rear sway bar, original 1/2 inch

7173Mustangs.com

Help Support 7173Mustangs.com:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jan 29, 2012
Messages
1,316
Reaction score
14
Location
Belgium
My Car
Mustang Mach 1 (1973)-351Ci-4V
Hi,

I will buy a used original rear sway bar (1/2 inch), can i use that in combination with the 9" standard leaf springs/rear shock plates?

If possible a few photo's from the mounting points.

All advice is welcome

Eddy :huh:

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi,

I will buy a used original rear sway bar (1/2 inch), can i use that in combination with the 9" standard leaf springs/rear shock plates?

If possible a few photo's from the mounting points.

All advice is welcome

Eddy :huh:
You will need these to attach the end links to. You will need 2 of them if you don't already have them.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mustang-Rear-Sway-Bar-Mounting-Plate-1969-1973-/381125495240?

I think that the holes for the rubber mounts are already pre-drilled. I'll see if I can get a picture tomorrow if no one else posts it before I can.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Eddy

If you don't car about being OEM you can go the route I'm going. Addco 990 bar and CJ pony sells the plate you need that John pointer out. The 990 bar is an OEM replacement so it looks like the original but thicker.

http://m.summitracing.com/parts/aco-990

Jim

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Eddy

If you don't car about being OEM you can go the route I'm going. Addco 990 bar and CJ pony sells the plate you need that John pointer out. The 990 bar is an OEM replacement so it looks like the original but thicker.

http://m.summitracing.com/parts/aco-990

Jim
Hi Jim,

 


What's the difference when you use a thicker sway bar, is the original too thin and too supple?





 
Eddy,

Did you increase the size of your front bar? This was what I found and used when I was deciding on my setup. There are a lot of opinions and studies on this. I would probably talk to the manufacturer. I used option 3 because I increased the size of my front ones. So far no issues with my decision but everyone is different and uses their cars differently.

1) Increasing just the front bar, the front tires see a larger percent of total weight transfer which increases front tire loading and reduces front tire grip slightly (and also the opposite effects on the rear tires)... BUT you also get a reduction in roll which reduces how positive your camber goes in hard cornering for a large increase in grip. The end result is a good increase in cornering grip with perhaps a very slightly higher bias towards understeer. Now, before a thousand people jump on that last statement, let me explain. I know that people are also putting on big front bars and saying "I got less understeer". I would contend that what their butt-dyno is telling them is not the whole truth. The real story is, the increased grip (from roll reduction) allowed them to go faster in places where they previously had understeer. So yes, perhaps they experience understeer less dramatically than before, but the bias has still shifted towards understeer more... it's just that the limits are now significantly higher so this bias is less apparent. I'd say that the front tires see a moderate gain in grip while the rear tires see a significant gain in grip.

2) Increasing just the rear bar, the rear tires will see a larger percent of the total weight transfer which increases rear tire loading (conversely taking load off the front tires) so you get a slight reduction in rear grip and a slight increase in front grip for a more oversteer-biased setup, but the decrease in lateral roll also increases total grip, just like above. The net change is more grip, more oversteer. I have heard a lot of people say "a rear bar increases oversteer by reducing rear traction". This is not exactly right. What it is doing is taking load off the front tires, thus increasing front traction where it is severely lacking, AND increasing load on the rear tires while also reducing roll. I would say that rear traction is increased marginally overall, while front traction is increased signifcantly.

3) Increasing both bars, you get double the reduction in roll and no real change in bias. This is the way to go, IMHO. You don't change the overall bias of the chassis, but you do vastly increase grip on both front and rear tires. I'd say that both front and rear tires see a significant increase in grip.

 
Eddy,

Here is a picture of the bushing mounting area, there are one on each side. Don't have a picture of the factory end link mounting as I modified my traction bars to connect the end links to.

IMG_0400.JPG

 
just my 2 looneys worth (canadian for $2).. guess ford must have made many tests, and spent lots of cash to make the proper bar thickness's, and i would stick with what was original, to start with, but yes as stated above...if you increase rear bar , you need to increase front bar proportionately....i wonder if anyone made a program? like the engine dyno software program?, to see if and how it would change the handling of the car?

 
Back
Top