sway bar question

[89Waredaytona]

i gots me a lil dilemma. i've read in various different books and sites that upgrading the front or rear bar and not the other will cause an imbalance in the car and make it unpredictable in driving situations. my car for all intents and purposes is an 89 ES turbo car. of course it has the smaller sway bars than the shelby's. can i upgrade the front and not worry bout the rear? or do really have to do it all? what about boxing in the rear axle, wouldnt also simulate a bigger bar in the rear?

Scott

[Reaper1]

Putting the larger bar on the front will help with body roll up front, but it will also cause the car to push more. In order to balance the car out, then yes, it would be a good thing to put on the larger rear bar from the Shelb y car(the whole rear alxe), OR you could use the bolt-on Poly Bushings rear bar. THAT will make for a car the handles VERY well. I'd put on the smaller rear PB bar before I even considered the larger front bar. That will make more of a positive difference in the handling of the car. Combine that with a good alignment and it'll be night and day.

If you do decide to go with the larger bar up front, then you DEFFINATLY need the rear bar. Either the smaller or larger PB one with work fine, it just depends on how much twitchiness you can handle.


I DO NOT reccomned boxing the rear axle. While it IS effective, and it DOES work...it is highly unpredictable as far as how it will effect the handling of the car. It could cause a situation where extreme adjustment is required to make the car driveable. Trust me on this one...I know from first-hand experience.

[89Waredaytona]

i was thinking of just boxing in the maybe the middle 6 inches or so? not the whole thing. i've heard if you box the whole thing it makes for a rear end happy slider..... not what i want. i already have better springs and dampers, i just want that last bit to really make it efective.

[Reaper1]

I wouldn't suggest doing any kind of boxing like that. I'd got with the 7/8" rear sway bolt-on rear bar. I beleive you'll find that to be a much better solution.

If you only box the middle of the axle you are asking for a problem because you are putting stress on areas of the axle that were never designed to have that kind of stress put on it. I honestly think this is a bad solution to a simple problem...but that's just me. YMMV

[89Waredaytona]

thats true, i never looked at it like that. so, where can i find an add-on rear bar? and are they hard to install?

[Jack's Dodge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 89Waredaytona thats true, i never looked at it like that. so, where can i find an add-on rear bar? and are they hard to install?

www.polybushings.com

Or you can get a solid rear bar from the yard, like th one I am pulling this week. Fairly easy to pull, and they often have rear disc brakes attached. Two for one deal

[Reaper1]

^^ what he said