Contour SVT rear sway bar install

[blackshine007]

I was doing some work on a Contour oneday and I decided to look up under the car to see exactly how big their sway bars are, being that ours are very mimiscule in comparison to practically anyone's car. So when I got up under, I noticed that their sway bar looks almost like a carbon copy of ours, but thicker. So my project for this weekend since I had a $40 credit was to Find a contour and rape it of it's sway bar. So I find a donor car ('99 CSVT) which from the factory comes with an 18 mm sway bar. Ours is alot smaller BTW, for those who knew. There just so happen to be a Probe SE 2 cars down from the CSVT so I crawl under it to inspect it. Turns out it's probably an inch longer on each side than ours, but that's plenty of space. I take the sway bar home with me (bushings and all) and rolled my car up on my ramp. I unbolted the sway links from the bottom, and then the bolts that support my factory sway link. 10 minutes later, it's sitting on the ground. I match up the factory bushings vs. the CSVT bushings, they are demensionally the same size except for one of them supports alot bigger sway bar. I mount up the bushings. I use the Mazda Factory sway bar support brackets. I used a little bit of lube to help it install a little easier. A little bit of tightening and a little bit of moving the sway bars around and botta bing! They are on.

So all in all, you're gonna need the following items:

- a CSVT 18mm sway bar
- the CSVT bushings that came with the bar
- your factory support brackets off your old sway bar
- Second gen RX7 rear sway links w/ the bolts to go with them
- a 14mm socket and wrench
- a 4mm allen socket wrench
- some lube
- a ramp to roll up on (you want the suppension to be in a relaxed state and not jacked up on one side or it will be hell to install)


I didn't take pics, but I will in the future. This is probably one of the cheapest mods you can do to your car and be one of the most effective. No more body sway in hard corners from the weak and anemic factory sway bars.

CSVT sway bar on my 626


Stock 626 & MX6('93-'97)sway bar



Further pictures on the install can be found at this link which has updates at the bottom of the page. I wouldn't advise using the Altima end links and my pictures will show why.
Contour Svt Rear Sway Bar - Mazda 626 Forums

[the phranc]

Very nice. Thank you.

[The_Evil_Demon]

My sway bar came unhooked a long time ago. Can you tell any difference? cause i've been meaning to get that taken care of. I was just going to weld mine back on there.

[blackshine007]

Originally Posted by The_Evil_Demon

My sway bar came unhooked a long time ago. Can you tell any difference? cause i've been meaning to get that taken care of. I was just going to weld mine back on there.

There's a night and day difference. Hands down.

[ghostling]

u're lucky it took you 10 minutes to get the old links off. it took me 3 hours trying a 24" rachet, a torch, and finally an angle grinder to completely destroy the endlinks and then remove it from the car.

[blackshine007]

Originally Posted by ghostling

u're lucky it took you 10 minutes to get the old links off. it took me 3 hours trying a 24" rachet, a torch, and finally an angle grinder to completely destroy the endlinks and then remove it from the car.

A pry bar does the same thing. If they don't wanna come off easily, pry them off. When you pry between where the link pivots, enough pressure will make it pop out the socket.

[ls six]

Nice. Do you know what's available for the contour aftermarket wise?
How about the other contour trim levels?

I allready have the 98+ 626 bar on but this is still opening a new avenue for parts. Karma commin your way.

[blackshine007]

They have some sway bars available and I think they range from like 21, 22 and 24mm's but I'd definately check out contour.org and ask them. I was told that info by tour96se on PT.

[dmark101]

blackshine, what are the specs on those bolts you used on the rx-7 links? i'd consider using a grade 8 bolt, washer, lock washer, nut setup based upon the rust on the existing bolts.

this is good info because i'm seriously considering upgrading the stock 12mm bar on my mx-6 to something along these lines or the 16mm 98-02 626 bar.

[blackshine007]

I'm not certain, but I believe it's an 8mm metric thread. It's the same thread pitch and size as the bolts for the trans housing on the manual transmissions. Mazda usually uses the same thread pitch for damn near every bolt that's on our vehicles, they just vary in width. When I can give you an actual number size, I'll let you know.

[sol]

Nice find. 19mm is a good size for our cars.

One thing though, do you think the offset RX-7 endlinks would affect the bars dynamics in any way? Also, noticed they seem to be shorter..Is that just the pics? They are definitely a better overall design than than our crappy allen head key with a ball joint.

[blackshine007]

They're not shorter. They're actually the same size and could be a great replacement for your stock sway bars due to the fact that they don't flex.

[pearsonmx6]

mine don't flex either and are built stronger with grade 8 hardware

[KING6]

Originally Posted by pearsonmx6

mine don't flex either and are built stronger with grade 8 hardware

I made those once..ended up trading them for used tires.. lol

[The_Evil_Demon]

Originally Posted by pearsonmx6

mine don't flex either and are built stronger with grade 8 hardware

What all parts did u use if you can remember. i need to make some of those