Part of upgrading your Mitsubishi Evolution is of course making the changes to your factory suspension and chassis. One big part of the upgrade path for the 4G63 powered Evos is the sway bars. Today we’ll be installing a rear BMF Whiteline sway bar in rear of our 2005 Mitsubishi Evolution VIII.
The part numbers in question are BMR65ZX and XZ for the rear and front sway bars respectively. We’ll also be upgrading to the polyurethane Whiteline bushings to match. The part numbers for the upgraded bushings are W0406-24 and 3MR65XZ, which replace the stock factory bushings and provide a greater level of feedback.
Before you begin our How To Install a Evolution Rear Sway Bar guide, you will need to raise the back of your Evolution and secure with jackstands. Use chocks or blocks to prevent the front wheels from moving. While you may have heard or seen instructions on how to install a Evolution rear sway bar by removing the wheels or lower control arms, we’ll be doing neither.
In order to install a Evolution rear sway bar in this manner however, you will need to raise the Evolution so that the rear wheels are completely off the ground. If you are not certain you are safe enough, head on over to our Safety Guidelines article to make sure you are 100% safe during this install.
After you’ve raised the back of your Mitsubishi Evolution, go ahead and undo the 14mm nuts to your sway bar end links. These may be frozen or stuck in place, in which case you’ll need air tools or a hex wrench and a 14mm or 9/16th open ended wrench to break loose. If these nuts are still being problematic, try some penetrating oil or Blast Away type product to lubricate the threads.
If you have an aftermarket exhaust that features a removable axle back section, go ahead and remove this axle back now. If you have the factory exhaust, you can simply loosen at the axle or rear subframe and let it hang from the rear rubber isolators.
Undo both sides of this sway bar end link and your Evolution sway bar should now be able to swivel up and down.
Don’t forget the driver side as well, and remember you don’t want any weight or load on the rear tires to begin with.
Now remove the two 14mm bolts that hold your rear sway bar bracket in place. These hold the lower sway bar bracket to the upper tray.
To undo the upper bracket and tray, you’ll need to look on the backside ( or front side, depending on where you are ) of your subframe.
Remove the 14mm bolt shown above and your entire sway bar along with brackets and mounts should all pull off the car. You may have to tilt one end to remove cleanly. If you do not have enough ground clearance, raise the car further to gain the needed space.
Knowing how to Install a Evolution Rear Sway Bar using this method eliminates the need to disconnect your lower control arms, and lose your alignment settings. You also do not need to remove your wheels, which is a great reason to learn how to Install a Evolution Rear Sway Bar, saving yourself some money.
With the sway bar completely removed from your Evolution, you can now shake loose the stock shackles. Open the top side of this sway bar mount so that you can insert the new polyurethane units. Although Whiteline says that their bushing kit does not require lubrication, we’ll be adding some anyways.. because random squeaking sounds are annoying.
UPDATE BY REQUEST – from user Mark Lee
01-23-2015 – Prepare the rear sway bar bushings by using the grease supplied by Whiteline.
Apply liberally to your sway bar bushings and install onto your rear sway bar.
Now with your new sway bar mounted to your brackets, swing your new sway bar into place and secure to the passenger side of the Evolution first.
With your new sway bar swung over the control arm and under the axle, connect with your stock sway bar end link. Do not connect the brackets, simply swing them up and set them aside. Remember passenger side first.
Now with that side connected, you’ve got to do some finagling to get the driver side to clear. You can try to pull down on your wheel to properly clear the control arm.
If that fails, and you’ve got to remove the lower control arm bolt, make sure to mark where your concentric bolt sits, so that you can restore the Evolution back to correct alignment settings, ( or as close as possible)
Don’t forget to tighten the rear sway bar bracket 14mm bolt either!
That does it for our how to install a Evolution Rear Sway Bar article, and you’ve now got an Evolution that can turn! You now know how to install a Evolution Rear Sway Bar if you have any questions or comments please leave them for us below!