I fitted my 240z with custom brackets and 280z rear sway bar

[Guest mattrp]

I just finished today fitting my 240z with a rear sway bar from a 280z. I made custom brackets from 1/16" sheet steel on both sides of the floor, and then u-bolted the bar to the brackets. No rubber bushings, no slop, no lean. Man does it change the car. I have to be careful now until I stiffen up the front because I have undone all of the factory understeer characteristics. Overall it handles better, leans very little, but is not very forgiving. Hopefully some urethane in the front will balance it out a little. I'll try to take pictures of the brackets, but just like my clutch bracket pictures, I'm slow.

 

Is the front 280z sway bar the same shape but stronger than the 240 one. I want a cheep upgrade for the front too.

 

Total cost for a rear swaybar $20 worth of bolts and sheet steel + $5 sway bar from pick-n-pull.

 

Matt

72 500Z

[Drax240z]

Cool mod! Maybe its something I should look into doing too, just to save some dough. Let me make sure I have this right, you made the U shaped brackets out of sheet metal, and made them so they hole the sway bar tight to the frame, with no bushings? Does that sound correct?

 

Any problems you ran into doing the swap?

 

Drax240z

[Guest mattrp]

Not quite.

 

Imagine a flat piece of sheet steel with about a 45 degree bend in one end. Bolt the bent end to the sloped part of the floor behind the seat and the flat part to the frame rail. Then use U-bolts (u shaped bolts) to wrap around the bar and bolt those through the sheet steel mount you just made.

 

I have been playing with the design, it doesn't move at all even under stress, and the rear end is real tight. No more of that hopping around tight corners. Rainy days will be scary though. I need to tighten up the front soon. Other than that you can use the power to wip the rear end around to the straight. Pretty scary at first, but I will practice on some abandoned roads to get the feel so I'm ready for the autocross.

 

Matt

72 500z