sway bar???

Ok, well this is the story. I have a 85 crx Si, I bought it from a guy who didnt know anything about cars for $500 with 150xxx miles on it. well come to find out, everything is jimmy rigged on it so ive already had to fix some wiring, and some other misc stuff. Well yesterday i was driving down the road and all the sudden it felt like i hit ice(it happens living in minnesota). well i get home and look under the car and the rear sway bar was...well....not looking the best. apperantly at one point it was ripped off one way or another and this guy flipped around and welded the bracket on and took the other end and clamped it to the axel. :banghead: well now as im looking there are no more brackets for the sway bar even attached to my car anymore and im just going to tack weld it back into place untill i can figure out what to do. so my question is what can be done? is there an aftermarket kit that includes new brackets or what? my goal is to swap in the integra rear disks and all of that and at the same time i want to do the sway bar so any help would be nice... thanks

You must have a junk yard sway bar "jimmy rigged" to your car. The stock rear sway bar is actually inside the rear axle beam and works like the front torsion bars. If you're having problems with it you might be better off removing it for now until you can spend some time to attach it correctly. The ends links should have bushings installed to allow for movement and the bar itself should also be attached to the rear beam with bushings to allow for torsional movement. If it's just been welded and clamped on, then chances are that it's not working properly and is probably not doing you any good.

I think OPM Autosports sells an aftermarket rear sway bar for the '84-'87 Civic/CRX, you might check with them for the correct sway bar. Also, RPR has a "how to attach an Integra front sway bar to a CRX rear end" write up. Do a search at www.redpepperracing.com and you should find it.

isnt there supposed to be mounts attached to the body of the car?? becuase thats what broke off. if there isnt supposed to be then my life just got a bunch simplier. ill try and post a picture of it later so you can have a better idea what im talking about

The end links should be attached to the underside of the body, however in a book I have, there's a picture of the sway bar attached to the trailing arms on an scca race car. In theory, it seems that it would be more effective to attach the end links to the underside of the body, but I guess both methods will work. Pictures are good!

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/501/244211Sway_bar_1-med.jpg
this is one shot of the problem as you can probably see, that is the spot where the mount was well mounted

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/244211sway_bar_2.jpg
here is another angle of what happened

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/244211sway_bar_3-med.jpg
ok this is the best picture of what happends. as you can see the sway bar is wired to the axel just to keep it from dragging. also you can see the bar itself and how it was put on.

Bad news, that's not a sway bar, that's your panhard bar. You NEED to weld the bracket back onto the bottom of your car! The panhard bar prevents the rear axle beam from moving from side to side when you turn, and is the only thing that keeps the rear beam centered on the car! One good high speed turn and your rear wheels will slip out from under the car!!!

This is not safe! It's like driving with a badly worn and loose ball joint on the front suspension. It's just a matter of time before something bad happens.

thanks very much for the info. thats what i needed to know. i have a guy that will weld it in a few weeks but for now shes just sitting outside under a cover

Good luck!
You will probably need to patch things up a bit too, but it doesn't look like it will be too difficult to weld back together.


Judging by the way your exhaust is routed, I'm assuming you have an '85 SI? Or was the new tubing routed differently to accomodate the aftermarket muffler? Looks like you may also have an issue with the exhaust rubbing on the trailing beam(?).

yea its an 85 Si. the only problem that i had was the tubing runned on the rear axel on bumps for the first week, but the it stopped. its 2.25'' pipe cat back with a magnaflow exhaust

Got it welded up yet?

ive been out of town for a while so i havent had a chance, but im going to sell it after i get it fixed and get a prelude

ive been out of town for a while so i havent had a chance, but im going to sell it after i get it fixed and get a prelude

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!


WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?????????????? ????????


Stop the insanity!

i want to keep the rex as a project car but i dont think i can aford to do that

i want to keep the rex as a project car but i dont think i can aford to do that

What kind of work does the CRX need, and how much are you looking to spend on a Prelude.

Oh yeah, about what year if Prelude?

I see it like this, in order to avoid buying a Prelude project car you're going to have to buy one from the mid '90s or newer. This could cost anywhere from $3,000 to $8,000 for something that isn't rusted out and has a good running motor. Some people might have to take out a loan in order to afford this which means having a monthly car payment, interest and higher insurance because 1. it's a prelude and 2. because you would then have to have complete coverage on it. This leaves less money for a "project car".

Your '85 CRX SI is:
1) Rare
2) Cheap to work on
3) Cheap to insure
4) All parts can be found inexpensively at junkyards
5) Yours

You could put 1/3 of the cost of a Prelude into your car and have something both sporty and reliable.


I have had many project cars and what I've found is that once you get the new car you won't touch the old car, unless it's something that you really love. If you don't love your old CRX then just sell it, but I think you're better off fixing the one you've got.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Take it or leave it.

well the crx needs some under body work and a header panle and left quarter panel. there is a spot of bondod rust that needs to be fixed on the left rear quarter as well as fender rust. other than that i want to get a zc for it and new rims and body kit. the prelude im looking at is a 92 Si with a H22 swap and spoon computer and cf hood and a bunch of stuff and its $6500 with 38000 miles on the engine if i dont get that i want a 92-96 prelude Si 5 speed

Yeah, it's hard to pass up an H22. I admit a 1G CRX is an entry level sports car and it doesn't quite compare to a '92 Prelude with an H22.