Sway bar interchange
 

My son has a 65 Tempest, and it has the pathetic tiny front sway bar on it. I understand that the bars up to 72 will fit, as well as 2nd Gen F body bars. What about 73-77 A bodies? I have a 75 LeMans parts car; anyone know if that sway bar will fit (I know the rear bar won't fit)?

I thought I'd ask before I go through the effort of pulling it off.

Thanks,
Importsmasher

Don’t waste your time pulling ‘73 and later A-body front bars.

The front bar off of a 73-77 A body will fit the 65. The limiting factor is the horse shoes brackets that hold the bar and bushings to the frame. The center to center of the bolt holes is closer together on the bracket on the 65.

My 67 GTO stock car in my signature pics had an 1 1/8" bar from a 73 GTO on it The only modification I needed to make is another set of holes to fasten the brackets to the frame because of the spacing of the bolt holes. I used 2 of the original rear holes, and fabbed the front ones to fit.

A second gen F body bar also fits and can be had from stock Trans Am parts up to 1 1/4". You'll run into the same bolt attachment problem using F body parts easily addressed by drilling 2 holes at the correct spacing.

The 1 1/8" 73 front bar along with a 7/8" rear bar from a 70 GTO worked perfectly together. I won 13 races within 2 years with that car. handling was outstanding with that combo.

B-man, is there a reason? Sirrotica says it will fit; are there other issues?

Thanks,
Importsmasher

Follow Brad’s advice, I made an assumption.

I would’ve just let your boy pull it and figure it out for himself, part of growing up. :)

After I ran the GTO for 2 years I built the 69 GP, I transferred all the suspension from the 67 GTO to the 69 G body (which is essentially a stretched A body frame). I had to again modify the frame to bracket mounts, same as the 67 GTO to use the 73 GTO bar on the 69 G body frame.

Thanks guys! I'll have my son pull it and we'll install it when we rebuild the front end.

Importsmasher