Installing SAS Sway Bars           

Odd stuff to have on hand:

• 18 mm socket
  • 12-point for sure
  • maybe a 6-point too
• Long chisel (12") and a hammer
• Penetrating spray
• Silicone spray
• Drill motor and 1/8" to 3/16" bit
• Scrap foam insulation board or styrofoam
• Maybe air tools, if nuts and bolts are likely to be rusted

Rear sway bar

Loosen the rear wheel bolts, jack the rear of the car and support it on jack stands  

• Jack on the central u-shaped frame member under the towing hook at the rear
• Put the jack stands under the Saab jacking points - use wood shims if the stands won't fit into the jack points.  By this I mean that if the jack stands won't fit between the guide rails that the Saab jack slides into, cut a piece wood narrow enough to fit into the opening, then put the stand under the wood piece.  If you try to support the car on the guide rails for the jack, the rails will bend and the jack won't fit into the channels in the future.

Remove the bolt and nut that secures the lower end of the shock absorber and the end of the sway bar  (Picture)

• There’s another bolt and nut that secures the trailing arm to the axel – that’s not the one you want; you want the one above it.  If the nut and bolt are reasonably rust-free, use a 12 point 18 mm socket on a breaker bar to break the nut loose, then switch to a ratchet.  A 3/8” drive gives you a bit more room to work (the cross-link bolt makes things crowded on the passenger side).  If rusted, you’ll probably need a 6-point 1/2" drive socket, a breaker bar, some penetrating oil, and maybe cutting tools or an air chisel… I understand that it can get quite ugly when salt-induced rust is involved!  Once the nut is removed, you can tap the bolt out with a hammer and long chisel.  (Picture)
  • Repeat for the other side.

Remove the 12 mm (?) bolts that secure the sway bar bushing clamps, both sides.  (Picture)  Pull the bar out.

Remove the 13 mm nuts that secure the bushing hangers to the car body.  Note their orientation, as they look backwards from each other.  If you get them in backwards it will be obvious, but correcting that mistake makes for a lot of extra work, so pay attention to how they're installed before removing them.

Now you're ready to install the new bar, but there's some prep work that needs to be done first.  The SAS rear bar requires reinforcing plates to be installed where the bushing hangers attach to the car.  To install these, you have to remove the cargo floor and, at least in 94 cars (I assume this means 93 onward, so from now on when I say 94, I mean 93 and later), you also have to pull the side carpeting away (probably true for earlier cars as well).  For the 93 >> cars, it’s easy enough.

• Remove the cargo floor: Remove the two T25 screws that secure the cargo floor.  On the 94, the screws are recessed into the floor – if you look, you’ll see them just ahead of the hinge point.  (Picture)  On pre-93 cars, they’re beneath the rear floor portion – raise the rear floor and you’ll see two screws going forward through two small brackets just ahead of the hinge point.  Remove the two screws, then remove the floor panel.  NOTE: Aeros have a telephone box secured to the bottom of the floor, so it’s best to just rotate the floor 90 degrees to get access to the outer edges of the compartment.  Or, you could just cut the box out and toss it ... not a lot of call for embedded car phones any more!
• Remove the plastic trim panel at the rear: Remove the four Torx screws (T-25?) across the bottom opening of the hatch that secure the plastic trim panel.  Pull up on the panel as you pry each of the three plastic push pins out of the cargo floor.  (Picture)
• Remove the side carpeting:
  • For 94: Starting with the left (U.S. driver's) side, remove the two plastic retainers at the inboard side of the tail light assembly (these retain the cloth).  Now you can just pull the carpeting away from one side of the cargo area – you’ll see the retainers that it pushes into at the top as you pull it away.  (Picture)  A firm tug should do it.  Fold it all the way into the center of the cargo area to expose the two silver-colored cover plates at the outer bottom.
  • For pre-93: I believe the tail light assembly has to be removed, as well as several push pins.

The forward-most cover plate covers the bolt retainers for the sway bar bushing hanger.  (Picture)  Pry the cover off and you’ll see the bolt retainer and the rivet that holds it in place.  (Picture)  You have to remove it to install the reinforcing plate, so the rivet must be drilled or chiseled out.  There isn’t much room to attack it with a chisel, so I used a drill, although, of course, the rivet wants to spin to avoid drilling.  Just drill/chisel it however you can (try jamming the rivet with the chisel as you drill it).  A 3/16” drill bit is more than enough, and the chisel can usually finish it off.  When the rivet is gone, retrieve the bolt retainer assembly (use a magnet, fingers, whatever). 

You can chisel and pry the bolt retainer open and install the longer bolts that SAS provides, but I did not find it worthwhile – too much work, not much advantage, and there’s another effective way of dealing with holding the bolt heads (addressed in a moment).  Here's a couple of pics of how I attacked the one bolt holder assembly that I re-used.  (Picture)

Install the upper reinforcing plate.  First, note that you have to position it so the holes line up properly.  Second, not that the plate will only drop into the hole one way – it’s a real Chinese puzzle!  See the picture for the proper alignment, and drop it into place.  (Picture) 

Now it's time to install the bottom reinforcing plates and the hanger brackets.  NOTE on the bottom reinforcing plates: On the 94 on the right side, I had to cut a corner off the bottom reinforcing plate, to clear a bracket on the body.  I assume this isn’t necessary on pre-93 cars. (Picture)  Also, it's not necessary on the driver's side of later model cars.

First, you have to retain those bolts on the top side: Working from the top, align the reinforcing plate’s holes with the existing holes in the body, then drop the two longer SAS bolts into the holes.  I used two or three thicknesses of pink home building insulation, the sheet type, cut just big enough to get into the hole, with the top one big enough that that I had to force it in.  That retains the bolts while you install the bottom reinforcing plate, bushing hanger and nuts on the bottom (BE SURE TO GET THE HANGER INSTALLED THE CORRECT WAY).  If the bolt turns when you try to do the final tightening, you can remove the stuff, install an open end wrench on the bolt head, then replace the stuff to hold the wrench while you tighten the nut.  (Picture)  Repeat for the other bolt.  When done, remove the stuffing and wrench, reinstall the cover plate, then reinstall the carpeting; it pushes easily into the clips along the top on the later model cars.  

Repeat all the above for the right side, bearing in mind that you’ll also have to remove the tool kit.  The carpeting must be pulled up and over the lower tool kit hooks (reach underneath the carpeting).

Now install the ends of the SAS bar to the lower shock mounts and tighten the nuts good and snug.  There must be a torque spec, but I didn't check it.  The nuts are captive, so it's probably not all that critical.

Next,  rotate the bar up and install the new poly bushings and retaining clamps.  

Make sure everything is tight.  

Reinstall the wheels, lower the car, torque the lug bolts and reinstall the wheel center caps.  Install the front SAS bar before driving the car (installing a larger rear bar without a correspondingly larger front bar will induce heavy oversteer).

Front sway bar

I don't have much on this, unfortunately.  I was so engaged in trying to wrestle the new bar in that I didn't take a lot of notes or pictures.  There's no prep work to do for the front bar; the only trick is getting it in place, and it is a trick.  Wups, there is just a bit of prep work: You need to cut the rear corner off the fender liners.  You can do this without removing the liner.  Tin snips work really well.  You don't have to remove more than the very tip of the liner.

Be advised that it's often helpful to crank the steering to one full lock or the other to help with access.  If things get tight, try cranking the steering in the opposite direction.

Loosen the front wheel bolts, jack the front of the car, put it on jack stands and remove the front wheels.

Remove the end nuts from the sway bar.  (Picture)

Remove the nuts from the bottom of the sway bar links.  Sorry, no picture, but they're the nuts on the bottom side of the suspension A-frame, the ones that hold the sway bar end links to the A-frame.  Remove each link rod from each end of the bar.

Remove the two 10 mm bolts from the bushing straps on each side.  Use a 3/8” drive ratchet.  (Picture)

You'll need to be able to move the steering rack forward, so remove the steering rack bolts.  There are only two, and it's not all that difficult.  First, put a box end wrench on the nut (19 mm, I think) on the top side, working from the wheel well opening.  (Picture)  Next, get under the car and ratchet the bolt out (17 mm, I think).  Repeat for both sides.

You also need to disconnect the tie rods from the wheel hub.  Remove the tie rod nuts (underside of the steering arm).  Now take a hammer and smack the end of the steering arm really hard a couple of times.  That should pop the tapered tie rod connection out of the steering arm; if not, hit it a couple more licks - repeat as necessary.  (Picture)

Now remove the sway bar.  Push the steering rack forward as far as it will go, then remove the sway bar from the U.S. driver's side.  (Picture)

Installing the new one was hell for me.  I can't tell you how I did it, just kept cussing and exerting force of will and trying to figure out the trick.  As I recall, the ends of the bar should point downward as you attempt to put it into position, and the steering rack must be pushed as far forward as possible.  It's another Chinese puzzle; it will go, but in the end, I can't really tell you how to do it.

Once the bar is in position, install the new bushings and bushing clamps.

The stock end links are replaced by long bolts and lots of bushings.  The trick to connecting the end bolts is to either load the suspension or pry the end of the sway bar down; I used the latter method and it worked fine.  (Picture)

Reinstall the steering rack bolts and nuts.

Reconnect the tie rods.  The stud will turn unless you force it down into the tapered hole in the steering arm.  Vice Grips work well for this.  (Picture)

Check all connections for tightness.

Reinstall the wheels, lower the car, torque the wheel nuts to 80 ft-lbs.

Driving

Be advised that the SAS bars will make oversteer (the tendency of the tail to swing out) available.  They'll reduce body lean and, hence, they'll reduce the total amount of understeer (the tendency of the front end to plow straight ahead).  The limit of traction in corners will be more subtle -  generally it will still initially show up as understeer, but it will be very close to neutral.  If you drop completely off the throttle in the midst of a serious turn, you could get into trouble with the rear end swinging out (oversteer).  That is to say, the limit doesn't show up as any particular sort of steering anomaly, it shows up more as a cornering limit.  This is a very good thing, but ultimately, precision has its price.  Which is to say, if you drive to the limit of a corner with these bars, you need to manage the throttle carefully - if you just let up in the middle of a corner at the limit of traction, you might lose it.  If you drive these bars to the limit, you'll have to let off the throttle just enough to transfer just enough weight from the front wheels to the rear, and then you'll need to be aware enough to manage that transfer.  The SAS sway bars don't make handling the car easier - they make handling the car more precise - big difference!  If you want easy, stay with the stock sway bars.  If you want near neutral handling, and the ultimate cornering and  precise management that neutral handling demands, then the SAS bars are for you.