RE: IML: Sway Bar QUESTION /Kits

[Kenyon Wills <imperialist1960@xxxxxxxxx>]

I am seeking a set of oversized sway bars for my 72 GT
project.  I have met many people that sell other
people's sway bars.  I have met some that fabricate
sway bars, but don't seem to understand the science
behind them.  I have met nobody that really seems to
KNOW what they're about, and I've spent several hours
on the phone and even more searching around, so I'll
ask here (but I did try to do research!):

I want the flattest, firmest car for cloverleafs and
so forth.

Stock front bar: 1"
Rear bar: never part of the car's design.

QUESTION:  what is the appropriate ratio?  If I go 1.5
front, is 1 in rear too much?  Is 1.25F / 7/8R going
to be enough?  I seek someone with hard facts about my
4700lb application, so PLEASE - no email armchair
quarterbacking on this on.  I normally don't mind
opinion items, but am seeking some science/experience
on this one, and nobody else seems to have ever done
this to an Imp of this era.....

Firm Feel offers a 7/8" bar that they make for other
mopars, the rear area apparently was pretty much the
same thing dimensionally in the late 1960's/early
1970's.

They offer up to 1.25" bar up front and will fab
whatever I want at significant expense and lead time.

I have found that the individual components are
available, cheap, and easy to get, so am contemplating
having bars bent for me with the prospect of saving
50%.  I have a front as a template, so handing a guy
with a bender a straight bar should not cost the $300
difference between the components and finished,
marked-up-with-profit special order items.

  

Bars get exponentially stiffer the thicker you go is
my understanding, and nobody else is dumb enough to
try to make an Imperial actually handle well.

The few that have done so with C-Bodies have used
thick front bars.

It is my understanding that the general idea is that
one can have firm springs or firm sway bars but that
you generally don't want too much firm on both (so
better to do one or the other all the way), and that
suits me fine since I'm too lazy to work on installing
beefier torsion bars (found someone that can actually
fabricate them in extended lengths for Imperial) and
stiffer leaf-springs.

QUESTION: Does anyone personally know of anyone that
actually fabricates their own sway bars and knows what
they are doing?  I have the front off and it will work
as a template.  Rear should be no problem to measure
out.  West Coast beats east coast due to having to
ship the template stock front bar as a pattern.

--------------

Some things I've learned along the way about
suspension:

Leaf springs supposedly work best when flatter and
unarched when loaded, as they have less latitudinal
flex.

Energy Suspention Co. is AWESOME - they make their
soft parts out of polyurethane and that is much firmer
than the stock rubber (sorry if this was mentioned - I
went to sleep on the ebay vendor debate).  I have had
nothing but good energy from them in this process, and
I wasn't spending a dime on them.

Some (all?) Dodge Vipers use Imperial Specification
Ball Joints in their steering.  Guess what the
biggest, meatiest ball joint they had in the parts
inventory was when they specced the car out and wanted
the best?....   I suppose those will therefore cobe
available for some time to come?

Leaf-sping bushings at the rear can be inserted by
unbolting and dropping that end of the spring.  The
fronts must be pushed out with a press or melted out
with heat - both suggesting that spring be removed
completely for best results.  Doing just the rears may
be a nice touch to the car if things are otherwise
solid up front on the leafs.

Sway bar linkages are mostly rubber-bushing from the
factory.  Next small step is to use polyurethane pivot
and end bushings (strongly recommended) as they will
not compress easily and therefore "hook up" / load
that much faster, allowing the bar to affect the car
that much sooner.  

The real way to get a sway bar to be firm is to use
heim joints or tie-rod ends.  I will try the heims, am
not willing to invest the energy to figure out how to
make tie-rod ends work on my car.

The Performance Suspension people that Ken referred
all of us to in that link is simply reselling ADDCO
bars that are the same as what's on the front.  Since
that's a low wear item, the rear bar is the only item
that's of interest, and they do no custom work, so
bigger bars are out from them.




Kenyon Wills
 
 






















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