Should I remove my front sway-bar? Drag setup vs handling

[Alf]

i removed my front swaybar off of my 69 camaro and the handling really dropped off. It still feals stable at spead, but showed no measurable performance at the drag strip. so it depends if you like the handling of your car then figure it is going to get noticably worse when you remove the sway bar. If it is a mostly drag car or that is all you care about, removing the sway bar does help slightly. all the guys in the F.A.S.T. class muscle car drags cut the rubber bushings oversize and grease them so it looks like its there but does nothing.

[jnjdragracing]

We removed our sway bar and have no problem on the other end at 147 mph. The only problem we have ran into is when you unload the car "lift off the gas pedal" going that fast. But this problem is from a short wheel base. If you remove the front sway bar also install some kind of fron end limiter to limit your front end travel. Also install a bushing in the rear shock strut to limit the squating, you want the rear half shafts to be even not angeled during a hard launch. You will have to play with this setup to fine tune it like we did. Our 60 ft. is around 1.3. Hope this helps you.

 

ps. Weight is a factor in drag racing.... the rule of thumb is for every 100lbs you remove from the car ( weight ) you should gain a 10th of a second. Our Z car weighs in around 2300lbs or so.

 

 

 

I have heard that for alittle better traction and less weight people remove there front sway bar to help the front tires lift up during the launch. The theory is there but i'm worried about high speed stability. I have poly bushings in all my suspension with aftermarket struts and springs. My trap speeds will be 110+ The car will be driven to and from the track on the highway at highway or greater speeds. If I remove the front sway bar will my high speed handling become more vague and wander more? Thanks

[JMortensen]

If as Jon mentioned stiction in the sway bar bushes is a problem' date=' using poly bushes, I've had good results from wrapping the bar pivot area with Teflon tape than applying the special poly grease over the tape. The sort of Teflon tape plumbers use as a thread sealer.

 

Virtually eliminates stiction, providing the bushes are not too tight in the first place.[/quote']

I think drag racers get more droop out of the front with the swaybar off mostly because of the end link bushings. When you tighten the endlink the bushings want to pull the end of the swaybar parallel to the control arm. There is some stiction in the bushings that mount the bar to the frame rail and teflon tape along with shimming the bushings up so that they aren't preloaded by the mounts would help to reduce it, but the majority of the effect comes from the end links IMO.

 

Rod end end links would pretty much eliminate that stiction and if that was done that should pretty much eliminate the swaybar as a droop limiter I think. So you'd get the same effect as running no bar and the only penalty would be the weight of the bar itself.

 

Speaking of which I still don't understand this need to get rid of the swaybar to lose weight. Thumper has an aftermarket bar that is a lot heavier than a stock bar. Even so, what does it weigh, 20 lbs? You can lose more than 30 lbs with one of John Coffey's CF hoods. Then there are fiberglass fenders, removal of bumpers, grills, etc. Smaller battery, aluminum engine components, etc. There's a hell of a lot of ways to lose weight. It seems really odd to me that the swaybar would be the first thing to go when trying to drop a few lbs.

 

Even if you went to rod end end links the control arm bushings and TC rod bushings would still bind as well, so again replacing those with heims joints as well would be the solution. Then you'd have a suspension that moved really nicely and would droop as soon as the weight transferred back and as much as possible.

[Thumper]

Speaking of which I still don't understand this need to get rid of the swaybar to lose weight. Thumper has an aftermarket bar that is a lot heavier than a stock bar. Even so, what does it weigh, 20 lbs? You can lose more than 30 lbs with one of John Coffey's CF hoods. Then there are fiberglass fenders, removal of bumpers, grills, etc. Smaller battery, aluminum engine components, etc. There's a hell of a lot of ways to lose weight. It seems really odd to me that the swaybar would be the first thing to go when trying to drop a few lbs.

 

Simple answer is its free! CF hoods $380, battery $80, etc... or remove sway bar FREE. I like that word. Actually the bar is closer to 30lbs but no biggie. Well my plans have changed for now (suprise suprise wait a day or two and it'll change again) but it looks like this car will be my daily driver for awhile longer so sway bar stays on for now. I think if I make this car just a drap car then I'll remove it. Also if you get a cf hood and remove the sway bar thats 60lbs. So every little bit adds up. Thats how you can get a 3000lb car down to 2480 like I did on my ghetto beast. Remove everything that you can while being safe then some more and hope you don't have to stop, turn or hit a bump:twak:

[J__]

removing front sway bar is not a good idea... ur safety is worth alot more than that little extra weight shift. like ppl previously suggested, used the adjustable shocks. and use slicks if u must

[J__]

Remove everything that you can while being safe then some more and hope you don't have to stop, turn or hit a bump:twak:

 

hehe remove the spring and shocks and just weld an alluminum tube fromt the control arms to the strut towers that should remove 200lbs of weight on all 4 sides haha

[Thumper]

Thats a good idea. I'm already riding on a carboard box, the brakes are my feet going through the floor, and body is held together by jbweld. But I have a huge 500lb engine:twisted: Nah safety is always first but removing the front sway bar at the drag strip when you are trapping 110 is not unsafe.