There are two bolts and two nuts that keep the sway bar brackets and bushings in place. The nuts are hard to remove due to lack of space. After spraying them with penetrating oil, I have managed to get the driver side off. The passenger side nut is stripped and did not come off. The car frame is right above it and I have no more than 1/2 to 1inch of space to insert a wrench or a small socket. Did anyone else come across a similar issue with those nuts. Any ideas for removal? I do not believe that the Sears Bolt and Nut Removal kit can get it loose. Does it need to get cut?
Help.

 

You need to drop the subframe.

It's like 5 or 6 bolts on each side (1 on each side is hidden behind a plastic cover) plus two at the front. This will make your life 1000x's easier.

 

Drop the subframe? Does it support the engine? Do I need to place a jack to support anything from falling off?
The insructions for replacing a front sway are skimpy. Is there a link with detailed front sway instructions?
If I go through the trouble of removing the subframe, what other worthwhile upgrades do you recommend?
Thanks for the response.

 

The subframe supports nothing. If you're going to have it out, I would do ALK's at the same time if you want them.

 

Here's the write-up from when I put my Cusco's on the STi:

http://www.egansworld.com/oldsite/sti_cusco.html

 

Removing the subframe made a world of difference. It took 3 hours to replace the front sway. I messed up two nuts ( repleced them with stainless nuts and washers) and one nut that is welded to the body (since the bolt is rather long, I solved the problem with the placement of another nut behind the bad nut). It will be a lot easier next time around. Also those Perrin bars are really stiff and I find no need for aftermarket endlinks (unless endlinks are made of stiffer rubber). I nowe feel brave to tackle the next project. How hard is it to put an up-pipe and down pipe? I beleive that was your first experience with the car. Car has 26,000 miles, will it be difficult to remove the exhaust?
What is ALK?

 

ALK is a set of bushings made by Whiteline that goes on the control arms. ALK = Anti lift kit. Perrin also makes something similar called a PPS something or rather.

Up & Down are easy, just the uppipe is time consuming. You have to pull the downpipe to install the uppipe so you might as well do them at the same time. Make sure you get new gaskets. Take the passenger wheel and wheel well liner off to make it easier to get to the uppipe lower nuts. Also get an O2 sensor socket or else you'll have to hack up the heatshield on the header to get it out.