[COBALT]

With the center bars installed and the bushings tight you shouldn't be able to turn the center bar by hand. It should be that tight. When you put them on the cross-member it should allow you to pivot the upper control arm up, and it should stay wherever you put it.

Sounds like your control arms were stripped out with the last application. Has your front-end ever been worked on? The bushings should simply thread right in, get tight about 1/2 way in, and force you to turn them with a wrench until the bottom out. Then you have to torque them to spec.

Oh and on centering the bar. Thread one bushing all the way in, and then bottom out the center bar inside that bushing in the control arm. Then put the other bushing on, screw it down against the control arm, and then back the center bar off until it reaches the center. You might have to split the difference, so make sure you use the same centering on both sides.