[velocedoc]

Just wondering if anyone knows where I can get a kit or the parts to reverse the front sway bar from the front to the rear? Alan Ward used to make a set up with solid bushings for racing, where the rear sway bar was supported from extended steering limit bars, instead of the front cross member. The bolts would strip out under hard corners, hence the modification.
Thanks!

 

[Bruce Colby]

Try calling Alan Ward. I saw one he made for someone about a year ago. I think his phone number is 702-898-1270.

 

[genericwood]

It's not exactly what you asked, but Jack Beck makes a rear mount tubular sway bar kit. It's nice because it cuts a lot of weight too.

Erik

 

[velocedoc]

Erik, I was given a bit of advice a long time ago by Howard Jackson of JAFCO fame. He said that a tubular bar is stronger than a solid bar besides saving weight because the tension of the bar is carried on the outside of the steel. I don't know if this is fact or fiction. An engineer can verify or deny this claim. Any thing Jack Beck does is first class, but how streetable is his kit? If it is metal to metal, that is ok for racing, but hellish on the street.

 

[genericwood]

Beck's bar uses rod ends and a bushing with very little rubber in it. Love it on the race car, but may be rough and noisy on the street. Jack supplies it with a 1 1/4" bar with .120" wall thickness. But a nice aspect of this set up is you can easily order bars of different wall thicknesses if you want to change the rate. Again, probably more important on a race car than one for the street.

I'm not an engineer, but you are correct that the middle part of a solid bar adds very little torsional resistance. You can achieve a given rate with a tubular bar that weighs a lot less. I think Speedway Engineering has a rate chart on their web site that will help with the details.

Erik

 

[101 Alfa Mike]

Stiffness calcs for tubular bars much the same as for solid bars. Say you have a 1" hollow bar with 3/4" id. Calculate the stiffness for a solid 1" bar and for a 3/4" bar. Subtract the two and you have the rate for your hollow bar.