Matt, this bar is the 1.375 Gendron Hollow. It was one of the first built by Bill through a custom order/group buy organized by Jeff Janzen. The arms were not milled down like many others because I never ran the bar full stiff. Bill explained to me yesterday that this bar had some hardware upgrades shortly after the first batch was made. I never exchanged my parts for the upgraded parts since I had no issues until now.

All my photos will be posted on my photobucket page. Click the STR S2000 link in my sig to access them. The Gap between the bolts and the shock does close slightly when everything to torqued to spec and the car is on the ground. The damage on the shock was most likely caused with the old, non ball bearing mounts installed at Nationals since Nationals was the first and only other event we ran with this suspension. The tight spacing is what scares me. After checking the angle of the end link, I believe the ball bearing mounts pulls the bar forward slightly. The bends in the arms also move forward (closer to the shock), making the spacing less. I would rather error on the side of caution. I talked with Bill Gendron yesterday, and I'm going to send him my arms to be milled down, powdercoated, and sent back with the updated hardware. Bill said he is currently out of these specific arms, otherwise he would send them ahead for me to do a side by side comparison. While I wait on my differential, I have plenty of time to mess with this stuff. The AP1 has been fun autocrossing locally anyways!

Bill also said Speedway is on backorder for many of the parts he uses for the sway bars, so those of you attempting a custom build should keep that in mind.

-Marc

 

Marc if you want I can get you a mcmaster part number to order new ones with the stud on them.

I myself use a craftsman stubby wrench set and a ratchet/socket to tighten mine with no issues at all. Just to note the endlink actually moves in once you get the car to ride height. At first my endlinks touched the hose attachment point on the shock body so I turned around my shocks so tge hose attachment is now on the othe size. Completly irrelevant to your problem but none the less that's my only issue.

I'm sure your shock bodies arnt any bigger then mine so i would assume changing endlinks would fix this.

If you need endlinks ASAP I could switch you for mine as long as the spacing is wide enough on my set-up not to rub. Also I think Dave has a extra set but your best bet would be to order new endlinks from mcmaster. I'll get you a part number later or I'm sure one of these guys can get it for you.

 

Marc, I haven't really read this topic in detail yet.... but Josh is right. I do have an extra set of endlinks I got from Bill that I keep in my traveling events inventory. If you get in a pinch and you need them, I am happy to share them with you. We can just replace them with your new set, when they come in.

-Dave

 

Made some more progress with the over-steering-rack approach & Speedway Engineering components. Here are some pics...

Adapter plate -


Modified 30 degree arm -


Arms all done -


Arm weight -


Forward end clearance, needs a 5.5" long endlink assembly -


Rear end clearance -


Bearing mounts & adapter plate installed -

 

very nice!

 

Definitely looks like a better way to skin that cat. Splash guard still fits?

 

How much weight do you think those mounts will save over the Gendron ones? I will be interested in doing that for next season maybe. Need to try to lose some weight....

 

I need to machine some material off the adapter plate to make everything fit up nicely. I'll post pictures of the modifications when I get around to cutting chips.

I'm coming from a Saner FSB, so I'm not sure what the Gendron mounts weigh. I can weigh mine and post the numbers so others can compare. My CAD model shows the adapter plate weighs .45 lb and the self-aligning bearing weighs .53 lb. So, the adapter plate and bearing mount should come out to ~1 lb. Bolts will add to that slightly, as one is longer than the stock mounting fasteners.

The main difference between the Gendron arms is the angle of the bend he puts in them. Mine have a lower angle bend. The Gendron arms may need to be flattened out a bit to use this approach. The general shape of the Gendron arm looks like it would work for the over-rack approach.

The damper body and the endlink have plenty of clearance and will operate at about the same angle. Also, because of the longer endlink assembly, the angle change of the endlink between each of the adjustment locations is smaller.

 

Total weight with fasteners is estimated at 16.9 lbs with the 36"L x 1.25"OD x .25"wall Speedway bar. The .188" wall bar would drop the total weight to ~15.2 lb.

These estimates exclude the weight of the endlinks.

 

that is cool! good work!