different front sway bar

[87GN 98GTP]

probably been on here before but I did a search and not much so i gave up, I want a hollow front sway bar to help my horrid body roll and only have skinnies, what years of the F body sway bars will fit

 

[Tom87GNX]

They will fit from 82-92 (3rd GEN) you want to look for a 36mm bar from a GTA or heavily optioned T/A or Firebird. Camaro's are less likely to have bars that big, although I have seen some. Most camaro's including ones I've owned range around 32-34 for Z28 and IROC. I got my 36mm from a GTA. Hope this helps.

Tom

 

[BuickMike]

From what I have seen from calculations, the 36mm hollow bar off the F body is barely stronger than our 32mm solid bar. It is not enough to notice a difference. Most get these simply because they are lighter. Even the aftermarket front bars are not any bigger. You may want to look elsewhere like body stiffening, springs, or different shocks to help.

 

[turbows6]

The f-body hollow bar is about 10 pounds lighter than the G-body one. I don't know how you were able to calculate the difference, but I have my doubts about the stock G-body sway bar being nearly as stiff as the 36mm bar from a 1LE Trans Am. It might be interesting to hear what somebody that has done the swap has to say. I just did this swap on a Monte SS, but haven't driven it yet, so I can't comment at this point.

I do know that a Trans Am with this bar is drastically flatter through the corners than a stock GN from personal experience.

 

[BuickMike]

You are comparing apples and oranges here when talking F body vs. G Body in the handling department. Years ago I had an engineer buddy calculate the strength of our solid 32mm swaybars vs the hollow 36mm swaybars of the F bodies. His result was that a 35.8mm hollow swaybar would perform identical to a 32mm solid bar. I'm sure you can figure that the difference in front bars from a handling perspective is minimal, if not negligable. I kew a guy who did the swap on his TR and felt no difference.

 

[mgmshar]

If you are comparing two bars that are the same length and the same material, then you can use the formula below to get a "stiffness" value...

J = (pi/32) X (OD^4 - ID^4)


For the 32mm solid bar...

J = (3.1415/32) X (32^4 - 0^4)
J = 102,941 mm^4


For the 36mm hollow bar...

J = (3.1415/32) X (36^4 - ??^4)

I can't do the calculation until somebody tells me the inside diameter of the 36mm hollow bar.

Anybody know?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Turbo Buick

 

[BuickMike]

I found the thickness online some time ago, but can't remember what it was.

 

[BuickMike]

So I saw a reference that the hollow part is 27mm, so in that case the result is 112718. That's like 9% stiffer if I calculated that correctly. Not a bad increase actually. Maybe I'll keep an eye out for one again. I still don't think it will solve the OP's issues though.

 

[dpasadena]

The f-body hollow bar is about 10 pounds lighter than the G-body one. I don't know how you were able to calculate the difference, but I have my doubts about the stock G-body sway bar being nearly as stiff as the 36mm bar from a 1LE Trans Am. It might be interesting to hear what somebody that has done the swap has to say. I just did this swap on a Monte SS, but haven't driven it yet, so I can't comment at this point.

I do know that a Trans Am with this bar is drastically flatter through the corners than a stock GN from personal experience.

I did a few of these swaps and the 36mm bar was 15lbs lighter than the stock gn bar according to my scale. And I noticed a difference on how the car handled for sure. My car felt a lot tighter with the bigger bar

 

[87GN 98GTP]

Well I just wanted to know honestly if I should put 1 on. It's mostly a pro street car. Just hate the horrid body roll. Right now I have no sway bar at all but I know that for track reasons it's not that good. Suggestions??

 

[Silver Fox]

Well I just wanted to know honestly if I should put 1 on. It's mostly a pro street car. Just hate the horrid body roll. Right now I have no sway bar at all but I know that for track reasons it's not that good. Suggestions??

I put a Hellwig rear sway bar on mine and it really helped out with the body roll. I believe you would get more bang for the buck out of a rear one than a front one. My signature block also has my other suspension mods. I put my suspension together before there were G-Body kits offered, so my suspension upgrades are a mix of several different manufacturers - but I am happy nevertheless. I've installed a few of the Hellwig bars on other TRs, and both people have been very happy. Besides the Hellwig rear sway bar, Scott at GNS Performance has some great offerings in the suspension department.

Finally, a good pair of shocks will help out. I run Bilsteins on my car.

Rob

 

[87GN 98GTP]

I have full drag suspension. HnR huge sway bar rear bags all tubular control arms etc. just not sure bout from sway bar

 

[lrayzer]

I took my large front bar off years ago due to the weight, thought for sure it was 1.375", I know it flattened the car along with the old ATR 1.375 rear bar.
The 36MM hollow bar doe work better then the stocker, being hollow detracts way less than you wouls think at first blush the resistance to twist is torsional, so the diameter has much more to do with it than being solid, had this discussion with a REAL M.E. at work, we ran it thru Pro-E to compare, he proved it to me.
Pretty obvious GM figured it out too, my car does not have terrible body roll with the big rear bar and no front bar, but I will not push a car with skinnies thru a corner....

 

[Pittsburghkid]

Body roll could be from old bushings too.

 

[87GN 98GTP]

my rear is very stiff, but front with skinnies and no front sway bar is poor so on turns im very slow

 

[mgmshar]

So I saw a reference that the hollow part is 27mm, so in that case the result is 112718. That's like 9% stiffer if I calculated that correctly. Not a bad increase actually. Maybe I'll keep an eye out for one again. I still don't think it will solve the OP's issues though.

If your information about the 27mm inside diameter is correct, then I agree with your math. The 36mm outside diameter bar is about 9% stiffer than the 32mm solid bar. And it's significantly lighter (10 pounds? 15 pounds?), so it's probably a good choice.

Be careful when you set up a car with a really stiff bar in the rear and a small or no bar in the front. At the handling limit, this will tend to make the car oversteer. That's part of the reason why most cars from this era have a larger bar in the front than in the rear - that tends to make the car understeer, which auto makers deem to be safer.

...and yes, I am a "real ME"!

Good luck...

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Turbo Buick

 

[87GN 98GTP]

btw is there anyway to tell if its a 36mm sway bar

 

[dpasadena]

btw is there anyway to tell if its a 36mm sway bar

Pretty sure they measure 36mm in diameter

 

[87GN 98GTP]

pretty sure they only do in a part of it, and when someones at a junkyard looking it might be easier to spot other things instead of trying to measure that on a car...good one

 

[BuickMike]

From what I've seen, it is 36mm throughout all of the bar except where it flattens. I went searching for a 36mm several times, but no luck. I eventually gave up. Not worth it IMO to buy a new one, but that's just me.