tank drain plug.
Now with the tank removed you’ll have a plethera of room to work under the car and enough clearance to drill the holes for the D-brackets. The steel plates were made slightly bigger than the brackets themselves and used the brackets to line up where the holes in the shims should be. There are in total, four shims and I painted them to help reduce rusting. If you look at the sub-frame next to where the lower control arm bolts to, you’ll see a hole that is already there. That will be the location of the lower bolt for the D-bracket. Using the shims as a template, align the lower hole with the pre-existing hole in the subframe and use spray paint to mark where each hole will be drilled. Do this on both sides of the subframe. I cannot remember the drill bit size, but it was big enough to allow clearance for the bolts for the D-brackets. We had to buy new hardware since the bolts that came with the sway bar were too short after adding the shims. Be sure to buy grade 8 hardware to ensure that it’s strong enough to withstand hard cornering.
After the holes have been drilled it is pretty easy. Don’t forget to place the D-bracket bushings on the sway bar and the endlink bushings on before installation. To make it easier, connect the endlinks and then bolt in the D-brackets. After the sway bar is installed you just have to reinstall the fuel tank and connect all fuel lines and electrical lines. You can install the backseat if you want or you can drive around without it for awhile and feel like a real racer.
Overall, the difference that adding this sway bar made was unbelievable. It was like night and day and it really helped tie together the suspension. If you have any questions feel free to post them here or pm me. Well, that’s it. Here is a link to where I got the parts. You will have to email them and tell them what you need. http://www.ahfmotorsports.com/ The steel plates are alittle hard to come by but you should beable to go to a machine shop or some where like Ditch Wench to get them made. A friends dad made mine for me.
How long did the install take? Also around how much was it total? What other suspension mods have you done… and what order would you recommend doing them.
It took about 7-8hrs, but we stopped to eat lunch and had to go to Napa b/c we got to long of bolts. To be honest not to sure on the price b/c I order a few extra stuff. I think with the bolts from Napa and the parts from http://www.ahfmotorsports.com/ it came to maybe $110-$110. All I have as far as suspension is Skun2 coilovers that I put on about 4 days later. Befor that I had sprint springs. I have stock struts but here in the next few weeks I plan on ordering some Tokica illumina’s from this place. The most time taking part is drilling holes so that they are even and putting on the main gas line in step 4. That line is a pain. I hope everything goes good, feel free to ask any more questions you may have.
is it necessary to remove the gas tank like that?? is the gas tank really that close to the other side you drilled for the brackets???
where did you find those bushings?
can you list what you need for the install…
i was consider doing this…but i might just get an ST(19mm) sway since its a direct bolt-on:)
Yes you have to remove the gas tank, if you dont you cant drill the holes on the other side of the sub frame. I got all the hardware for the sway bar from the site I posted up. You just have to email them on what you need. Which is a ITR sway bar and hardwar. Now you wont use the bolts they send you for the D-brackets, that’s were the bolts from a parts store come in place. Look at the last few pix.
I can’t see one reason to remove the gas tank. I installed an ITR on my car nearly a year ago and it took less than 4 hours of total work. It’s not requisite to have the bottom bolt to go all the way through. Here’s some excerpts from my original HT post:
In this pic (sorry about the blur), you can get an idea of how I shimmed the OEM ITR D-bracket in order to space it the proper distance so the endlinks function correctly. The shims are made of 1/4" aluminum plates (to cut some weight) sandwiched between 3/8" steel plates (for added strength).
Unfortunetly, I had to use a few washers to shim the lower part of the plate shims to make everything flush. Some sort of bushing or collar here would be advisable, and I may change that around in the future.
I then drilled the holes through the subframe, using the D-brackets as a guide.
A profile shot of how well everything lines up. The top bolts go all the way through the subframe, and are reinforced on the opposite side with another 1 1/2" x 4" steel plate of 3/8" thickness (the barely visible blue plate near the exhaust pipe). This is, I think, the key to this install.
The bottom bolt could go all the through, but I chose to simply use a large, heavy on the inside of the subframe. I had to grind away the threaded hole for the ABS line bracket to get the lower bolt to sit flush inside the subframe.
About as good a pic of the endlinks as I can get. From what I’ve read, you want them to be as perpendicular to the ground as possible When the D-brackets are shimmed, the endlinks are in the correct position.
Well I’m so happy for you that you didnt take out the gas tank, but I dont see how you couldnt. Unless you have very small hands and used small studs. It made it much easier for use to remove our tanks when we did ours.
i’ve got a suspension techniques rear sway bar (the front is on back order :mad:) and it’s the exact same thickness if i’m not mistaken - 22mm correct me if i’m wrong - and it just bolts right up, no unnessary removing of the gas tank, no unnecessary shimming… why not just get an aftermarket one that is DESIGNED for ease of installation?? (as easy as anything will install of coursel lol)
still… props to you for going thru all that hassel!
I got the ITR one for a little less then a aftermarket one, saved about $30 but it did take longer then just getting an aftermarket that would have bolted right up. After I drove in my buddy’s teg with ITR sway bar I wonted it on mine. I still love it and by this time next year my gen2 will be a track car only. I hope to have it meet SCCA rules, so that I can race in SCCA club races.
will the JDM itr rear sway work as well? its 23mm instead of 22mm…
my main concern is the exhaust piping clearance. From the original pics, the sway bar was installed one way, and the other guy installed it upside down of it? which is correct???
JDM will fit. exaust may cause a problem if its a custom job. I’ll post pix up inthe next few days on mine. I need to get it fixed but I dont want to spend the money.
