I've found the guy to do the job. He is Very experienced in AutoX, several time National Champ, etc, etc. What would you tell him you want. He is going to make me a tubular adjustable front sway bar.

Now before you read further - If any of the things I say don't seem to make sense - please correct me - I'm a novice so I'm trying to be a sponge.

He also mentioned something about tuning it for my weight (kind of like getting the alignment with you in the car).

I mentioned how Gary Thomason had a bar that was 80% stiffer than the stock one and how that wasn't enough (for concrete I imagine). His response was that sounded like a car that oversteered a lot. I talked to him about the stock tires (the front with a more rounded contour and more tread gap relative to the rear) vs. AutoX tires and how they tend to shift ratio of grip from the rear to the front. He asked about the size of the stock bar (28mm), I mentioned the Mugen bar (31.8mm) an how Annie and Ron said that that wasn't enough.

The next step for us is to have him take a look at the car and have him do the work.

What would your perfect front sway bar be?

I was leaning towards having one made that centered around 80% stiffer than the stock one (if that makes sense).

BTW - he also can make a solid front sway bar (adjustable also) - is there any reason to go that way? I'm leaning towards the tubular one for weight savings.

Thanks for any and all input,

Etgar

 

A bar that started at 70-80% stiffer than stock, and was upwardly-adjustable from there would seem perfect. I'm no suspension expert either, but I think the solid bar vs. tubular would depend on how large the tubular bar ends up being. If it's too large, you won't be able to use the stock fasteners, which you'll have to fab. A solid one would be a smaller diameter, so that would take care of that problem. How much material do you want to take out of the stock bushings? That's another consideration. Ultimately, he's the expert, I'd leave it up to him.

Another consideration is this. With the much stiffer bar, and the r rated tires, you're going to put *a lot* more stress on the bar mounts. You should ask him whether he thinks the stock mounts are strong enough to take it, because you don't want to stress-crack anything on the car. He could probably custom fab a different mounting solution, if necessary.

[This message has been edited by fluxen (edited November 16, 2000).]