Hey guys, Firstly a bit of background.

[car_fanatica]

Hey guys,

Firstly a bit of background..

I have always intended to ensure this vehicle was to remain stock & comfortable in my ownership, and I still adopt that policy. However - In the past few months of my ownership, I have noticed that the overall handling of the vehicle can be a little bit 'soft & unpredictable' for my likings.

All in all, the vehicle handles reasonably well for a stock setup, but I have come to notice the main issue with the handling of the vehicle, is their rear trailing beam setup, and the subsequent floaty/understeer feel of the rear end.. Even on general cornering. So after I'd done a bit of reading - I realised the N16 has a quite a heavy rear end, which is quite likely a good reason why on cornering/bumps - it displays this understeer/float, and at times - a very unstable twitch also.


So I decided I would like to attempt to rectify this issue, in order to create better overall driveability, and make the car overall better for its use in my business.

In order to do that, I decided that If I could find an N15 Whiteline Rear Swaybar, I would retrofit it to the N16. This would achieve my overall goal of firming up the rear end mildly and eliminating these issues, whilst maintaining the stock & comfortable status I need it to be. When a noticed a local member/friend selling one for a bargain $50, I went for it!

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Secondly, a bit of background on the technical front..

Fortunately for us, the N16 & N15 share the same rear trailing beam suspension setup, which allows us to do this modification, but unfortunately for us - On the N16, it is not a straightforward bolt-in fitment operation like it is on the N15.

On the N15 - The Whiteline Rear Swaybar is designed to bolt directly into the 2x bolts for the brakeline bracket on the chassis, using a bracket, 8 links, and a series of nuts/bolts/washers.. Then it bolts to the trailing beam using a u-shackle, flat bar, bush, clamp, and nut/washer.

The same system applies with the N16, however on the N16 - The brakeline bracket is physically tack-welded to the chassis, instead of bolted in. This means you need to do a little bit of extra work, in order for it to fit.


Also - Because the Whiteline unit available for the N16 is getting quite scarce, and subsequently can be well overpriced - and because the Whiteline unit available for the N15 is plentiful, and subsequently can be picked up cheap seconhand - and because the N15 unit has a much better design in terms of torsion & rigidity - and lastly, because they share the same rear trailing beam suspension setup as mentioned earlier, this makes this modification a good comprimise, with an inevitably successful result.

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Materials Required:-

- 1x N15 Whiteline Rear Swaybar Kit (Part# BNR21 or BNR21Z)
- 6x 14G x 25mm Self Tapping Sheet Metal Screws
- 1x 500 mL Bottle Of Brake Fluid

- 1x Hydraulic Trolley Jack
- 1x Pair Of Jackstands
- 1x Pair Of Wheel Chocks
- 1x 1/2" Drive Breaker Bar
- 1x 1/2" Drive 21mm Socket
- 1x Electric Drill
- 1x Various Metal Drill Bits
- 1x Phillips Head Driver Drill Bit
- 1x 8mm, 12mm, 14mm, & 15mm Spanners
- 1x Hammer
- 1x Old Bucket
- 1x Wire Wheel Bit
- 1x Pressure Pack Of Metal Etch Primer
- 1x Pressure Pack Of Black Enamel Paint
- 1x MIG/TIG Welder
- 1x Old Coke Bottle
- 1x 200mm Piece Of Small Clear Tube/Line
- 1x Spare Pair Of Legs
- 1x General Awesomeness

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Modification Process:-

Step 1: General Safety & Preparations..

Before you start the modification, you will obviously need to do a few preparations & safety procedures.

So make sure you have the car parked in a safe spot, place your wheels chocks in front of the front wheels, and then you will need to jack the car up in order to get under it to do the job.

To do this, you will need to first use your breaker bar + 21mm socket, to crack the 4x wheel nuts. Once you have done this, you can proceed to jack the car up by placing your trolley jack underneath the rear of the car in a safe location, such as the rear trailing beam itself. Jack the car up as high as you can, in order to ensure maximum working space, for ease of job. Then you can place your jack stands on either side of the bottom sill panel on the car, slowly lower your hydraulic jack, and pull it out of the way.

Now that the car is secure, proceed to remove the rear wheels using the breaker bar + 21mm socket again, by fully removing each of the wheel nuts, and subsequently removing the entire wheels.

Now the car is safe, prepared, and ready for the modification.


Step 2: Removing The Brake Lines..

Now that you've got the car safely secured, you can begin modding!

The first thing to do is to remove the brake lines.
To do this you will need to use your old bucket and place that underneath the 'drip zone' of your brake line, as this will stop fluid spill all over your floor. Then you will need to use your 8mm spanner to 'crack' the nut on the brake line, and at this point you will notice the brake fluid begin to flow out of the line. This is normal.

Continue to remove the line until it is fully unwound, and push the rubber brake line out of the way.
It is usually a good idea to let it fully drain before doing anything further, so as not to 'flick' brake fluid everywhere. You can usually make the best of your time by doing one side while the other drains, and then the go back to the original side which will have drained by the time you are done with the second side.

Repeat this step for both sides of the vehicle.


Note: Remember brake fluid is very corrosive, so it is always a good idea to keep wiping your hands on a rag. Always use the same rag for this purpose, but not for anything else.

Step 3: Removing The Brake Line Brackets..

Now that the active brake lines are out of the way, you will need to remove the old brake line bracket.

Unlike the N15, the N16 has the bracket tack welded to the body which means you cannot simply bolt it on to the body. I covered this earlier in the article.
To combat this, we need to either install a fastening system of our own, or weld it to the body. I weighed up my options and decided that most fasteners were going to either be too tricky to install, or foul on the fuel tank and/or the exhaust system, so I opted to weld it.


So in order to remove the bracket, you will need to get your drill and a small drill bit, and drill out the 2x factory tack welds right through. Once you've done this with a small bit, you will have created a pilot for to use a larger bit. The reason for this progressive drilling is because sheet metal is quite unpredictable at times, and a jag while drilling can be a dangerous. So then I used a drill bit large enough to cover the entire span of the tack weld, and redrilled it through again. Once you've done this, the weld will be 99% weakened.

Then all you need to do is simply 'knock' the bracket off using your hammer, and this part is done.

Step 4: Preparing The Swaybar Bracket Area..

Now that the brake line bracket is off, you can start to mock-up your swaybar bracket, but before you do this - you need to prepare the area.

To do this you will need to use your drill again and your wire wheel bit to suit your drill, and simply grind any old sealant and body schutz away from the area of where the swaybar bracket will intend to go. This will leave a clean surface for mounting, and a clean area of steel for welding. Once you've done this, you will be left with an area of steel that has been stripped back to bare. This is normal.


Once you've established that, you quickly need to just etch prime the area using your pressure pack of etch primer, and spray a healthy coat over all of the bare metal. This will prevent corrosion forming over the area, and prepare it for any topcoating you may do later.

Alternatively, if you intend to re-apply body shutz to the area afterwards - you can skip this part.

... Continue'd Next Post ...

 

[car_fanatica]

Step 5: Mocking The Swaybar For Test Fitment..

Now that the preparations are all done, you can begin mocking the swaybar components up for to test fit it.

To do this you will need to roughly position your swaybar bracket near the existing brake line bracket holes, and align the swaybar bracket with the brakeline bracket in place where it would be factory. I firstly checked the length of the swaybar from the beam to the bracket on the swaybar itself, and then checked this again on the body with the mocked-up bracket in place, to ensure I had a roughly correct measurement, and that the bracket was a verticle as possible. There is no need to worry about perfect measurements, because the 8-Link on the swaybar will account for these variations. Once that was established, I overlayed the brake line bracket over the top as mentioned before.

With that in mind - You will then once again use your drill and a small drill bit, and drill the second pilot hole from the swaybar bracket through the body of the vehicle. Once you've got a pilot, you must then use a slightly larger drill bit again, to drill out a hole suitable for the self tappers. This will generally be a size that is only marginally smaller then the body of the self tapper itself.


Once that is done, you can remove the brake line bracket, and leave the swaybar bracket in its mocked-up position.
Then once again using your drill, but this time with your phillips head drill bit - screw the bracket in to the body of the vehicle, using your self tappers. This is not the permanent fastening solution, this is just for test fitment. Remove the left tapper, and lay the brake line bracket over the top, and the re-fasten.


Note: In the photo below, I drilled & fastened a third tapper, but this was completely unnecessary.

Step 6: Test Fitting The Swaybar..

Now that the bracket is in palce for swaybar fitment, you will need to test fit the swaybar, to ensure your positioning is correct.

To do this you will need to use your 12, 14 & 15mm spanners.
Start by fastening the 8-Links on the ends of the swaybar first with the 14 & 15mm bolts, nuts & washers and using your 14 & 15mm spanners, ensuring your washers are all on the right sides. Because of the difference in body width between the N15 & the N16, I had to have one side of the swaybar on the inside, and the other side on the outside. This isn't correct under its original build specifications, but it is still fine to mount it this way.

Then you will use your other components of the swaybar, which are the flat bar, u-shackles, and 12mm nuts, and roughly mount the swaybar in place underneath your rear trailing beam, to ensure it fits ok.


Once you have established that the fitment is correct, you can then remove the swaybar again.

Step 7: Welding/Fastening The Swaybar Brackets..

Once you have established that the fitment of the swaybar is correct, you will then need to finish fastening the swaybar mount bracket properly.

To do this you will need to use your welder, or find someone else that can weld it for you that has a welder. You must use a MIG or TIG welder, as ARC welders will burn holes through the sheet metal. Even so, when using a MIG or TIG welder, you must ensure not to overheat one spot for too long, which can weaken the metal and cause it to snap around the bracket under load.

If you are not confident doing this yourself and/or you do not have the equipment for it, it is best to consult a professional to do the job for you.


To do this, you simply need to keep the bracket in place, and weld about 4-5 'strips' around the outside of the bracket. This will be suffice.
Make sure when it is welded that you do not weld the self tappers in place, as these will need to be removed again, and if welded - can be very diffucult to remove.


Once the bracket is welded in place, you can remove your self tappers, and using your pressure pack of black enamel paint - simply spray a healthy coat of paint over the entire area. This will prevent the fresh welds from corrosion, and leave an inconspicuous finish over the tampered area.

Step 8: Re-Assembling The Brake Lines..

Now that the swaybar brackets are fully fixed, you can begin to re-assemble everything.

The first thing to re-assemble is the brake lines.
To do this, you will need to use your drill & phillips head drill bit again, and re-screw the brake line bracket back on using one of your self tappers. This is the permanent fastening for the brake line bracket.

Once that is in place, you can then re-place the hard line of the brake lines, and re-place the rubber line of the brake lines, and re-screw them back together. Tighten this using you 8mm spanner again, ensuring it is nice & tight. Do not overtighten however.

Now your brake lines are all re-assembled.

Step 9: Fitting The Swaybar..

Now that your brake lines are re-assembled, the second part of re-assembly is the swaybar itself.

This should be simple for you by now - You will simply repeat the process of step 6.
The only thing you will need to also consider, is that you should keep the mounting points out as far to the outside as possible (generally about 3 inches from the end is normal) - and you must also remember to grease your bushes before installing those. Your swaybar kit will usually come with this grease.

Tighten everything nice and tight, and now your swaybar is officially installed.


Step 10: Bleeding The Brakes..

The swaybar will now officially be installed, but before you can finsh up, there are a few things you need to do, and bleeding the brakes is one of those.

This is a very important step, and it is imperitive that you get this correct, because improper or poor performing brakes will/can result in serious injury or death. So if you are not confident in doing this step yourself, it is best to get a professional to do it for you.


To do this step, you will need to borrow another person for about 15-20 minutes, and you will need to use your bottle of brake fluid, your old coke bottle, your 8mm spanner again, and your piece of clear tube.

Start by filling your brake reserviour full to the brim.
Then you need to bleed both of your rear brakes, simply by pumping the pedal repeatedly to begin with, then holding it down. While held down, you must open the bleed nipple on the brake caliper, then close it again, and release the pedal. Initially you will notice nothing, but eventually you will begin to see fluid bleeding up through your clear tube, and in to your old coke bottle.

You will need to repeat this process several times, until clean clear fluid is passing through the line, and there are no visible air bubbles 'spurting' out of the line. All the while, you will need to continually stop to refill the reserviour. It is very important to never let the reserviour fall below the line, because this will allow air to bleed back in to the system, and you will have to start all over again.


To test if the brakes are correct, you will need to press the brake pedal.
Initially you will notice the brake pedal falls straight to the floor with no effort. Then eventually you will notice the pedal doesn't fall all the way to the floor, and requires some effort to do so, but is still very soft. Then eventually you will notice the pedal requires complete & normal braking effort, and is very firm. To confirm this is 100% correct, you will need to start the vehicle in order to allow vacuum in to the system, and pressing the pedal down. The pedal will feel softer then before, but it will still feel quite firm, and it will feel as if it does normally when driving.


Once you have established & confirmed that this is the case, your brake system is fully re-bled and operational.


Step 11: Finishing Up..

Once you get to this step, you are almost done.

The only things left to do now are re-assemble the wheels and get the vehicle back down on the ground, which is simply a reverse process to that of step 1. Then you can pack away all of your tools, clean up any mess or rubbish, and you are finished with this modification.


Before finalising everything though, it is usually a good idea to go for a short & slow test drive, just to ensure that the brakes are functioning 100% and correctly, and also - once you have established that this is ok, this is also usually a good time to take the car for a good spin to test out your new modification.

This is usually the fun part!

Thanks for reading guys!
I hope this technical article will be helpful to people in the future.

Cheers,
Rick.

 

[car_fanatica]

One other note - I trimmed the excess of the u-bolts down afterwards, and ensured the mounts were pushed as far outwards as possible. This just isn't pictured, nor do I have a picture!

Rick.