Interesting sway bar setup on a 70's racer...

[Floorless240z]

in the late 70's both my father and uncle purchased their Z's. My uncle's is a 73 with a g nose and flares, he purchased it from a prominent local scca racer.

 

 

I recently put it on the lift at my shop as we needed to replace the clutch hydraulics. Found this rather... interesting sway bar setup. No bushings front or rear, steel "brackets" welded onto the frame rail up front, and in the rear the sway bar mounts to a threaded rod, the sway bar goes above the control arm/axle as opposed to between them. I also took photos of my dad's setup (aftermarket sways but normal mounting) for contrast.

 

uncle's front:

 

 

dad's front:

 

 

uncle's rear:

 

 

 

 

Dad's rear:

 

 

 

the travel of the sway caused the mount for the brake line to come loose, and even wore a hole in the chassis:

 

 

[Floorless240z]

My uncle recently told me the hard lines were intentionally removed, citing easier changing of the rear struts. Interesting, but seemingly unsafe.

 

I was hoping to convince him to go with a more traditional sway bar setup, as the hole in the rear chassis should be inspiration for change.

 

I wonder if he can use the same sways with stock mounts and bushings, or will have to get another set of sways

[texis30O]

Looks like they made due with what they had. I.E. used a sway bar that measures the same overall but not for a z. But what the hell do i know.

[RebekahsZ]

"Just some good ole boys.

Never meanin' no harm.

Beats all you ever saw,

Been in trouble with the law

Since the day they was born."

 

Have fun with those old cars. That's all that matters.

[srgunz]

I see your uncles car has the aluminum offset bushings in the rear as well.

[rjracin240]

Have the same aluninum blocks for the rear mount of my sway bar, just dont have the rest of that hack set-up. Found the adjustability of that rear bar interesting though. Found my rear bar set-up at a wrecking yard, seems to work good though!

 

Edited July 6, 2013 by rjracin240

[gnosez]

The BSR 240/260/280 had a hole cut through the front rails and they inclosed a 1.5 inch bar in a welded on pipe.