Mod front sway bar for more stiffness

[Racer47]

Has anyone tried drilling another set of link holes further up the arm for increased front roll bar stiffness. There is plenty of room. The only downside I see is that the connecting links would be angled somewhat. But it seems like it would work.

My current combination of springs and bars makes the car very neutral, good for autox and screwing around on the street but probably too loose for any track days. I just need a touch more front roll stiffness.

 

[DusterRT]

There are probably going to be some nay-sayers, but this has been on my list of things to experiment with as soon as I saw how much material there was forward of the factory holes. More power to you if you beat me to it.

 

[darkstar november]

try buying adju endlinks before you cut into the bar itself would be my thought

 

[ArizonaGT]

Adjustable rear bar is what you need.

 

[Racer47]

Adjustable rear bar is what you need.

Sure, the problem could always be solved by throwing more money at it. And believe me, in my 25 yrs of racing I've thrown my fair share of money. But this is just a toy street car to me. And I just paid $75 for a new 22 mm rear bar from CDC, which took away my understeer. I'm not buying another rear bar just to be able to soften it a little. Plus a small adjustment to the front bar will have more effect than that same adjustment to the rear.

When I get the time and ambition, I'm going to do it. DusterRT, I'll let you know how it works (and please do the same if you go first).

Darkstar, adjustable links won't change the roll stiffness. It would just allow you to pre-load the bar (or more likely to remove pre-load).

 

[19COBRA93]

FWIW, I'm running a takeoff GT500 front bar. It has a second hole further forward (by about 3 inches) than the regular mounting hole. The hole is too small as it is to be used, so it needs to be opened up more to get the link stud through it, which is what I did. I've been running it that way for over a year now and it's been great. A vast improvement over the stock GT bar, and a fair improvement over using the regular mounting position on the GT500 bar.

IMO, for the guy on a budget, this could be a great upgrade.

 

[Racer47]

Thanks for the info. Is the GT500 bar stiffer than a GT bar? If yes and with a 3" shorter arm that must be a very stiff setup. Whats on the back to balance it? A 25mm GT500 rear bar?

Got any pics of the Capri??

And to ArizonaGT, I re-read my reply and it may have seemed a little smart assy, I didn't intend it to be. I was just trying to explain my state of mind with this car. Nice track pic btw.

 

[19COBRA93]

Thanks for the info. Is the GT500 bar stiffer than a GT bar? If yes and with a 3" shorter arm that must be a very stiff setup. Whats on the back to balance it? A 25mm GT500 rear bar?

The GT500 bar is stiffer/bigger than the GT bar. The rear bar is an FRPP unit. I'm also running FRPP "K" springs, and GT500 takeout struts. It seems to be a very balanced setup as far as budget setups go.

Got any pics of the Capri??

 

[DusterRT]

Damn...probably the nicest Capri I've ever seen.

That makes me kick myself for passing up a solid, running 5.0 5-speed Capri a while back for $700..

 

[Racer47]

very nice Capri, no doubt