[JSPONT]

Anyone ever make a back to back pass with a front sway bar, then with out the sway bar in an A body? Did it help hook or have no effect.
Do you guys leave them in or not use them? Thanks

[Hooter]

I don't have one on my 65. But, it doesn't take the off ramps real well LOL

[Stan Weiss]

Because of the weight difference with and without the swap bar it would be hard to say what cause a change in performance.

Car suspension setups may have changed since this worked. But many years ago when in some classes a car had to run the front swap bar. They did run quicker if bracket that held the rubber the swap bar was in was spaced off of the frame rail by a couple of washer.

Stan

[Tom Vaught]

People used to remove the bar to try and get quicker "rise" from the front end of the vehicle (in the old days). 90/10 shocks were used along with removing weight on the front end (Sway Bar). Nasty driving without the front bar and 90/10 shocks on the street though.

Some guys installed the 90/10 shocks and controlled the rise on the street with leaving the sway bar and links hooked up. At the track they just removed the links between the bar and the upper control arms. The sway bar would still limit travel somewhat with the washers method.

The 15/16" bar on the early GTOs did not really weight that much.

Tom V.

[Skip Fix]

Did on my 78 TA -no difference in times.

[JSPONT]

Thanks for the replys!!!!!!!!!

[pontibeast]

I didn't remove it but unbolted it with my weak Pontiac 350 and I didn't really see a measurable improvement. Maybe some others with bigger power can chime in.

[goatless]

I used to run a 1 1/4" bar on the front of my LeMans. I would see almost a 10th improvement pulling it off. Car was running low 13s then. I used to take it off and on for events… then just got lazy. Haven't had a front bar on it in years!

Think about it- even if the bar you run is only 15 lbs., that's 15 pounds right at the front of the car. My 1 1/4" bar was closer to 30 pounds… and then add in the effect it has on the motion of the front suspension…

It's easy enough to pull off that it's a worthwhile experiment. 15 minutes to see if it works for you.

[Tom Vaught]

I can see a potential performance advantage removing the 1-1/4" bar and even more so with removing the massive HO Racing front sway bar on a drag car. Why companies sell tubular sway bars.

Tom V.

[Formulajones]

We used to remove them. My father ran his GTO without one for about 20 years and drove it on the street during that time weekly with 90/10 shocks and all. Yeah it was a little wishy washy in the turns but after 20 years he had gotten used to it. I just recently reinstalled the bar for him now that he is living in the mountain terrain with me (ie: curvy roads everywhere) When it goes to the track again we'll probably try it with and without the end links but won't completely remove the bar anymore.

I've tried some different things some already mentioned. I got away from completely removing the sway bars years ago. On one car I run 90/10's and was removing the end links for a few years. One day at the track I got lazy and left the end links on and it ran it's best 60 foot (1.59) Hmm go figure. I've left the sway bar hooked ever since and have done no fancy tricks to that one.

On my Firebird it's a bit more sneaky. I have that setup to run PS drags so sway bar has to be attached and functional, no fancy shocks, and stock tire. I run oil filled shocks on the front so it's more forgiving. At first I tried spacing the frame brackets down so as not to squeeze the rubber. Eventually I went to urethane bushings and honed the inside of the bushing for a looser fit, applied grease, and then bolted to the frame without spacers and have stuck with that setup ever since. Front end comes up nicely but still drives the twisties really nice. I simply drive it to the track and don't touch a thing. 1.89 60 foot is it's best with a stock street tire (no stickies).
I would simply experiment with what you feel comfortable with.

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

On my Firebird it's a bit more sneaky. I have that setup to run PS drags so sway bar has to be attached and functional, no fancy shocks, and stock tire. I run oil filled shocks on the front so it's more forgiving. At first I tried spacing the frame brackets down so as not to squeeze the rubber. Eventually I went to urethane bushings and honed the inside of the bushing for a looser fit, applied grease, and then bolted to the frame without spacers and have stuck with that setup ever since. Front end comes up nicely but still drives the twisties really nice. I simply drive it to the track and don't touch a thing. 1.89 60 foot is it's best with a stock street tire (no stickies).
I would simply experiment with what you feel comfortable with.

I have posted this before: I have done the "urethane bushings and honed the inside of the bushing for a looser fit, applied grease, and then bolted to the frame without spacers" deal but did one more step and that was to sand/polish the sway bar where it is inside the urethane bushings. I did not want slop in the bar hammering on the fasteners that hold on the bushing brackets. The threads stripped out on my frame early on and I installed Nut-serts in the frame. Can still use just bolts to hold the brackets on that way.

Tom V.

[Formulajones]

It works pretty good on my Firebird Tom, and looks stock. I think the best benefit I've found is that it still drives like stock and is fun to take up the mountain roads, handles nice. Now I just leave it alone whether street or track, I don't touch it.

One of these days I'll get around to doing this on my other cars that see track time.

[Skip Fix]

I can tell you the body sway at the turnaround at the end of the track was a lot without the front bar on.