TomP

Wow, great improvement! Yesterday, I put on the 23mm rear sway bar (from the '84 trans am), and I also put on the greasable polyurethane bushings, from Energy Suspension. Ever take a turn, and know by the "feel" of the road that you can't make the turn any tighter or your tires will slip? On highways where I've always made turns before, I can make all those turns tighter! It's insane! 'Fact, my girl yelled at me last night to slow down! The bushings look hot from the back, too...


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

Kyle F

YEp, its a lovely feeling, and just imagine what my 24mm feels like!

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89 Trans Am Turbo 3.8L All stock 43,000 miles #1053 of 1555

Past Thirdgen:
86 Trans Am w/ built 355TPI with SLP goodies and too much other stuff to List. One sweet *** car, wish I would have had a good enough Job to pay insurance on three cars so I could keep it, but for a 89 Turbo Trans Am w/ Low miles, I think I made the right choice!

KED85

Making woman scream!
TOM, YOU DA MAN !

------------------
Chat Soon,
KED85
Karl
1985 Firebird 2.8 to 3.4 swap project for Smog Happy LA, CA

AntiVTEC

Are those sway bars hollow or solid?

86Chicken

The bar is solid, VERY Solid.

I just got my new-old 23mm sway bar out of an '86 TA 'bout an hour ago and I am itchin' to feel the difference. Glad to know the effort will not be in vain! Also scored heads and intake from an 85 2.8 to use in my porting experiments. Pulling heads in a junkyard in 90deg weather really sucks. Just hope it will be worth it.

Dale

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1986 FireBird
2.8L MPFI
Gutted Cat, No muffler (Sweet Sound)
Was 700-R4 --> Now T5

Kyle F

yes bars are solid and why does such a little difference in diamater make such a difference in the cars handeling? The stiffness is a factor of Diamert to the power of 4 (S=D^4) so if you can up 2mm you get a large increase in stiffness

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89 Trans Am Turbo 3.8L All stock 43,000 miles #1053 of 1555

Past Thirdgen:
86 Trans Am w/ built 355TPI with SLP goodies and too much other stuff to List. One sweet *** car, wish I would have had a good enough Job to pay insurance on three cars so I could keep it, but for a 89 Turbo Trans Am w/ Low miles, I think I made the right choice!

TomP

Hah, this weekend I had a ricemobile up my butt... it was on a road with some tight s-curves in it. I entered those turns at about 55 mph and stayed on the throttle; the poser behind me had to drop back.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)

Blade3001

I'm trying upgrading my suspension and i'm hoping you guys can clear up a few details for me.

These 23mm/24mm sway bars you speak of, which model had 'em, I see T/A's donated yours, would a z28 or iroc have them?.

LCA's: I understand a popular mod is to move them. Before I do that it would be nice if I had them. Looks to me like the holes just aren't threaded. Can anyone see any problems with me just grabbing the hole bar and LCA setup off an '86 Camaro I found. He only wants $40 for the panhard, LCA's and bar, crome diff cover, T-body and the three intake manifolds w/ fuel rail). I bent my panhard bar ** I BENT MY WOOKIE!!! ** (I think thats what it's called)letting my rear end drop too far to the floor before I disconnected it . It could have been previously curbed but I don't remember it being bent before I changed the gas tank.

I'm grabbing that package regardless if the camaro suspension swaps to my firebird. That dif cover worth $40 to me. I bet the cost of the tool needed to thread the chasis is more than the parts.

Am I right thinking 82-84 base didn't come with LCA's? or did someone just remove it?


Thanks dudes



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'83 MPFI 2.9L V6 Dark Metallic Blue Firebird
Don't ask, just accept it

Graeme'sFirebird

Well.. with coil sprung rear ends, you HAD to have LCA's to properly locate the rear end, the same thing with a panhard bar,to locate the rear from going side to side... if you dont have them.. GET THEM.. Very bad for the axle.. are you sure ur looking at the right thing for the LCA's? They are on the rear axle, coming near the side and connecting to the subframe about under the doors. The stock ones are stamped u-shaped steel.
-bad grammar and spelling -
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Slowly getting slower 1989 Firebird.. modded heavily for a v6
"I'd rather run last in a full out race, than to NOT have run at all"
#3 Forever

My Site:
Click Here to see my car!

[This message has been edited by Graeme'sFirebird (edited August 20, 2001).]

KED85

Tom, I just measured my Front bar.
What's 1 9/32" inches?
Don't ask about the back bar, I'M REAL LAZY!!
This is what came on this car, I did not add a thing

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Chat Soon,
KED85
Karl
1985 Firebird 2.8 to 3.4 swap project for Smog Happy LA, CA

TomP

Karl, I just checked the Energy Suspension website... they don't list a 1 9/32" bar. They do show a 1 5/16" bar- and show it as being equivilant to a 33mm bar.

They show a 31.5mm as being = to 1 1/4" bar, and no equiv for a 32mm bar. Maybe the 1 9/32" is a 32mm? I mean, if 1 1/4" is really 1 8/32", and the 1 10/32" is 33mm, yours might be in the middle- 32mm? Anyone know of a metric calculator on the internet?

Blade, yeah, I think a Z28 would have 'em. An IROC definately should... and an IROC should also have the 36mm front bar, wonderbar, and quick-ratio steering box.

Altho I think Graeme's right, you're not looking at the LCA's, I'll do this anyway: Relocating the LCA's is a good move towards traction, but it's not so much a streetable mod. Also, the f-bodys that need this will also have one hell of a powerful V8 engine... it's something our v6's (and most V8's) would never need. A better idea to reduce wheelhop (and increase traction) is to "box" the LCA's. This means you take the stock "u-channel" LCA, and weld a piece of steel over the open end. GMTech (BTripp) wrote up a tech article on boxing the LCA's at http://www.sethirdgen.org - he's got pictures in there, too; you could see what we mean by LCA's.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)

86Chicken

To convert inches to mm multiply the number of inches by 25.4.

1-9/32" X 25.4 = 32.54mm

Just FYI.

Dale

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1986 FireBird
2.8L MPFI
1/2 CAI
Gutted Cat, No muffler
Was 700-R4 --> Now T5

Blade3001

I think I'm looking at the right thing. On my 87 parts car it was a bar wraped around the rear axle and LCA's were the part that hooks the bar to the the casis behind the door. On the parts car it was badly corroded and the LCA's were in peices so I didn't grab it.

I just thought mine didn't have it because it was very base model. I look at it again tonight and try to decifer my build sheet too.

My car may not pass mechanical inspection if it's supposed have it so this is of major concern now.

Graeme'sFirebird

Just FYI... if your car didnt have lca's, your rear end would bounce quite a bit when u hit a bump or pot hole...all f-bodies have them.

------------------
Slowly getting slower 1989 Firebird.. modded heavily for a v6
"I'd rather run last in a full out race, than to NOT have run at all"
#3 Forever

My Site:
Click Here to see my car!

Blade3001

Just looked at it again. I don't see where the bar would bolt to the axle. I'm gonna have to take a closer look at another F-body soon, I can't remember how that bar was held in. The two bolt holes on the chasis are there (big oblong hole and a plate welded behind that may have been threaded, probably all stripped now that I think about it). Pushing the car side to side there is 1cm of play I think it didn't have before I bent the panhard bar.

Well, this is more urgent than I thought. At least I was already in the process of aquiring the parts for cheap. This car is gonna be highway driven alot (with cell phone....) so safty is a concern.

For control arms on the build sheet it says:

13 front WHT 1300W
14 Rear XS GRN

Other items of note:

11 AXLE JJ
12 Frame D
21 STAB BAR
FRT RR
FF ___ (underscore seems to mean something on carb it has __ for AC, AIR (stuff i never had) it's -- )
22 X-MEM RED
26 ENG 6B
58 ECM 511
95 CAN
96 ENG CERT P280C

107 (I'll list the possibly relevant or interesting)

GU6 342 RATIO AXL
LC1 1732BBL
MK5 5 SPD MAN TRA
#NM4 NON CLSD LOOP
NM5 Canadian CERT
NM6 CAN RECALIBRATE

Van Nuys, CA

Shipped to:
Northgate Pontiac Buick LTD
3215 - 97th Street
Edmonton Alberta

I'm still 50/50 I never had it or someone broke it and needed beer money instead.



[This message has been edited by Blade3001 (edited August 20, 2001).]

Blade3001

OKAY my BRAIN is bent out of shape. LCA a.k.a TRAILING ARMS.

YEAH not having those would not be good LOL

That thing that connects to the body in front of the shock which is connecting to a bar which is sort of wrapped around the axl housing connecting to the thingy on the other side. I would call this a rear sway bar right? and what are those things connected to it called? At least I'm not the only one, that what the wrecker called them too, probably just talking down to my level and adding to my confusion.

That is what I'm missing

At least I can still laugh at my own stupidity.

Thank you all very much. ohhhhh the sheer sillyness of it all.....

KED85

I put my caliper on it coming from the top (love these V-6 engine bays!) and that's what came up. A bit larger than 1 1/4". But my caliper reads in 1/16" incriments, so I guessed. But it went over 1 1/4".
I have a 1 1/4" front bar on my 1974 Corvette.
That I can understand. But this large a bar on a V-6 car is (to my thinking) pretty extreme.
These bars do control a lot of body flex, tho. The F-3 cars really need all that body flex help it can get.
I can wait to make subframe connectors.

------------------
Chat Soon,
KED85
Karl
1985 Firebird 2.8 to 3.4 swap project for Smog Happy LA, CA

TomP

Luckily, my calipers read in both standard and metric! Funny though how the more you pay for calipers, the less you find metric- unless you get a funky digital one. My calipers were only $40, but they're accurate enough for me (so far)! Next time you're in a junkyard, check under the '86-up V6 f-bodies; maybe you'll find the 34mm front like Dale & I have. I've never found a 36mm, dammit... the yards around me never get IROC's or the 90-up Z28's... hell, any car over 88 is hard to find around me!

Blade, yeah, the bar underneath your axle is the anti-sway bar (aka sway bar, or stabilizar bar). "Sway Bar Mounting Bushings" hold the sway bar to the axle. "Sway bar End Links" hold the sides of the anti-sway bar to the body mounts. Hm; I guess that's what you could call those brackets in the wheel well; body mounts. The end-links have a thru-bolt that passes through (in order): washer, bushing, (sway bar end), bushing, washer, sleeve, washer, bushing, (body mount end), bushing, washer, nut (on top).

If you do change the sway bar, your old end link might be rusted solid. The thru-bolt can rust to the sleeve, and then you'll need a hacksaw. If you cover the bolt with anti-sieze, it might not rust together in the future.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)