I just bought a car with out a sway bar in the rear should i find one and put it in. I have 3 berlinettas and neather of them have one, was this a common thing for the berlinetta or have they been taken out? And what will it improve when and if i get one for my new 84.

 

I dont know about being common with berlinettas but they put rear ones on the medium to top models. They help with body roll. Alot of people take them out for drag racing from what ive heard. It couldn't hurt to add one you'll get better handling.

 

Thanks alot for your reply. I was just wondering if it matter to much not having it. Will it better to buy a new one or a junkyard one?

 

“Too little” rear sway bar will result in understeer, which is safe, you get into trouble, do the natural thing and let off the gas and it’s fixed. Too much results in oversteer, you get into trouble, let off the gas and the back end whips around. Most OEM’s shoot for some to quite a bit of understeer to prevent law suits. WRT to handling the neutral to slight oversteer tends to be fast until it gets uncontrollable.

My point is yes, you are loosing something in the handling department with not having enough roll stiffness, but if you’ go to fix it, make sure that the rear bar you install matches the front and the rest of the chassis or you’ll probably end up fixing a lot more then a missing rear sway bar.

 

yeah definately match your sway bars if you dowant to have better handling by adding them. But If your not taking turns hard or road racing you can leave it off.

 

Thanks for the info, I think i will go and get one on there. Now should i buy new or not? And where can i find them?

 

you can get new ones, but it doesn't matter as long as you get new bushings. if you get a used set get a ws6 or iroc swaybar set. they have the bigger bars.


EDIT: i have a set of iroc bars now that i think about it, i'll measure them and get back with you if your interested.

 

The big WS6/Iroc bars are 36/24mm hollow, there are some smaller iroc bars (I’ve seen them on some TTA’s also) that are 34/21mm hollow/solid (not positive on the rear bar). Personally (and this goes against the grain, I tend to go differently then most, and I like stiffer springs and shocks and softer sway bars) I feel that the WS6/Iroc bars are too big for most applications, especially the rear bar. I wouldn’t run the big rear bar unless you’re running _really_ soft rear springs/shocks or if you’re running much larger rear tires. Personally, I’d recommend finding a set of 32/19mm bars off of one of the performance models that didn’t have the mid/late years WS6 size bars on them. Chances are good that you already have the 32mm front bar on the car.

 

How much would be t much to pay for one? Just so I dont get ripped off or anything.

 

they came off a base model Iroc i think it's the 32/19 combo he was talking about. $20 plus shipping sound good? i just got a set of Koni sway bars that im going to be using so i have no use for them anymore. rather put them in someone elses hands than trash them or let them sit in the garage forever. Does that sound like a fair price to you guys?

 

I think that sounds like a fair prise. What is the 32/19 is that two different size bars? And wouldn't I only need the one?

 

32 front 19 rear its a matched set like 83 was talking about. if your bar is a 32 front then all you need is the 19 rear. but if it's not its better to have both, so that it is a matched set. Let me know what size your front bar is. i am still yet to get to my shop its rained the last few days and its nasty out. i'll probably end up there today sometime though.

 

my rear bar off my iroc is a 24mm i thought it was smaller but i do have a 19mm bar off of a 4th gen. They are the same thing in the rear as the 3rd gen i lined it up with my third gen bar and they are same exact shape and length same curves and all. $15 plus shipping if you want it let me know. I may have a set of end links laying around also. If i can find them I'll throw them in also.. Let me know

 

How does it attach to the rear axle. Is there a spot that is seen on the bar were the attachment goes to? Ya the price is good. But ive never dealt with shipping. Its probably more than the part right.

 

i'll check on shipping if shipping is to high ill drop the price some. but yeah theres 2 brackets that go around the rear axle that hold the bushings that go on the bar and then theres the endlinks. end links dont cost much i think mine were 4.99 each? the bushings are about the same each. but the brackets...? they look like a u-bolt and have a piece that sits on the axle tubes. i'll see if i can find a picture

 

yoiull probably have to go to the junkyard and get some other things like the body mounts that bolt to the car. coiuldnt find a picture ill get under mine and take one.

 

32/21 is the combination that came on my 83TA. Worked well enough with the stock shocks and springs on the street. I'm finding that 32/21 seems about right with the Prokit, Koni Yellows and poly bushings that I have on there now for open track use.

 

I know theres a u bolt kind of clamp that goes on it. Is there a special spot or something mark on the bar some way to tell were they go? And thanks for all your guys help.

 

i dont think that wheres a certain spot. as long as it's on the straight part of the sway bar, and not in the way of the brake lines it can go wherever i guess.. i just put mine back where the rust ring was from the original lol oh well. Did you check and see what size fron bar you had? i dont want to sell you something that wont work for you. i never put my sway bar back on my 88 project car yet so i dont have a picture. When i get into an open garage this weekend I'll snap a picture of the sway bar.

 

no i havent measured it. Actually dont really know how to. Its the diameter of the bar right? What do you do measure it with a ruler?

 

more or less yes i used an adjustable wrench clamped it around the bar, then measured the length between the jaws. if you have a metric ruler you'll be good otherwise do it in inches and find a english to metric converter

 

Either use something like a dial caliper or wrap a piece of string around it, measure it's length and then divide by Pi (3.14...). The measurement has to be fairly accurate since a mm is a significant difference here.

 

Since you car did not come with a rear sway bar. The front sway bar is most likely about 28 - 29 MM. My car came with a 28mm front bar. This small bar is not suitable for used with any of the available rear sway bars.

The Bars you want are the 34mm hollow front, 23mm rear. I just installed these on my 82 Bird yesterday. I have Eibach Pro springs and the rest of the suspension upgrades STB, SFCs, LCAs, Ajustable Panhard, LCA relocation brackets, wonderbar.

I got the sway bars from TDS along with all mounting hardware, 1LE endlinks, and bushings. The complete swaybar set with everything needed and shipping came to less then $300.

Car is well balance, I did some munevers last night that I would not had attempted before.