Other than busted knuckles and a headache? Can I use the one from my front just moved to the back? I have a spare just laying around... I think I read something about someone doing that here, but couldn't find it in a search.
Read these threads about a rear sway bar on a leaf spring car. These guys remove them. http://www.corner-carvers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25229 and http://www.corner-carvers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9550
Well, if my rear springs are as stiff as they are, and these guys want it looser, I guess this is NOT a good idea for my car.
And the stock swaybar is going to be too small for my new front end, isn't it? I have no idea what size the stock one is but it seems pretty small.
I haven't tried mocking it up, so i wasn't sure if it would. Not sure if it would benefit from it at all, even if it DID fit.
On my ugly ass Comet, after putting on the front and rear Addco bars, I noticed an improvement in both corners and on the freeway. No longer did the car have a "tinny" feeling, the stability was increased quite a bit. From what I noticed, the front and rear sway bars are a bit different in shape, not sure if they would interchange. After installing a front Monte Carlo bar from TOPORANGER, the front of the car felt even better. The Comet has the following alterations from stock(as far as weight is concerned): -No rear seats -Front Corbeau buckets -Removed all A/C items including under-dash box -Champion aluminum radiator -Edelbrock 2121 -225/60-15 front tires -275/60 rear tires -Moved battery to trunk, mounted on passenger side of car. Group 34 battery. -Rear extended shackles(I know) mounted on first bolt hole,about a 1.5" raise The car actually sits pretty damn high in the front. Oh I forgot to add, the front and rear springs are original to the car.
My experience in using rear swaybars with these old unibodies is similar to Mad Goon's. Also keep in mind that every car and driving style is different and there is no such thing as a blanket statement that covers us all. If you look around at the more agressive suspensioned street cars.. more than 70% will have a rear bar setup on them.. so, there's that. IMHO.. unless you've totally reengineered the entire rear suspension on one of these cars.. a rear sway bar is almost a necessity.
I have subframe connectors, caltracs, and new four leaf springs. And soon to have a Mustang II "type" power rack and pinion front suspension with a 1" swaybar. So my "old unibody" car isn't quite like it was on the showroom floor. I was just wondering if I could use my front one on the rear, but too late now. I threw all that crap away off my floor. Just kept the items I have up for sale.
with 4-leaf springs, I'd suggest a panhard bar or watts link prior to adding a rear bar. With the 1 inch up front, you might just be as balanced as you need to be.
I bought a sway bar from a guy that used to race circle track Pintos in a Mini Stock division for my MII front end - it is 1 inch diameter and originally came on a Mustang Cobra II - he told me this is the largest MII stock bar
