grantmac

I was just wondering if anyone has tried running a swaybar thicker than the 1 1/8" ones offered by the aftermarket companies? It's just that with my 2nd gen front suspension swap I've ended up with a much stiffer front swaybar. It's the TII swaybar so if I have to I can step down to the GX swaybar, but even that one is stiffer than the RB or ST unit. Also I'm wondering if I can reinstall my rear bar (currently removed) or even go with an SA rear bar to balance the car out. Any experience would be great, I read the grassroots motorsport article on swaybars but I'm looking for something more specific.
Grant

brandon davis

iTrader: (3)

i have a koni 1 1/8 one with poly end links and urethane sway bar bushings and it was night and day differance handling and just plain steering felt better.

brandon davis

iTrader: (3)

what difference would you have with an SA rear sway bar? I thought they were the same size.

deceiver

do you have any information on the 2nd gen front swap.. does it include the rack and pinion setup.. I have about 1.5 inches of play in the steering on the gsl-se and would like to use a rack setup if possible instead of dumping cash into a worm that will wear out in a couple hundred miles.

grantmac

www.bcrx7.com/swap.pdf this is a very involved project. If you can't afford to take the car off the road for more than a month, don't have a welder, can't weld, have yearly inspections, want to keep your car original, and don't have a pile of cash sitting around doing nothing then it really isn't for you. The above page is the most in depth write-up and you will still have to do a lot of thinking on your own, for instance you will have to make your own engine mounts.
The SA rear-bar is significantly thicker than the FB bar, this was changed due to the oversteering tendencies in the SA; that and people just can't drive.
Grant

Phiber Optik

iTrader: (2)

I noticed with my SA (with SE suspension) i can't fit bigger then 1 1/8" front sway bar without hitting the unibody struture below the inner fenders. I have the rear bar completely removed and i like the way it drives.

BTW i'm in Victoria BC also, Central Saanich to be exact.

grantmac

I'm in the Bay and Quadra region of Victoria, but my car is currently at my buddies shop in north cowichan. Having swapped the entire subframe and having to drill my own swaybar mounting points I can pretty much run any thickness I want. The TII bar is only 24mm but the "arms" on it heading back to the control arms are about 5" shorter than the FB bar, basically this means it's going to act like a much stiffer bar; almost like it's around 1.5" which is a huge bar!
Grant

Phiber Optik

iTrader: (2)

I wonder if the SA rear bar would increase oversteer with a stiff front bar installed?

Oversteer is fun, unless you're at the racetrack.

grantmac

Any larger rear bar will increase the oversteer. I AutoX'd last year with a stock front-bar and no rear bar and I really liked the balance. I'm hoping to keep that same balance just with a very stiff front end and equally stiff rear end. I'm probably just going to end-up putting my rear-bar back on for a start if I don't like the way it performs with just the new front bar and no rear. Ideally I'm gonna try for the smaller GX front bar and an adjustable rear-bar, but that gets expensive unless I modify a stock bar to be adjustable.
Grant