Police sway bar sizes??

[bradman]

OK, I have confirmed that at least some Gen 1 Police package Taurii came with a 28mm rear sway bar, but does anyone know if the front bar on the police package was larger than 24mm?

Also, does anyone know where to find a set of 28mm rear sway bar bushings?

Thanks,
brad

 

[SASHO91]

why do you want to go larger in the front? 24mm is MORE than enough... IMO.

Energy suspension has them for 28mm sway bars... allthough they make squeek....
just go to ebay, and type in 28mm sway bar bushings....

 

[SHO Continental]

or possibly autozone.. it is an OE swaybar who knows

 

[bradman]

why do you want to go larger in the front? 24mm is MORE than enough... IMO.

Energy suspension has them for 28mm sway bars... allthough they make squeek....
just go to ebay, and type in 28mm sway bar bushings....

I don't know if I want to go larger than 24mm in the front yet, but there is a police Taurus in the local self-serve junk yard and if it has something larger than 24mm, I want to snag it.

 

[SASHO91]

i am pretty sure they didnt make a larger front sway bar then 24mm.

IMO i would either go 22-26 or keep your 24 and go with a 26 or if yo can, find a larger rear... it REALLY depends on how you want the car to handle in the turn.

 

[Racer X]

My old police package (a 1993) has a 24mm / 25mm setup.

 

[Electricat]

Just a FYI on swaybar bushings.....If you can't find sway bar bushings for a particular size, you can buy the next size smaller and ream them out with a wood boring "spade" type drill bit of the appropriate size. I did this to get 23mm TPR rear bushings for my SHO, it worked good. I don't know how this would do in rubber, it might have problems with binding on the drill, but it should be fine for TPR and urethane.

 

[Ishodu]

There is a 25mm front bar, way to heavy for the SHO. It was designed to have a Auto tranny and a heavy 3.8 over the top of it.

 

[bradman]

There is a 25mm front bar, way to heavy for the SHO. It was designed to have a Auto tranny and a heavy 3.8 over the top of it.

In that case, I'm betting that the front bar in the police car that I found in the junk yard is 25mm. I took the rear bar thinking that it was a 26mm, but it turned out to be 28mm. I didn't take the front because I thought it was a 24mm, and I already have a pile of them.

Sounds like it's not a good choice for the SHO anyway, so I will forget about it.

Thanks for all the responses!

 

[ManySHOs]

I don't know what some of your intentions or motivations are but it is important to understand some basics of suspension design before thinking that bigger is always better. Disclaimer: I am not a guru but I offer the following food for thought:

Sway bars exist to counter body roll that isn't compensated for by springs. If stiffer springs are installed (or if the car is lightened dramatically which means that the springs are more effective) than less sway bar diameter is needed. I run 22/26 bars with a Quaife and Koni's/Eibachs for the street. I am considering jumping up to 500/400 (f/r) linear rate coilover springs next year (probably not wise for a street car but we'll see). If I do that, I will probably decrease the size of my sway bars or eliminate the front one completely.

I have a friend with 600/350 on a 95 and he insists that he needs larger sway bars. For what reason, I do not know. His car is already walking a thin line between neutral and snap oversteer.

So the bottom line here is that larger sway bars are not always the way to go. I almost bought a 28mm bar once (actually, I did but it was never sent to me) but I don't see a need for it on the SHO. I tend to view sway bars as band aids for low spring rates. The "proper way" (as I understand it) to counter body roll is to stiffen the spring rates and/or lighten the car.

Ian

 

[Shoaz]

I am considering jumping up to 500/400 (f/r) linear rate coilover springs next year (probably not wise for a street car but we'll see).

My experience with 500/350 was that it was very marginal for street use. Any little bump comes right through the chassis, it's ******* the car and on the back. I wouldn't recommend it for every-day street use. Occassional street is fine. On my silver car this combination absolutely rocked at the track, but now I have it on the Pumpkin and it's evil. Go figure...

The silver car now has Intrax/Tokico and while I haven't taken it to the track, on the street in deep bump it feels nearly as stiff as the 500/350 coilovers. The initial soft spring spring rate for small bump _really_ takes the edge off of it, though, and makes it much, much friendlier on the street.

 

[Russsho]

I considered doing coil-overs a few years ago until I rode in a car that had 'em. I don't know how the roads in Jersey are, but here in Maryland some of them are awful, some (like in Baltimore and Annapolis) are like the dark side of the Moon, and a few are quite nice. I like a firm ride, but the coil-overs were just downright abusive. Minor bumps made the dashboard dance, major ones felt like something was going to break.

For a dedicated track car, there's nothing better. For occasional track use and street driving, I don't think the Koni/Eibach mix can be beat. My '93 had them, 24/26 bars, every Energy Suspension bushing I could buy (now I'd get TPR, poly bushings are loud), and ASFBs. That car was a terror on a winding road or at the occasional track day, and livable on the street.

 

[ManySHOs]

My experience with 500/350 was that it was very marginal for street use. Any little bump comes right through the chassis, it's ******* the car and on the back. I wouldn't recommend it for every-day street use. Occassional street is fine. On my silver car this combination absolutely rocked at the track, but now I have it on the Pumpkin and it's evil. Go figure...

Evil in a good way or a bad way?

You have Gary's coilovers, correct? What spring heights? I have the last set of IPT's ever made (#13) with Gary's suggested spring rates. I plan on redoing and upgrading a few of the pieces to my satisfaction. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with them. I could sell them- but if I do, they are the last set of coilovers out there that probably were never installed. Unless I made up my own set, I'd never have a custom set like these again. The Ground Controls with the OEM upper mount don't count.

I'm leaning towards installing them on my 93 as my daily driver, installing them on a second SHO that I don't even own or getting a new car in a year or so and making the SHO a dedicated fun car with coilovers. If I sell them I'd probably be making a mistake...although everything is for sale for the right price...

I like my eibachs for now but I'm thinking of going to intrax in the future. I wouldn't mind having the car a smidge lower.

Ian

 

[Russsho]

I really like the lower look of the Intrax, but I'd never make it up my driveway.

 

[Shoaz]

Evil in a good way or a bad way?

Bad way. I'm tweaking swaybars and trying to reduce weight to get some handling back, the weight distribution on this car is quite different than it was on the silver car. The next step is stiffer springs, but I need to get the Koni's revalved before I can do that. It's always something...

You have Gary's coilovers, correct? What spring heights?

Yes, 8" front, 10" rear.

I have the last set of IPT's ever made (#13) with Gary's suggested spring rates. I plan on redoing and upgrading a few of the pieces to my satisfaction. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with them. I could sell them- but if I do, they are the last set of coilovers out there that probably were never installed. Unless I made up my own set, I'd never have a custom set like these again. The Ground Controls with the OEM upper mount don't count.

Lance Cheney did some nice mods to an IPT coilover set that seemed to make good sense and probably makes it as good as anything. If you're going to tweak yours you may want to compare notes with Lance.

 

[ManySHOs]

Bad way. I'm tweaking swaybars and trying to reduce weight to get some handling back, the weight distribution on this car is quite different than it was on the silver car. The next step is stiffer springs, but I need to get the Koni's revalved before I can do that. It's always something...


Yes, 8" front, 10" rear.


Lance Cheney did some nice mods to an IPT coilover set that seemed to make good sense and probably makes it as good as anything. If you're going to tweak yours you may want to compare notes with Lance.

Yup, Lance and I have exchanged quite a few emails with eachother. I just need to start putting my plans into motion now. I was actually thinking of having the koni's revalved as well. The set that I have now probably have 60K on them already. With the increased spring rates it would make good sense to have rebuilt and revalved. $$$

We coilover people need to stay in touch with eachother! It's like a whole 'nother world (or can of worms) when you start playing with spring rates and sway bar combos. I've been sitting back and trying to let others make the mistakes first so I can learn from them.

RussSHO-I didn't mean to ignore you. NJ roads aren't usually much better than MD roads. I feel the same way about inclines wrt to the Intrax. It looks cool but I have a tough enough time with the eibachs as it is. I think I need to get a second car if I'm going to continue to treat this SHO like a project.

Ian

 

[Hack]

On my silver car this combination absolutely rocked at the track, but now I have it on the Pumpkin and it's evil. Go figure...

Maybe the stiffer chassis with the rollcage is affecting things? Did you ever get the front end to sit lower?

 

[Shoaz]

Maybe the stiffer chassis with the rollcage is affecting things? Did you ever get the front end to sit lower?

The 95 is pretty stiff, anyway, I don't think that's the problem. The cage raises the CG and the Pumpkin rolls more than the silver car did, even with the exact same suspension. The worst thing, apparently, is that Roush put the fuel cell between the bumper and the rear wheels, and between the steel barrier around the cell, the cell, and the cage around the bottom of the cell, there's a lot of weight hanging way back there. The polar moment has got to be just way worse than it was on the silver car, and the turning behavior seems to reflect that (doesn't want to stop turning...please stop, stop now...no! no more turning! Ahhhg!).

I put a mild swaybar in the front to see how much that fixes it and I've vowed to not run it with a full tank any more. We'll see how much that helps, but I need to get a lot of weight out of this car if it's going to ever be competitive. Putting a stock fuel tank back in is always an option, but one I'd like to avoid if I can.

The front is much lower now that the coilovers are in, but could stand to be lower still. I only have about an inch of travel left in the front, so I'll have to do something creative to get it down much more.

 

[TankII]

The 95 is pretty stiff, anyway, I don't think that's the problem. The cage raises the CG and the Pumpkin rolls more than the silver car did, even with the exact same suspension. The worst thing, apparently, is that Roush put the fuel cell between the bumper and the rear wheels, and between the steel barrier around the cell, the cell, and the cage around the bottom of the cell, there's a lot of weight hanging way back there. The polar moment has got to be just way worse than it was on the silver car, and the turning behavior seems to reflect that (doesn't want to stop turning...please stop, stop now...no! no more turning! Ahhhg!).

I put a mild swaybar in the front to see how much that fixes it and I've vowed to not run it with a full tank any more. We'll see how much that helps, but I need to get a lot of weight out of this car if it's going to ever be competitive. Putting a stock fuel tank back in is always an option, but one I'd like to avoid if I can.

The front is much lower now that the coilovers are in, but could stand to be lower still. I only have about an inch of travel left in the front, so I'll have to do something creative to get it down much more.

I keep mentioning the Hellwig rear end link kits for good reason - the bar reacts immediately, not after a slight compression. This reduces 'snap' oversteer where the sway bar isn't reacting until you are already leaning a bit, causing the car to stiffen suddenly in the rear as the bar starts taking affect.

For the $12.00 or so I spent, it's the best investment I've made on the rear suspension so far - even with the Koni-Eibach combo!

TankII