rear sway bar question?

Topic: rear sway bar question? (Read 1581 times) previous topic - next topic

rear sway bar question?

December 28, 2005, 11:54:30 PM

Ok guys I'm not very good at chassies tuning so I was wondering if you guys could help me out. My chassies set up so far is this: stock 88 LX V8 front sway bar 1 1/8" with Prothane bushings and end links, stock V8 LX springs, Monroe Sensatrack shocks and struts, and the stock LX V8 rear sway bar. I want to dial in a bit of overstear since the car tends to understear slightly and I was wondering how big of a rear sway bar I should get. Is the Turbo Coupe one enough or should I go with a Cobra rear bar that's 27, 28, or 29mm? I don't want to change the front bar because I just put new bushings on and, correct me if I'm wrong, but increasing the size of the front bar would increase understear. I would appriciate any help you guys could provide on the topic :D .

rear sway bar question?

Reply #1 – December 29, 2005, 12:12:11 AM

Yep, you got it right...bigger front swaybar increases understeer, bigger rear swaybar increases oversteer.

Part of the problem, though, is that the rear swaybar design on the Fox cars pretty much sucks. You could go with a bigger factory style rear swaybar but I dunno how much it'll really help. I have a 7/8" rear bar on mine (vs. the stock 3/4" one) and it doesn't feel like it makes too much of a difference.

rear sway bar question?

Reply #2 – December 29, 2005, 12:35:07 AM

I was thinking about a 29mm (1 1/8") bar that Summit sells for the 93 Mustang Cobra. Even though it's the same size as the front bar I *think* that it should do what I want. I don't want to put a much bigger bar on the front because I think that would negate the effect of the 29mm rear bar.

rear sway bar question?

Reply #3 – December 29, 2005, 12:42:52 AM

This bar:D

http://store.summitracing.com/default.asp?target=egnsearch.asp&N=115+4294925130+4294923769+4294908331+4294907915

rear sway bar question?

Reply #4 – December 29, 2005, 08:19:10 AM

That is a big f&%king rear bar.

Not sure I'd go that big...esp in a soild one. The SN-95 Cobra ones were either 26-27mm hollow, but then they switched to a 25mm solid because they kept snapping. There was also a 24mm solid bar.

I guess if you're not looking to be a drifting dork and don't want to spend all your time wth the ass end hanging out around corners I would steer far away from that bar. I would go no larger than the 7/8-1" rear bar for your set-up.

I like the 25mm solid rear bars with the larger (1 5/16") front bars and slightly stiffer front springs, at least for street use. Any kind of serious hard driving requires more testing and evaluation to see what works for the particular application.

Your wheels/tires aren't really helping the situation much either. A slightly more aggresive front alignment will help front grip as well.

rear sway bar question?

Reply #5 – December 29, 2005, 10:15:17 AM

Quote

I would steer far away from that bar

(Touché).

rear sway bar question?

Reply #6 – December 29, 2005, 08:06:27 PM

Oh I don't want to go "drifting" I just want to introduce a tendency for the car to oversteer slightly if pushed hard. Right now it understeers slightly so I just want to set it up to oversteer slightly. I think I'm going to go with a 7/8" or 1" bar like you suggested. 50resto.com has a 1" 94-98 solid Cobra rear bar that I'll probibly end up getting which I hope should do what I want.

rear sway bar question?

Reply #7 – December 29, 2005, 10:57:27 PM

This may be something for you to look through:
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=1357

rear sway bar question?

Reply #8 – December 29, 2005, 10:59:48 PM

if you realy want it/have any interest in them i have new sway bars on the way in my suspension package....they are the bullit 21mm tubular rear bar and 28mm tubular front bar though.

rear sway bar question?

Reply #9 – December 30, 2005, 11:47:28 PM

Thanks for the offer but I wanted a solid bar for the rear. With my luck I'de snap the tubular bar just going a round a corner at 3 mph:giggle:

rear sway bar question?

Reply #10 – January 05, 2006, 06:15:54 PM

Maximum Motorsports has an adjustable rear sway bar. Check it out. http://www.maximummotorsports.com/rsb.asp

rear sway bar question?

Reply #11 – January 05, 2006, 11:51:12 PM

thats a pricey sway bar.

rear sway bar question?

Reply #12 – January 06, 2006, 01:58:45 AM

MM stuff is definitely expensive, but it is top of the line. I just got my MM strut tower brace today- but that thing looks stout. They even gusset the corners where the tubes that go to the firewall meet up with the main tube.

I would expect no less- their 4-point k-member brace I used to have on my mustang was the same way. Heavy duty.

rear sway bar question?

Reply #13 – January 06, 2006, 03:07:40 PM

I was concidering this Steeda adjustable bar. It's only $129! You keep your old bar and add this one. It attatches to the axle tubes and to the frame rails with adjustable end links. The question is: Are the Mustang and T-birds rear frame rails the same distance apart?