I have never heard of this happening to anyone. Maybe someone who autocrosses has heard of this and made a repair.

Here's the story:

I started hearing a "loose" sound on the front passenger side. I figured it was just a nut that had worked itself loose since the LS1 brake upgrade I did. I jacked it up tonight to see what I could find. The front sway bar bracket on the passenger side broke and took part of the frame with it. Check this out -

Front part of bracket

Rear part of bracket with a chunk of the FRAME

What can I do now?
Can it be welded?

 

Wow

 

I have had a very similar thing happen to me. I was at Mosport Driver Development track for a lapping day and I started to hear something banging around up front. When I took a look underneath the front passenger sway bar bracket was broken (the U shaped piece that actually "cups" the sway bar broke and the bar was just hanging. At the time I was thinking this piece should have been made stronger... but now that I see what has happened to your car I think it is better for this piece to break than to pull / break somewhere else (as in your case). Sorry I can't offer any advice on your situation, hopefully someone else who has had this problem will chime in.

 

That was my initial reaction to.

How bad will removing the swaybar be for everyday driving?

If it wont be too bad I will just remove it for awhile.

 

Doesnt look like a recent break by the discoloring of the broken edges you'd think they would be more clean.

I cant see any reason why you couldnt get a new bracket (pic1) and weld a longer/wider piece of steel over the break(pic2)drill & put it back together?
No swaybar I dont know safety comes to mind,that sucks good luck anyhow.
T.

 

I thik I will do what you said and just have the steel weled over the break, but i am concerned that that will cause the swaybar to be misaligned.

Thanks

 

This happens quite a bit to the Honda S2000 autocrossers. As described above, the apparent fix is to weld material at the breaks and start again.

I personally believe that I have a 50-50 chance of seeing this on my car with the new 35mm bar installed. I knew this going in so I won't be surprised if it happens.

 

I broke that bracket on the drivers side. I was lucky enough not to hurt the frame, but the bracket was destroyed . I didn't think too much of it, heck, it's cheap, easy to replace, no problem right?
WRONG. I then went to get it aligned before starting the new autoX season and the tech comes over and says " you know your K-member is cracked?". It brock on both sides of hte front mounting of the drivers side Lower A-arm . The crack on the front side was really pretty bad. I'm kinda scarred to think how long I was driving with it like that. I took it to a friends shop and welded the cracks up and I have a BMR tubular K-member on order. Hope its stronger then the stock one .
I think it must have broke bouncing it off the burms at Thunderhill . Wish I had a picture to show off .

 

I've heard of breaking the brackets in autocross. I even have a pair of spares on hand for that purpose (no problems so far, though). I guess that's a good reason NOT to try beefing up the brackets - I rather break them instead of the frame.

 

With a little care, it should end up pretty close. At worst, you might have to tinker with the length of the endlink(s) such that there is no preload in the bar with the car at rest.

You might have to shim one of the spacers with a washer or two, trim one of the spacers, do both of the above, or start fresh with a new endlink kit that's a little long and cut both spacers to suit.

Norm

 

Maybe you should weld a reinforcing plate on the side that hasn't broken yet. That should even it out side to side, and help avoid future problems.

 

Possibly a flaw existed there from the time your car was built.

If it's any consolation, anti-roll bars tearing out the chassis at the attachments is a far more common occurrence at the rear of Honda Civics with upgraded rear bars.

Norm

 

How can I tell if there is any preload?

Also, I took it and the brackets off. Now the car rides 10 times smoother, but of course turning is a little less than desired. Can the improved handling be an indication that the bar was already "loaded" and bound up causing the break?

Is the sway bar supposed to be able to move inside of the bushings?

Thanks for the info

 

The best way I can think of to visualize bar preload is as you re-install it and one side of the bar contacts the endlink bushing half while there is still a noticeable gap to the bushing half on the other side. Torquing the gap down to zero will put initial torque and bending in the bar. IOW, preload.

Overly tight endlink [edit]torque (and bulging bushings)[/edit] could have contributed to the failure, though the usual end result of that installation error is a broken endlink.

The bar twists slightly inside the chassis bracket bushings and the angles at the endlink bushings change as the suspension moves.

Norm

 

WOW! I would never had guessed a break at this point. I run a 1.25" solid ADDCO front bar and have not had this problem on track or through potholes. Usually links break first. I broke a Herb Adams solid-rod end link on a 1974 Formula Firebird SD455 once from swaybar preload, at the control arm once (probably due to preload). Man!

Did you have a battery acid leak above this bracket in the past?

Rick R