Installing lower wing stays

[mcerbm]

I gave this a first attempt and didn't get very far. I had the car jacked at the front with the weight off the suspension, removed the top wishbone bolted connection through the wing stay and also the lower nut that holds the wing stay on. I didn't want to force it but I couldn't get the top wishbone bolt out of the wingstay. Tried with the wishbones with a bit of weight and being horizontal and a bit of rubber mallet persuasion but no joy. 

Does the front roll bar have to be disconnected or do I just need to use a bit more force?

[Wrightpayne]

I think you need to pop it off the back of the vertical link first before it will move downwards off the upper ball joint attachment. If this doesnt work you may need a ball joint splitter to separate the upper wishbone from the vertical link though I don't recall having to do this when I had the stays re powder coated.

You'll have to disconnect the brake line too as this runs through the wing stay.

Ian

[Jim 123]

It's a little unclear to me what you are trying to do, but it sounds like you are trying to remove the existing wing stay.  I'll try and help but can you clarify please?

[mcerbm]

Yes sorry it's removing the existing wingstay

[thompster]

Much easier with the wheel off as you can angle the top of the stay into the space the wheel occupies.  When I changed mine I just did the bolt that goes through behind the stub axle and then remove the nut from under the top link ball joint.  Disconnect the brake hose and the stays sort of pivot off.

[Jim 123]

On recent build cars, the wing stays are not dimensionally controlled in manufacture to the same level of precision as the axle assembly, and consequently can require  a bit of force fit to put in place during build.  The lower fixing hole can also have a bit too much powder coat around the fixing bolt aperture. Maybe check that the threaded portion of the ball joint is not fouling the sides of the wing stay fixing hole.  Then try tapping a narrow wooden wedge into the gap between the innermost face of the stub axle and the outermost face of the wing stay. If you do this as close to the lower mounting as possible things might free up.

[brianmurray325hotmail.com]

If you are attempting to make a more elegant wingstay fit, i did it on my 2007 SV150. I cut the 2 wingstays off on the straight section (radial to the wheel centre) the stays were 1/2" od pipe, can't remember the iď, 1/4 or 1/2" but got appropriate size mild steel rod from B&Q, bent it by hand to suit the contour i wanted, nice and close to the tyre! I brazed it into the cut off stays and "fine tuned" the contour insitu. I fitted some rubber petrol pipe over the part of the new stay that is under the wing and re-installed the wings using an acrylic adhesive and "bigheads". The wing was secured around the rubber hose (which provides a bit of anti vibration) with stainless steel tyraps, overall effect was an elegent solution with new stsys finished in matt black.