Gen III front stab. bar on a Gen II?

[fast Ed]

Guys, I have seen it mentioned in the Gen III forum that some people have used the Gen II front bars on the later cars, they have just had to add the collars at the bushings to keep it from moving side to side.

So will a Gen III bar work on a Gen II car then? The reason I ask, in the rust belt up here the chances of finding a decent Gen II car in the salvage yards to get the 20.6 mm bar are pretty slim. I'd probably have more luck getting one from a Gen III car, so am wondering if that will fit on my 95 MTX, using the Gen II style end links obviously.


thanks,

Ed N.

 

[92sho16]

I dont see why not, im using a gen 2 bar on my gen3 sf swapped gen 2.

 

[SHO92]

I'm using a gen 3 bar on my 93 with no problems. I didn't need to use the gen 3 endlinks either.

 

[hawkeye18]

I know gen 3 rear bars work just fine. I don't see why front bars wouldn't work too.

 

[fast Ed]

Great, thanks for the responses everyone. The 96 - 98 cars show a 19mm front bar that I might try if I feel ambitious enough to get the subframe down.


edit: Looks like I should have referred back to some of threads I bookmarked when I first joined the site and did some searches. There was one from the end of last year discussing bar diameter combos, and one person mentioned having a Gen III bar on the front of a Gen II. I'm thinking that my idea for a 19mm front bar, combined with the 26 I have for the rear, is going to get me backwards in to a wall at Mosport.

There are 20.5mm and 22mm for the newer cars, I'll have to make a decision on how loose I want the car.


thanks,
Ed N.

 

[SHO Continental]

I've seen 19mm bars on gen2s in the JY, just check the regular Tauruses if you still want one, no need to get one from a gen3.

 

[fast Ed]

Yes, I saw the smaller one listed in the parts catalogue on the earlier cars as well. But here in southern Ontario the roads get salted pretty hard in the winter, so there aren't a lot of Gen II cars in the salvage yards in the area.


thx,
Ed N.

 

[SHOZ123]

Gen 3 SHO front bars are all 22mm. The SHO rear bars are all 19mm. SLOs may vary.

 

[hawkeye18]

I have the 21/26 combo and I must say it's pretty schweet. It's very neutral with the front strut tower brace. I think a 19/26 will have you looking forward at the traffic behind you pretty often.

 

[pjtoledo]

don't forget about wagons, the front parts will fit, and the bars are usually bigger than the sedans

 

[Ishodu]

I have a gen 2 front way bar 20.6 in the front of my car with a gen 3 sub frame I have no issues with it at all. I used the gen 2 brackets but I needed to make up some spacers to make up for the gap on the front bolt.

 

[SHO92]

I guess I should mention that my Gen 3 bar is from a SHO, so it's 22mm. I'm running a 26mm in the rear, and have a Quaife. I've been contemplating trying a 20.5 in the front, but the car is very well behaved on the track and steps out very gradually.

 

[zak]

Ed, I have had 19, 20.6, and 22 mm bars on the front of my car, a few HPDE's and many, many high speed autox events. 26 mm in rear of course, 95 MTX.

If you are going to get a Wavetrac or Quiafe, I would recommend the 22 mm bar used on the 2000-2005 Taurus wagon. Very inexpensive new from Ford, and comes with bushings and brackets already installed. With a Quaife and 245 race rubber on 8" wheels, and Gen III front subframe & bits I can get all 4 wheels slipping slightly while turning through the high speed gates at the NESHOC autox, near wide open in second gear or just into third.

If you were going to run an open diff I would keep the 20.6 mm you have in there now, unless top speeds at Mosport are in excess of 100 mph, if over 100 mph routinely I would step up to one of the 22 mm bars and just suffer the wheelspin on the low speed corners.

zak

 

[fast Ed]

Any sort of upgraded diff. would be way down the road, just not in the budget for a car that I only paid $900 to start with. To be honest I have to get the car back up on the hoist here to see which bar it has in the front, I'm assuming at this point it is the 24mm.

Mosport has a few corners that should be in the neighbourhood of 90 - 95 mph for this car on good rubber, rest of it is slower, as are the other tracks that I will be running on. So if the car does have a 24 now, I will probably look at the 20.6.


thx,
Ed N.

 

[zak]

IIRC, you bought a 1995 MTX, almost garunteed to have 20.6 mm stock front bar diameter.

 

[fast Ed]

Thanks Zak, I'll check that out before I worry about this any further. Would be great if I didn't have to drop the subframe and get in to that.

The Ford parts catalogue shows it should be a 24, but I do recall seeing it mentioned on one of the SHO sites that 94/95 MTX factory bar sizes seemed to vary.


thx,
Ed N.

 

[fast Ed]

Just updating my old thread here. Finally got the car on the hoist tonight, starting to bolt some parts in. Getting the rear Konis + Eibachs swapped in, along with the 26 mm bar. Measured the front, it is a 20.6 as Zak suspected. Yay!!

First track event I'm signed up to instruct at is May 1. Looking forward to wailing on this beastie. I also scored a great deal on a Magnaflow y-pipe through one of the local wholesalers, they had a one-day special on all Magnaflow products. This is going to be fun!!


cheers
Ed N.