Rear Sway Bar for '62 Catalina
 

Looking for a rear sway bar for my ‘62 Catalina that bolts directly to the lower control arms. Saw a perfect example as shown in the photo at the Indian Uprising in Illinois last year but never found the owner. Thought I had a the answer when I met Paul at Ram Air Restoration as he had a 1.125” front bar & a 1.0” rear bar for the big Pontiac. However after returning to Pa & mocking up the rear bar on the car, it was obvious that the bar was not bent equally side to side, see photo. Paul tried to get a better bar but no dice. I know that Addco sells one with a clamp/plate arrangement, Fabcraft has a smaller bar & is a different design, while RideTech sells a B-body bar designed around a ‘61 Impala but cannot guarantee proper fitment for the Catalina. Does anyone have a source????

Try Fabfraft.Tom

I really like the look of that bar in your pics and the way it's mounted. No idea of the source though? It looks much nicer than the FabCraft deal which is pricey and has that tacked-on look.

The Fabcraft setup is how the factory did it from 59 to 64 on the B bodies if not mistaken. Found on wagons and maybe some HD applications. I have the Fabcraft setup on my 60 and like it for whatever that's worth.

The fabcraft one is how pontiac made them . Pontiac B body in the early 60"s did not have the bar to the rear control arms.

Thanks for the replies. Did not intend to pick on the FabCraft set-up even though it reads that way. My car is loaded with all the Fabcraft 9.3" rear end stuff. Just really like the clean looking installation of the one in the pics. No idea if one design works better than the other.

I have a dim recollection that someone was able to easily adapt a rear sway bar off a 1971-1976 full size Pontiac. I may be dreaming but it may be worth researching.

yes..but bolts to the bottom..not side like those pics

I thought the 71-76 bars fit the 65-70 cars ....not the earlier years. Probably wrong on that.....whatever.

The Fabcraft bar is the way to go.. The rear sway bar should not connect to the control arms..

Not really meaning to hi-jack the thread - but has anyone put the Fabcraft bar on their car? Was there any interference between the angle bracket to the frame and the exhaust pipe - both sides? I have wanted to the sway bar to my 61 but in looking at it I think there might be interference. I know it is supposed to be a repop of the factory piece. And it really looks like it is. And my tail pipe is also supposed to be a repop of the factory piece. But I can't guarantee that. The pictures from 56GMC look like his pipe placement is as tight as mine. Without some dimensions of the angle bracket I'm suspicious that the link to the sway bar may hit the pipe. As I have a 61 all the holes to mount the bar appear to already be there so it should be a plug and play unless there is interference.

Any opinions?

I think the factory bar was only used on station wagons, and the tailpipes on wagons dumped out to the side of the car behind the wheels instead of under the rear bumper. I don't know if that would effect the clearance between the bar and the tailpipes.

Not to be a smart Azz, but why not? What is the advantage to either mounting point? I like the compact look of the one in the OP's pick. But if one method performs better, that would be more important than the look. Many factory rear stabilizer bars bolt to reinforced lower control arms. Trying to learn something. Thank you.

I don't think there's any advantage of one mounting system over the other, the mount to the control arms is much simpler as far as number of parts required, etc.

Basically the job of the bar is to keep the body as close to parallel to the ground as possible. Thicker bars will influence this more than where the bar is mounted, the rest is geometry, and ratios compared to leverage. Either system can be made to perform as well as the other when all aspects are equalized.

No doubt either system will improve body roll and make the car much better than one without any sway bar. Those B bodys really liked to lean over when pushed through a corner.

Back in the early 70s when a partner and I built and raced 61 bubbletops, we never even knew there was such a setup made for them. Looking back I wish I could have tried one of these setups on our car on the dirt tracks.

The best handling car I ever built was the 67 Lemans/GTO clone pictured in my middle signature picture. 1 1/8" from bar from a 73 GTO with a 7/8" rear bar from a 70 GTO, perfectly matched. I won 7 features in a 2 year span racing only part time with that car.

I installed the Fabcraft sway bar on my '63 and had to fab my own frame brackets because what Fabcraft supplied was too short vertically. What I fabbed was made out of square tubing and it turned out It would not allow the tail pipes to be installed so I removed everything. I should have used 1/4" 2x3 angle iron instead of square tubing. I still have the Fabcraft setup + another one I never installed on anything and will sell them for $100 each if anyone is interested pm me.

I have a picture or pictures of the thing installed I will see if I can find it and post it here.

Here are the pictures. You can see the square tubing frame bracket I should have made it out of angle iron. On '61/'62 cars the bracket welded to the axle tube is square at the bottom and the sway bar mount mounts to it without any problem but on '63/'64 cars the bottom is angled and you have to weld a piece of triangle shaped plate to it to make it square. The pictures are of a '63 and that plate has been added to that bracket.

61-63

Did you also drill your own holes in the frame? I thought the frame bracket was supposed to go in the pre-drilled holes that are still visible in your picture. I have those holes but none where your tubing bracket is located. I don't know what size angle Fabcraft uses for their bracket (stock repop I'm sure) but I would wonder if even the 2x3 you suggest would get the link far enough away to miss the pipe.

I don't recall if I drilled holes in the frame? but will compare what I have with two other '62 frames I have.

The bracket needs to be flat against the frame and the tail pipe(s) very close to it when installed; not kicked out - because of the gas tank. The square tubing bracket I made blocked the tail pipes almost completely.

I have no idea how close Fabcraft's brackets are to stock brackets?

Hey! That looks just like the bar and brackets on my Ram pickup.

Called Dave at Fabcraft last week to get details on their sway bar. He forwarded a page from their installation guide that shows how they mount the links to the frame. Hope the attached photo shows their bracket & how to install. Photos on their website also provide additional info on the bar but they are not the greatest. I too have a concern about the available space for this design as the exhaust, shock & gas tank are very close to the link location, see photos of my vehicle. Planning to send these photos to Dave next week to get their feedback. On a related issue I added a photo of the Addco bar, #460, that was on a ‘62 Grand Prix at the same Illinois show. It uses the lower control arms for attachment but the plate & u-bolt are more exposed than the elusive bar that bolts directly to the arms. Agree with earlier posts that support the Fabcraft design as it is more efficient in controlling body roll but I do not plan on tracking the Catalina.