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70 240 -next upgrade rear sway bar?


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allright i have a 70 240 and i want to do a bit of suspension work

 

i have gotten new tires and wheels along with new generic shocks and msa springs and have replaced all bushing with a poly kit and went through the rest of the suspension - so mostly stock with new parts.

 

would a rear sway bar now be a good addition - i will be looking at autoxing the car a bit down the road and i want a nice firm car (i have an 86 turbo with the factory adjustable suspension and i always leave it on firm i love it) (after the motor install will probably be doing some coil overs and adjustable shocks along with a few other things). I am no suspension expert but i think i would like to have a car that i could push in hard and correct easy with over steer. the 70 came with no rear sway bar at all so i was wondering were i could get a decent one as a kit that would install in the rear. all i have seen is swaybar kits sold front and rear and the rear is always smaller i was actually looking to get the rear the same size or a bit bigger than the front

 

what do you guys think i should do? i guess getting a set and doing the front sway bar as well wouldnt be a bad idea

 

like i said im not suspension expert and also what is involed in installing a rear swaybar on a 240 that came with none

 

- the car right now is fairly stock but the 3.1 in the garage only needs an oil pump water pump timming chain kit a head gasket and headbolts so its on its way

 

searched but wasnt all that successful

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You want to go with a kit instead of just ading a sway bar to the rear. The ST kit works great and comes with everything you need to help reduce body roll.

 

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=STQ%2D52095&N=700+4294907666+4294925074+4294902027+115&autoview=sku

 

MSA sells a kit as well, but I don't know who makes their bars.

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Please post your results. My experience with a rear bar so far has not been positive to say the least. It has done nothing but get me facing on coming traffic on the track! I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the driver but I'd still like to see your results. Joe

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johnc, no reply to the 'want to put a larger bar on the rear'? i don't think that would be the prudent thing to do and would create excessive oversteer/unhappiness!

 

addco also offers bars, although you can purchase them separately. 1" front and either 3/4" or 7/8" rear. the 3/4 is a rear mount and the 7/8 a front mount in the stock location [for those z's that have the existing factory brackets]. their number is 616.636.8856. said they'd also provide group discounts, beginning with the fourth set [if i remember correctly].

 

i'd say make a few runs to establish a baseline for the handling and go from there-once you know what the car is doing and can do. you may find it's to your liking just the way it is...

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the msa set is about the same price but has a 7/8in rear as opposed to 3/4in on the summit suspension techniques - but the techniques one looks like it comes with a better kit with all the hardwear and everything. Has anyone got the msa kit? does it have everything the techniques kit has - i may give them a call later but unless someone says somethign really good about the msa kit ill probably just order through summit

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I recently rebuilt my suspension with different parts, and knowing that it may be erroneous thinking, I re-installed the rear sway bar. After one lap in the car, I removed the rear bar completely (same as prior set-up) and picked up 1.5 seconds. Past postings will verify this is no surprise with certain set-ups.

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johnc, no reply to the 'want to put a larger bar on the rear'? i don't think that would be the prudent thing to do and would create excessive oversteer/unhappiness!

 

It all depends on what you're comfortable with as a driver. The vast majority of drivers (even those that do the occaisional track days) think a neutral handling car has a bad oversteer problem. For fast lap times you want a car that's "Uh oh!" loose on lift throttle when you're near the traction limit. I tend to setup my own cars to be "Oh ♥♥♥♥!" loose on lift throttle at the traction limit.

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I recently rebuilt my suspension with different parts, and knowing that it may be erroneous thinking, I re-installed the rear sway bar. After one lap in the car, I removed the rear bar completely (same as prior set-up) and picked up 1.5 seconds. Past postings will verify this is no surprise with certain set-ups.
Terry, do you know why your car was faster without the sway bar? Did it reduced body roll, but made the car too stiff? Was the track uneven or a little on the rough side? My car is definitely a lot stiffer with the bar installed, but I haven't got it out on the autocross course since the upgrade, so I don't know if there is any difference in performance. I do know that I had a considerable amount of body roll before I installed it.

 

I'm really interested in hearing about the 'seat of pants' difference between running the bar and not running the bar as well.

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the msa set is about the same price but has a 7/8in rear as opposed to 3/4in on the summit suspension techniques - but the techniques one looks like it comes with a better kit with all the hardwear and everything. Has anyone got the msa kit? does it have everything the techniques kit has - i may give them a call later but unless someone says somethign really good about the msa kit ill probably just order through summit

I went with the MSA kit on my 73. But mine already had the brackets to mount the rear bar in front of the axle so I can't help you with the completeness of the kit. I will say that they were willing to make up a custom kit for me since I wanted the 1" bar for the 73, but the 7/8" bar from the '74 (to use my existing brackets). I've had them for 3+ years now and have been very happy with them. Everything has held up well including the mounting hardware.

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well this is really an on off thing some ppl seem to like it some not - i guess i better just wait and get the car on the track a few times without the rear bar to see how it works without one and if it does i guess there is no need or one

 

 

thanks for the input guys

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Terry, do you know why your car was faster without the sway bar? Did it reduced body roll, but made the car too stiff? Was the track uneven or a little on the rough side? My car is definitely a lot stiffer with the bar installed...

 

The stiffness had less to do with it than the balance between front and rear. My set-up (235F/265R spring rates with a 1" bar up front) was a good balance. In fact, I could probably increase the front bar or springs to get even better times, but I'm close enough with a nice amount of what John calls "Oh..."

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When I had 225-50-16 v700 all the way around, I used 1 inch up front and 3/4 rear mount Addco style in back, felt great for me. When I switched to 245 45-16 all the way around the car went from what I like to way more oversteer. I tried no bar in the back, but the car felt kinda slow to respond to input, I even tried more rear toe / no good. I next tried a 1-1/8 front with the 3/4 rear bar again, still not feeling good. Finally, I made a new rear bar out of 5/8 stress proof and put the 1" back in front and the car is back on track to what I like.

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