ID'ing Eibach Springs and Sway Bars

[Mike Kunz]

Hey,

The PO of my car installed Eibach springs on my car and I cannot tell what they are rated at. The original receipt from Performance indicates "Eibach 914 HD Springs - HDS-1E". Any ideas?

Also...now that I am in there, I thought about upgrading to a front and rear sway bar setup. I have a friend who wants to make me a deal on some OEM bars out of a 73 wreck for which I'll have to buy new bushings. Was there a stock diameter setup...i.e. are they all the same? If so, what was it and should I rather go for something different. Open to all recommendations here!

One more thing!...In taking my springs apart, I noticed that the bump stops were shot. Pelican says that only available from Porsche at $41 ea. Other ideas?

Thanks!!

Mike

[Bleyseng]

Stock sway bars are IMHO too small, so get a 19mm front bar thats adjustable if you can afford it.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Stock sway bars were all the same diameter. I think it was 15mm front and 16mm rear. (Uhh, I think...)

For the springs, you can either hunt up contact info for Eibach (or the shop that the reciept is from) and ask them, or you can dig out a scale and your old set of free-weights. And a ruler. Put a spring on the scale, and stand the bar of the weight set in the middle. Note the weight shown, note the height of the spring. Stack 50 lbs of weight on the spring, note the actual weight reading and the height of the spring. Stack another 50 lbs of weight onto the spring (the bar is there to keep the weights from slipping off) and measure again. Repeat until you run out of weights or get tired of doing this.

The spring rate is in lbs/inch. So subtract the weight of the bare spring & bar from whatever the noted actual weight is at a given height. That gives you the "lbs" part. Subtract the measured height from the initial height. That gives you the "inch" part. Pull out your calculator and divide--there's the spring rate. Do that for all the measurements and average to reduce any measurement errors--or to see if you have a non-linear spring rate.


Oh, and the aftermarket adjustable sway bar is not a bad idea. The stock front bar is fine if the rest of the suspension is stock, but may be a bit small if you have a non-stock suspension. I wouldn't bother with the rear bar, as it is only so-so in terms of benefit (some like it and some don't) and it is a pain to weld on the brackets and reinforcements. More effort than it's worth IMHO.

--DD