Front Sway bar bracket installation
 

What are the tricks to getting the front sway bar brackets back onto the carI I have the bar in the new bushings and the ends in each A Arm. I can easily attach the brackets to the brace bar with the small bolt but when you tighten those down (what torque value if any?) a large gap is formed between the bracket and the body brace that are supposed to line up with the belly pan hole. Can you take a clamp and squeeze those back together? how do you line it all up so you can reinstall that hex head bolt when you put on the belly pan. Do you have to pry the sway bar forward to get all the holes to line up? Surely some you have some favorite tricks that make this job easier.

I recall it is easier to get the bolts to line up when the car is very low to the ground rather than jacked up (you have to do the bolts from the side, not from under the car).

So I guess I can jack up each ball joint to act like the car was on the ground since the car is on jack stands until I get this suspension job completed.

I forgot to to say that my car is an '87 Carrera.

I am absolutely no help :-)).
I had the same problem and cheated.
After I did my front suspension and did my own Toe adjustment, I took it to be aligned and asked the mechanic to handle it (get the belly pan back on).

I could coax it together to get the sway bushing bracket in, but not when I wanted to get the belly pan on. (since the pan blocks sway bar adjustment).

maybe try having her down off the jacks as suggested?

Place the front on car ramps.

Use a + Screw driver to align, but be careful not to damage the threads

A helper would be nice to have to hold in place or use a jack stand like I did.

Jim