RE: IML: Sway Bar QUESTION /Kits

[hot rod <michiganhotrod1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Buy and read the Mopar Performance (Direct Connection) Chassis manual. Lots of good information for torsion bar era cars.
Mark

Kenyon Wills <imperialist1960@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>  I am seeking a set of oversized sway bars for my 72 GT
> project.  I have met many people that sell other
> people's sway bars.  I have met some that fabricate
> sway bars, but don't seem to understand the science
> behind them.  I have met nobody that really seems to
> KNOW what they're about, and I've spent several hours
> on the phone and even more searching around, so I'll
> ask here (but I did try to do research!):
>
> I want the flattest, firmest car for cloverleafs and
> so forth.
>
> Stock front bar: 1"
> Rear bar: never part of the car's design.
>
> QUESTION:  what is the appropriate ratio?  If I go 1.5
> front, is 1 in rear too much?
>   Is 1.25F / 7/8R going
> to be enough?  I seek someone with hard facts about my
> 4700lb application, so PLEASE - no email armchair
> quarterbacking on this on.  I normally don't mind
> opinion items, but am seeking some science/experience
> on this one, and nobody else seems to have ever done
> this to an Imp of this era.....
>
> Firm Feel offers a 7/8" bar that they make for other
> mopars, the rear area apparently was pretty much the
> same thing dimensionally in the late 1960's/early
> 1970's.
>
> They offer up to 1.25" bar up front and will fab
> whatever I want at significant expense and lead time.
>
> I have found that the individual components are
> available, cheap, and easy to get, so am contemplating
> having bars bent for me with the prospect of saving
> 50%.  I have a front as a template, so handing a guy
> with a bender a straight bar should not cost the $300
> difference between the components and finished,
> marked-up-with-profit
>  special order items.
>
>   
>
> Bars get exponentially stiffer the thicker you go is
> my understanding, and nobody else is dumb enough to
> try to make an Imperial actually handle well.
>
> The few that have done so with C-Bodies have used
> thick front bars.
>
> It is my understanding that the general idea is that
> one can have firm springs or firm sway bars but that
> you generally don't want too much firm on both (so
> better to do one or the other all the way), and that
> suits me fine since I'm too lazy to work on installing
> beefier torsion bars (found someone that can actually
> fabricate them in extended lengths for Imperial) and
> stiffer leaf-springs.
>
> QUESTION: Does anyone personally know of anyone that
> actually fabricates their own sway bars and knows what
> they are doing?  I have the front off and it will work
> as a template.  Rear should be no problem to measure
> out.  West Coast beats east coast due to having
>  to
> ship the template stock front bar as a pattern.
>
> --------------
>
> Some things I've learned along the way about
> suspension:
>
> Leaf springs supposedly work best when flatter and
> unarched when loaded, as they have less latitudinal
> flex.
>
> Energy Suspention Co. is AWESOME - they make their
> soft parts out of polyurethane and that is much firmer
> than the stock rubber (sorry if this was mentioned - I
> went to sleep on the ebay vendor debate).  I have had
> nothing but good energy from them in this process, and
> I wasn't spending a dime on them.
>
> Some (all?) Dodge Vipers use Imperial Specification
> Ball Joints in their steering.  Guess what the
> biggest, meatiest ball joint they had in the parts
> inventory was when they specced the car out and wanted
> the best?....   I suppose those will therefore cobe
> available for some time to come?
>
> Leaf-sping bushings at the rear can be inserted by
> unbolting and dropping
>  that end of the spring.  The
> fronts must be pushed out with a press or melted out
> with heat - both suggesting that spring be removed
> completely for best results.  Doing just the rears may
> be a nice touch to the car if things are otherwise
> solid up front on the leafs.
>
> Sway bar linkages are mostly rubber-bushing from the
> factory.  Next small step is to use polyurethane pivot
> and end bushings (strongly recommended) as they will
> not compress easily and therefore "hook up" / load
> that much faster, allowing the bar to affect the car
> that much sooner.  
>
> The real way to get a sway bar to be firm is to use
> heim joints or tie-rod ends.  I will try the heims, am
> not willing to invest the energy to figure out how to
> make tie-rod ends work on my car.
>
> The Performance Suspension people that Ken referred
> all of us to in that link is simply reselling ADDCO
> bars that are the same as what's on the front.  Since
> that's a low
>  wear item, the rear bar is the only item
> that's of interest, and they do no custom work, so
> bigger bars are out from them.
>
>
>
>
> Kenyon Wills
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