Rear anti-sway bar

[Tony Radford]

I would like to hear from folks who have added that rear anti sway bar after having driven without one first. Ever since I upsized by rear tires, I get rubbing on hard turns. How much of a difference does having the bar make? Do high speed turns seem more stable? Does the ride seem harder in general?

[ralphscott]

Tony -- It make a lot of difference. With a good 4 wheel alignment and front and rear sway bars it is like the car is on rails. I went 2 years without the rear sway bar then installed one.

Hope this helps

Ralph

PS no more rear tire rubbing either on hard turns

[eliminator]

Personally, I would not drive my car without a rear sway bar....period.

A front and rear sway bar are a must on these cars then the next thing is having both properly adjusted. If they are out of adjustment, it's just one step away from not having one.

[RJacobsen]

OK Rick, I'll be the one to ask, How do you adjust the sway bar?

[eliminator]

Rod,

I think you already know!!

1) Just like a lot of other things when it comes to the suspension and adjustments on these cars, the ride height has to be established. If your ride height has changed then the sway bar adjustment has probably changed.

2) Start on a good level surface, or if you are so lucky to have access to a lift, (they are set up level).

3) A properly adjusted sway bar is in a neutral mode, no load. This is true for the front and or rear sway bar. Each is independent of the other.

4) What this means if you take one of the bolts out of the eye of the sway bar that goes through a heim joint that is adjustable,(there are two joints on each end of the front and rear sway bars). The bolt should easily slide out and slide back in, everything is lined up in a neutral position.

5) Unless you have had the sway bar adjusted before this is probably not going to be the case. Before I even started I would jack the car up and break all of the bolts loose, reinstall and just snug the bolts down. Drive the car get everything settled again before you start adjusting. The reason for doing this is that you are going to have to make the adjustment with the car on the ground as driven. Can't make the adjustment by jacking up the car. And as we all know these cars are low to the ground.

6) Reach up under the car (pain in the rear without a lift) and take the bolt loose from one end of the sway bar what I call the eye and see if it will slide out, (dosen't matter which side you start on) you will probably have to force it out because the other end of the sway bar is attached to the oposite wheels suspension and end of the sway bar is putting a load on this particular joint (either pushing this end up or pulling it down). Once you get the bolt out and try to slide it back in it is not going to go because now the sway bar is in a neutral mode (no load) position. The 2 heim joints have locking nuts, break one or both loose and adjust the heim joints on the threaded steel rod to lengthen or shorten the overall length, whichever is needed. When you have it where the bolt will easily insert back in the eye of the sway bar it is in the correct adjustment (neutral, no load).

7) Do this front and rear with the car on the ground and now the sway bars are adjusted correctly. I like to have the adjustments made so that the end of the sway bar with the hole it are pretty close to being in a horizontal poition. To acheive this you will probably have to take both ends off (each side) and adjust accordingly. When you are adjusting the threaded rod that the heim joints are on be sure that there is plenty of threaded rod going into the heim joint (this rod has rigth hand and left hand threads in order to lengthen it or shorten the ajusters).

8) After the first time it will be a simple procedure (still a pain in the rear) to get to everything. Sure like my lift when it comes to sway bar adjustment.

After all of this is time for a cold one...

[Aggressor]

Rick is correct on the use of the rear bar.

Like the American Express commercial states - Never leave home without it!

The benefit is that it forms a link tying the side-to-side vertical movement of your rear suspension together. While the cornering ability is much enhanced, I also feel that it is a major factor in the great way that my car hooks up in straight line acceleration. Coupled with a Power-lock rear it becomes a bit harder to break the rear loose. When you get on it - Tail squats down -Headlights go skyward -Your future comes rushing at'cha. As they say in the old county - She just s$#s and gits.

Good call on the cold one. I'll have one also.
-Geary

[Tony Radford]

Well, if I can clear it with Dave Ramsey, I suppose I'll get one. Is it a bummer to install? Do you have to remove the back wheels? Is it best to place jack stands under the frame on either side?

[olblu66]

Tony--- You know what dave will say. Are you're baby steps completed and if so CASH ONLY .

[Tony Radford]

Pat, I already know I'd never get that one past him. But then he doesn't have a Cobra, which is about two knotches above crack addition. I figure I owe myself something since I chopped up my Visa, Bestbuy and Circuit City credit cards. Did you see my post on Club Cobra regarding the show mid month up at Melton's museum? I think Bill and Susan might show up. It's an awesome setting up near Road Atlanta. You've got to go.

[olblu66]

Is it a car show? Do you drive you're car there. Or do tou go see his cars? I've heard about his home in Gainsville.

[Tony Radford]

Go to the website: www.ernestallenbenefit.com and check it out. It's a car show, so bring the hanger queen.

[PhillipM]

Are there any recommendations on anti-sway bar size, where to buy, etc....? I am in the middle of my build now and would like to order one soon.


Thanks Phillip

[Tony Radford]

Phillip, Unique has them. The last time I spoke to Alan, he had at least one in stock. I'm sure that's the safest way to go, to make sure it's the right one. Since my wife is going through treatment for breast cancer, I've got to come up with some cash for the cancer-cure walk-a-thon that Unique is sponsoring. The sway bar will be the next investment. First things first.

[TurnpikeBoy]

Pull the Unique-installed, 3/4" front bar and put it on the back with its' bushings and brackets - use good self-tapping screws to mount the brackets, and get the rest of the hardware (Heim joints & studs) from Alan.

Then, get Alan to get you a 7/8" bar for the front, with bushings and brackets. You won't believe the difference in handling....absolutely no more body roll, much sharper turn-ins.

Just went thru this, this past winter. Had to get the bar from Addco, who hose you price-wise and neglect to install proper end-link bushings. After an angry letter and providing the bushings, they re-drilled and installed the bushings and it finally got in. Well worth the efforts and time.




-Roger

[PhillipM]

Tony, first and foremost you and your family are in our prayers. I spoke to Alan Wednesday and I think I will get the car done first before adding an anti-sway bar. See how it feels on the road because I have never driven basically a race car for the street. Then once I am ready, give Alan a call and order one.

Roger, thanks for the information. I have put your helpful advice in a text file for future reference. I do that from time to time to assist my failing memory.


Thanks for the helpful advice.

Phillip

[Tony Radford]

Thanks Phillip. She's doing real well and we only pray that it stays gone. If it's not a cash issue, I would install the bars during the build. It will be much easier and from everything I've heard, it's a highly beneficial upgrade. My car does roll quite a bit in hard turns and I think it would be awesome to make it track like a go kart. I had my suspension adjusted by J3 Motorsports here in Atlanta and the bars would probably take it to a whole new level. Roger's idea sounds compelling. It looks like the front bar might be hard to get off of an assembled car though.

[sllib]

Question: How would a 7/8" bar effect the already-miniscule clearance between the bar and a Spal fan?

[Glenview289]

Tony,
Use this link to a thread ( http://www.uniquecobra.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5473 ) to see a picture of our car, Brian & Bill Carlsons 289 FIA, at the point when we attached the rear sway bar. As you can see, it is much easier with everything exposed and I would definately recomend doing it now rather than later. You obviously will have the rear end and half shafts attached. The threaded inserts are drilled and tapped (hammered) into the frame and then welded. After that, the assembly is pretty much straight forward. It is critical to get the sway bar adjusted correctly as Rick describes so well above. Other pictures show the sway bar and the heim joint attachment components. We also beefed up our front sway bar to 3/4". We changed the mounting brackets to give us more room for the fan that we had and also moved the radiator. This may not be required, but was in keeping with our motto to over engineer if ever possible. If you look at the thread carefully, you will see that we spent that time modifying our chassis to what is the standard from Unique today. I have also attached a picture of our car at Hallet Raceway two weeks after Homecoming. This shows the affect of two 3/4" sway bars in a 70 mph left hand corner. The car handled great, with no surprises. We are even thinking of upgrading to 7/8" or 1". We were fortunate to be able to ride along in our car as a past pro BMW road racer and Skip Barber Racing instructor put it through paces. He was very impressed with the way the car was designed and handled, despite the fact that is was only 3 weeks old. (O.K.- 14 years and 3 weeks). A true testimonial to the Weavers!

[Tony Radford]

I was under the impression that the rear bar was a "simple" bolt-on upgrade. Is this not true on cars built in 1998? Upsizing the front bar doesn't appear to be an option for me. There is a three micron gap between my Spal puller and the existing bar.

[eliminator]

Tony,

With the necessary hardware it would be a bolt on application for your car. All the frames for some time now have the threaded inserts welded in the frame for the rear sway bar. All the Jag rear suspensions have the sway bar mounting brackets in place.