Swaybar set up on a T2 Omni...

[ArieZ]

Well I finally have a lil extra money set aside for swaybars on my 1990 T2 Omni I'm slowly piecing together. The body is stock and only suspension upgrade so far is Kyb shocks and struts.

My question is what is recommended for front an rear sway bars??? I am more than likely going with Polybushings swaybars but what size works best for my application?? I know they offer 1"1/8 and 1"1/4 for both front and rear but I dOnt want to have to yank my ebrake on every Freeway on ramp so does anybody have any advice on a good Swaybar set up? I live next to Infineon raceway so it will see 1/4miles and road track time but it's also going to be driven on the road...

I'm leaning toward 1"1/8 in the front and rear but is it smarter to just go 1"1/4 all the way around?? Or maybe 1"1/4 in rear and 1"1/8 in front??

I honestly don't have the money to buy different sizes and try em out to see what drives well so I'm hoping someone will have some experience in what works well together and give me some advice.

The car has a stock T2 being put in it for now but I have a motor being built for the 300hp range so if I need the bigger swaybars for that motor I'd rather buy them now and hope its not overkill for the stock T2...

Please Help!! Any advice/experiences with what I'm attempting would be greatly appreciated...
Thanks for reading!!!

[francois]

If the tail is happy you need to stay on the gas no matter what. No need to pull the e-brake!!

Back in the days when I had a L-Body, I had put a 1" in the back. That is when I didn't had much experience driving but I could notice that my GLH was better then my stock rsb equipped CS.
That made me like the bigger bar in the back.

It will be a matter of taste and skills to tell you which one you should get.
I believe you should be fine with a 1". Bigger would not be for the faint of heart.
Without track experience, I wouldn't go crazy.

It's been a while.
No clue about the front one.

[Amccaugh]

I would talk to Johnny from Polybushings yourself as he is a wealth of knowledge from his own car set-up on his Omni.

[ArieZ]

I sent Polybushings a email through their/his web page but never heard back... I figured they must be busy so I figured I'd try an gather as much info as possible before making a blind leap.

Guess I'll try an email em again it's been a month or so...thanks guys

[Amccaugh]

I know he is in Portland today and tomorrow but if you e-mail him he will get back to you.

[GLHNSLHT2]

Does your Omni have the GLH rear axle? I'd run the 1 1/4 front and 1 1/8" rear though with stock GLH bars the tail would rotate in road course situations enough. I then cut the stock rear bar off and got the 1 1/4" from Johnny. The car had scary oversteer up above 45MPH. Below that it was really fun though. You could drive in a tight circle at idle and it'd lift the rear tire off the ground.

[ArieZ]

No, I don't think I have the GLH bars.. It's a stock 1990 Omni an I have never seen a stock GLH to compare so I honestly don't know.. The scary oversteer sounds like a lot of fun but seems like it could be a little overkill for a car that will see freeways from time to time..thanks a lot for the insight!!!

[GLHNSLHT2]

This is what happens when you have to hit the brakes going into an off-ramp with the big rear sway bar and stock front: PDRM0052

Rear end kicked out after having to brake to not rear end the car in front. The car went to the INSIDE of the turn, around a light pole and back out onto the on-ramp. Mud was the only damage thankfully.

[ArieZ]

(whistles) Daamnnn, thankfully you saved it...

Yeah, I think Ima follow you're advice an go 1"1/8 rear and 1"1/4 front.. Hopefully that'll work out well... Was there any huge noticeable handling difference between the 1"1/4 and 1"1/8 front ??

[GLHNSLHT2]

I never ran bigger than a stock 1" front bar. Not sure how much difference it would of made, there wasn't much body roll either way.

[ArieZ]

Ooo ok I misunderstood you...I don't know if the stock non GLH Omnis have a front Swaybar... Ill look tomorrow morning when this damn storm isn't so bad...thanks for clarifying that for me.. If there wasn't a lot of body roll, did you ever try shock/strut tower bars?? I was looking at them and trying to decide if they'd make a big enough difference to make them worth buying...any experience with those?

[Turbomini]

the stock 90 omni have a front bar, atleast mine did, it wasnt very big but it was a sway bar, i never changed mine out when i had my 90 omni. it handled pretty well,