Anti-roll bar restoration

Since the right anti-roll bar link was broken, I decided to change it my self. I got a new cranked link and some fitting rubber bushes with their washers. It turned out to be very difficult to remove the old one because the bushes are so tight and I could not bend the link in such way to take it out. So I decided to remove the entire anti-roll bar, treat any rust, re-coat and put it back.

This is the new cranked link with the bush already fitted, plus new metal sleeve, 2 washers and 2 dumping rings

The bush is hard to put in, but if you are patient, use some heavy duty grease and go easy on it will eventually fit.

Back in the car. Removing the old one is hard. the bush fits exactly in the bar, and the bar has a flatten "eye" at the end so it can not go out (that's the purpose after all, you don't want it to get loose while you drive). So I could not get it out, the tire was in the way. The only way is to remove the bar, or the only way I could think of.

The broken right anti-roll bar link. It was welded during the last service, but did not last for a mile.

The left link. Not broken but in a bad condition...

Removing the entire bar is easy as unscrewing the 4 bolts that hold the 2 brackets onto the frame.

Next step is to sand the bar and the left link to remove all rust.

The anti-roll bar. The right side has been already sanded, but not the left. Spot the difference?

My mechanic suggested to prime all the treated bare metal with an epoxy product. He suggested to use brunox.

rust stop + primer

So after sanding the left link (the one that was not broken but rusted), I sprayed  brunox, and here is the result.

restored left crank link

Looks like new, right? I still have not but the bush, since I need to spray a second layer of brunox and then a coat of bodysafe paint to protect it. Same goes for the bar, but that is for the next weekend...