Well so far we've come up with 2 options. Disconnect it, or Leave it be. In an attempt to make the car a bit tail happy (everyone should agree a loose car is a fast car) we have removed an end link on the front sway bar of SleeperSE's maxima. The car currently has Koni's and Eibach Prokits with 2nd gen RX-7 wheels and Azenis. Soon it will have some camber plates as well as 16x7.5's and 17x7.5's. It's going to receive the 1st non front sway bar autox as soon as sunday sooo. Before he goes wirling into the unknown of a car that turns in REALLY well I thought I should pop on and ask if anyone has tried autoxing with out a front sway bar before. In our prelim testing on the street it still didnt' feel overly tail happy it just felt eager to turn in. Almost like my S2000. But if it's handling is remotely similar to the S2000 it's eager to turn in on the street but SUPER tail happy on the track. We are hoping for similar results on the Maxima. Warn us if it's dangerous, If not I'll report back next week.

Also in the plans if this works. Complete removal of the bar and Battery relocation to the trunk, and Possible costume springs as well as re-valved konis (a little stiffer rear compression should do the trick). We're gonna make this thing competetive if it kills us.

Happy New Year!

Can't say I've disconected yet but I have considered it. I thought removing it might actually contribute to a bit more front body roll. And of course more pressure on the outside. And perhaps wheelspin on the inside.

That setup's identical to mine. Koni+Eibach+16x7.5" on Azenis. I wish you safety and good luck next weekend.

What about increasing the diamater of the rear stock bar slightly instead? (in addition to the optional RSB of course)

P.S. I thought the Koni's for our application were sealed and couldn't be revalved?

I was under the impression all koni's could receive valving. We'd like more rear bar but hopefully removal of the front bar and cranking up the rebound will do the trick. Removal of the front bar will be minus 20lbs or so of front weight plus battery to the trunk this could result in almost 70lbs off the front wheels. With some serious camber and the rebound cranked up I'm not tooo worried about inside wheel spin. However if it happens then our back up plan is to stagger the tire size and attempt to modify the rear sway bar to make it stiffer. Still relocating as much weight to the rear is Number one task. Worse comes to worse we'll throw some sand bags in the trunk. The scary thought is the car felt more nimble with the stock suspension/rear sway bar then it does currently. With the stock suspension we had it to the point were a slight tire stagger would allow the car to be quite tossible. Now it's deffently not, even thought it does have alot more grip. However we belive the key to good lap times on an autox course is a tossible car so I'm determined to get it back. I hate to start playing with spring rates but we just might go that far.

Bad news. SleeperSE has come down with a sickness. I'll be driving the S2000 tomorrow and the "sway bar test" will proceed next weekend.

Disconnecting the front bar will make it easier to put power down on corner exit, since you've shifted more of the lateral weight transfer to the rear. Assuming that you don't run out of rebound travel on the inside front, anyway. Flip side is that you get more body roll, which brings with it more +camber gain and the need for more static -camber and/or static +caster. Gain here, lose there, I guess, and the overall effect could well be course-specific.

Corners connected by straights (however short) are one thing. Let us know how well this approach copes with slaloms.

Norm

Assuming you have the adjustable Stillen unit in the rear, you can relocate it as far as 1" (or more) in FRONT of the beam if you desire more oversteer. Jay Lee has his `99SE 5-speed (Eibach/Koni, FSTB, Stillen RSB, etc.) setup like that (RSB ~1" in front of the beam), and he says on the street, it could be really dangerous.

It serves him quite well on the track, though.

Is his RSB even farther forward than this?

Greg's RSB
I was gonna try to reposition my ADDCO (if possible) more forward before loosning or disconnecting the FSB.
Guess there's only one way to find out the daily danger

Yes, Jay Lee's RSB has about 1" of space between the beam and the sway bar itself.

I'll try to get pics, but he's busy as heck right now with a new business.

It's definitely NOT under the axle at all. I don't know how far you could adjust an Addco, I've only installed two of those, and I thought the only adjustability was in where you clamped the two ends of the bar itself. From the design of the Addco's mounting system I didn't think you could move the bar itself, just 2 of the clamps...?

Though I've never disconnected the front swaybar, I can say that with my stillen RSB set about 1/2 inch forward of the rear beam the rear end gets quite happy around a road course and the occasional highway interchange.... I can rotate the car absolutely at will, it's really a great feeling and quite fun.

I'll take a look at it but I believe it's about as far forward as we can hope for. Matt made a comment to me yesterday that he loves the disconnected front bar and that even if it's scary to autox the turn in on the street is soo nice he wants to keep it off. The camber plates came in earlier this week we are considering installing them tonight. Who'd done it. How big a job is it?

Never done camber plates but I have removed/replaced the front struts, and it's pretty easy if you're reasonably mechanically skilled. Just takes time- Lordrandall and I did the front struts on a gen4 in about 2 hours.

Quick note on the plates settings. I found sliding the struts in or out to an extreme setting caused some binding of the Eibach springs. Could be age or just the design. They work best for me away from the edges. Use whatever play you have in the upper strut bolts to compensate - or repl w smaller diam bolts

Get the JIC FLT-A2s, True Coilover, 15 way adjustable, Builtin Camber Plates, Height Adjustable independant of the spring perch which means full damper travel. Check my home page for pics.

Any updates on the FSB removal?

- For an update, go to "The Great FSB Experiment" on this forum.