Good News For Those Who Are Daring Enough To Try This

[FE3-323]

Well folks after waiting for a month and a half i've finally gotten my STOCK protege LX front swaybar back from my storage locker.

Tonight I brought it down to check the design difference between the front FORD ESCORT ZX2 swaybar i (aquired) at the local junkyard.

and to my surprise.... Its the same exact ****ing design...with all the curves and bends at the same exact degrees as the stock protege LX bar. woo hoo...
Then on top of it I test fitted it to the front subframe. and it fits..but with a bit of slight modification to the ZX2 brackets holding the bushings....( they have to be slightly grinded down to create the tab to insert into the sub frame. and as far as the endlinks go those were replaced with polybushings so at this point i have no clue if the stock LX endlinks work with the zx2 bar.

I only test fitted the bar to the spare subframe i have from my LX parts car. so i haven't yet gotten a chance to install it on my car to test it and send results back...

I'll leave that for another night when its not raining outside since my driveway will be my workshop

I'll once again keep everybody informed on how things go.
and apoligies ahead of time due to my lack of not having a camera to take pictures with.

bpt323

[Gro Harlem]

yeah. all bars between 90-94 protege's / 323's, and 91-present Escorts and ZX2's interchange.

the zx2 bar is narrow as **** though, i think its 13mm. The stock protege bar is like 21mm

[FE3-323]

you must be thinking of the rear swaybar when you talk about it only being 13 mm or so... the front ZX@ bar is huge in comparison to the stock protege one.

Take a look at the 2 sometime

[MazdaRacer]

the stock protege front bar is 19mm and i think the ZX2 is 21mm. Could be as much as 24mm.

[Boston]

I assume there is a performance gain to be had by swapping in the ZX2 anti-sway bar...

[MazdaRacer]

Originally posted by Boston
I assume there is a performance gain to be had by swapping in the ZX2 anti-sway bar...

Well, kinda, but only if you match the size to the rear or have the rear bar bigger..... It will also depend on the driving...racing or street. For the street, i'd say to match the front and rear sizes or even a little bigger up front to induce some understeer. For racing....thats gonna depend on what type of racing...slow-to mid speed racing (i.e. autox) a big rear bar is good, need that oversteer. Road racing is a different stroy, speeds are much higher and you certainly do not want the back end to take you into the dirt at 100+MPH. Matched sizes are probably best for a balanced nuetral handling car...will also depend alot on your personal driving style.