[Vid]

Recently swapped in a Quick Performance 9” Ford rear to my ‘69 LeMans. While I was at it, also ditched a Dorman OE style sway bar and installed a BMR “Xtreme” anti roll bar.

I’m pleased how everything fit and dropped right into place, but I’m a little disappointed that the new bar came with no general guidelines on the tuning/adjustment of the bar.

Looking at the photo with the coil spring, notice the two mounting holes at the end of the bar where the sway bar link connects. My *guess* is that the forward hole would be the “softer” setting of the bar? Rear hole would have to be stiffer, right?

Also trying to confirm how the adjustment of the link itself affects performance. If it’s compressed to it’s shortest, or maxed out to it’s longest, what could I expect the difference to be?

Car sits slightly higher in the rear now than it used to, but I did install upper and lower coil spring isolators which the previous rear didn’t have so figured it would sit slightly higher. Maybe the link adjustment could be a factor?

Thought I’d ask here since it’s rainy outside and I don’t want to take the car out in that mess.

Thanks - ‘Vid






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[Schurkey]

Outer is softer, inner is stiffer.

The links should be as close to vertical as practical. But as the axle moves in a small arc due to the control arms, you're never going to be perfect.

The links should be long enough so that at normal ride height, the ends (arms?) of the sway bar are reasonably level.

Point being, you want nearly 90 degrees between the link and the sway bar arm at normal ride height.

I suppose for certain racing classes, you could bias the sway bar in one direction using different length links--a circle-track car might bias the bar for left-hand corners; a drag-racer might bias the bar to provide better traction in the way some folks use air-bags with pressure differential between the two, in the rear coils.

[Vid]

Excellent, thanks Shurkey for the info, exactly what I needed. Apparently I got lucky and I’m not too far off with my original setup. Slight adjustment on the links to get level and I’ll be good. I mounted the links on the outside of the bars only because my mufflers were a little close when the links were on the inside, no problem sacrificing a bit of stiffness for a street driven car.


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[chiphead]

What's the differences in performance with this setup vs the rear sway bar that attaches to the lower trailing arms?

[Singleton]

Originally Posted by chiphead

What's the differences in performance with this setup vs the rear sway bar that attaches to the lower trailing arms?

Difference? Night/day

[Formulas]

Make sure you have enough thread engagement where your male links insert into the female links, looks like your pretty close to not having much.

If your hard in a corner on the edge and one of those pull out could ruin a day

The original sway bars for this body are good for reducing longitudinal forces but not so effective for body roll

look very critically at action and reaction of roll forces from body to tires on each setup from side to side of car

[Vid]

Originally Posted by chiphead

What's the differences in performance with this setup vs the rear sway bar that attaches to the lower trailing arms?

I can’t post any kind of review just yet because I’m still breaking in the rear and I’ve got to keep my foot out of it. However on the sharper corners that I did encounter during my gentle “break-in drives”, the body seemed to stay extremely flat, granted with little foot on the throttle.

Ride seems pleasantly firm, not harsh, even when hitting a few unavoidable winter potholes. No squeaks or alarming weird noises.

Back end is sitting slightly but noticeably higher, likely due to the new spring isolators. Previous setup didn’t have isolators at all. Going to fiddle around with that, maybe try it without isolators and see if I even need them. Extreme case go with 1” drop springs or just get a heavier spare tire and a trunk mounted battery haha.

So the only definitive answer I can give your question Chip is that the new bar is supposed to aid with straighter launches and improved tire hook up than a control arm mounted OE style bar, yet still works extremely well in cornering.

I’ll adjust my bar per Shurkey’s suggestions and after the two remaining heat cycles are done, then will find out a little more what happens under throttle. My guess is that it will handle somewhere between a Model T and a C8.


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[Scott65]

When using this as an anti roll bar for drag racing, the way to set those up is to:
Leave passenger side loose/unhooked. Put driver/drivers weight equivalent in the seat. Bolt up the passenger side where the bolt will freely slide in and out (zero preload). Lock jam nuts. This is a starting point. Ive never had to adjust mine since except the occasional unexplained weight gains

[misterp266]

It should eliminate launching like this…..

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by misterp266

It should eliminate launching like this…..

DIYAM! That is Ugly.

Tom V.

[Vid]

Originally Posted by Scott65

When using this as an anti roll bar for drag racing, the way to set those up is to:
Leave passenger side loose/unhooked. Put driver/drivers weight equivalent in the seat. Bolt up the passenger side where the bolt will freely slide in and out (zero preload). Lock jam nuts. This is a starting point. Ive never had to adjust mine since except the occasional unexplained weight gains

Right? My setup notes would be “re-measure during the holiday season particularly after beach season is over”.

So I understand about the passenger side link, would the driver side be connected in a neutral (level) position during this measurement?


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[Scott65]

Yes, try to get the driver's side level or close to it, and locked down first. And yes that picture is exactly what those type bars were designed to prevent.