Higher torsion sway bar ?

[Devildog]

On my 75, I have new shocks with tight bushings, etc.; however, it seems the car has much roll especially in the rear. Anyone have any comparison comments after installing a stiffer sway bar. I believe that saw a stiffer sway bar is available ?????

Thanks

Joe

[boogieman]

I recently replaced the spring bushings, added a leaf to both sides, replaced the control rod bushings, shocks,

and the sway bar bushings. I am very pleased with the cornering ability of my '79.

There are several write-ups on sway bars on Bob Johnsons website.

Might find what you are looking for there.

[mfg]

I have a set of the thicker ('84-'85) sway bars (front & rear) which I intend to install on my '63 Avanti hopefully in a few weeks....I'll post my results.

[Billy Shears]

I bought a set of the 7/8 inch sway bars from Dan Booth. I'll let you know how much difference they make when I get them installed. I hope I'll see as noticeable a difference as I saw in the car's braking after installing the Turner front disk brake kit.

[Devildog]

Thanks for alerting to your sway bar installations.

Your results should be of interest to many.

Joe

[CaffeineRacer]

Any updates on the larger sway bar install?

Edited July 7, 2015 by CaffeineRacer

[Billy Shears]

For the little I've driven it since then, I noticed a definite improvement in body roll. Unfortunately, I have not been able to drive it all that much, because right after I got it installed, the fiberglass around the bolts that anchor the front of my driver's seat let go, and I developed an electrical problem -- my alternator was not supplying as much electricity as it should at idle, and the battery was draining. The seat mounts are repaired, and I am hoping the rebuilt alternator will go back in the car tomorrow.

[Devildog]

While in St. Louis at the International meet, Dan Booth (Nostalgia) had a couple of sway bar (torsion bar) kits. He has a '7/8 inch kit' and a '1 inch kit'. He says the 1 inch is a bit strong unless really into performance driving.

I bought the 7/8 inch kit which has a 7/8 front bar and 3/4 inch rear bar plus the front rubber and brackets.

I installed the rear 3/4 inch bar replacing the old 5/8 inch bar. The cornering is better with less roll with only the rear 3/4 bar. Also it seems less rocking and rolling when passing over rough sections of road. Rear is easy to install. Dan says front is a pain and need two people, report on that later.

Joe

[Billy Shears]

Dan's a good guy. I got the 7/8 inch kit from him. It's a good setup, and I've noticed the improvement. Haven't driven the car as much as I'd like since installing it, since the damn thing seems intent on making me rebuild it into a brand new car. Once I got my electrical problem sorted out, the lower control arm bushings decided it was time to start coming apart. Since I had them replaced, I bit the bullet and decided to make an improvement I'd been wanting in the name of better handling, and put the R3 style upper control arms in (these dispense with the rubber bushing on the upper control arms, in favor of steel bushings and zerk fittings to grease them -- I haven't noticed the ride being significantly rougher either, and handling isn't much changed in normal driving, but the car should be more stable at high speed). Made sense to get that done while the front end was all apart anyway. Rebuilt my kingpins at the same time. Once that was done, the car started running warm at idle. Troubleshooting revealed that, dammit, the radiator needs to be recored. So I took the radiator out last week and sent it off to Dan. Believe it or not, he can get it done quite a bit cheaper than I've been able to find a shop to do it around here, which is surprising to me. But the car's parked until I get the radiator back in.

I keep trying to save for the repaint and interior work, but the car keeps sticking me with mechanical repairs, one after another. At this rate I might get it done once I'm too old to drive it anymore.

[Devildog]

I had the opportunity to drive the Avanti today on a 80 mile trip. I am quite pleased with just the new rear sway bar. Even the ride on straight level roads was improved, no flipping the tail in the air when crossing a railroad track. The ride is a bit firmer (not expected) but took much of the tail dance out while crossing road expansion joints, etc.

Joe

Need to have CaffeineRacer to return from his week-end outing to help me with front sway bar