Sway Bar?

[tuggy24g]

Since I upgraded my rearend (grand National 8.5) Should I also get a sway bar? I do mostly street driving, but I want to be able to take it to the track when ever I want to and not have to worrie about the car breaking down. So Should I get one or is it a wast.


I own a 1986 El Camino that I did all the rearend upgrade to.

 

[GNBRETT]

Yes. H&R.

 

[Boost231]

If its just a street car the stock one will be fine. If you have the money to spend a hr bar would be nice

 

[tuggy24g]

It will be mostly street car, but maybe 4 times a year I will take it to a local drag strip

 

[Boost231]

if you have the money and hrbar is the best. if not stick with what you have

 

[tuggy24g]

Well I guess I am getting one then

 

[tuggy24g]

I do not want to sound like an idiot, but what company is H&R? Is it Hotchkis or is it another company. I do not know all of the companies that do GN parts like El Camino so little phrases or abbreviations of the companies name I might not know who your talking about

thanks

Tuggy

 

[coach]

HR Parts n Stuff. They are a vendor on the home page of this forum. I just installed one of Paul's anti-roll / sway bar set-ups on my GN. It is well worth the $$$. Read the info and get one. Did you up grade trailing arms also?

Thanks
Coach

 

[Boost231]

HRpartsNstuff "Your WWW performance parts supplier"

 

[SS_Sean]

Personally I would go with a 1 3/8" bar that fullthrottle speed sells. An HR bar for a street car that sees occassional track time is silly. A car that sees a LOT of track time and you are trying to squeeze max performance out of then I would go with an HR.

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

The above post is spot on. If you aren't runnin' low 11's or faster, a 300 dollar weld in affair is worthless. A 1&3/8ths inch rear bar is perfect.

 

[tuggy24g]

HR Parts n Stuff. They are a vendor on the home page of this forum. I just installed one of Paul's anti-roll / sway bar set-ups on my GN. It is well worth the $$$. Read the info and get one. Did you up grade trailing arms also?
Coach

Umm is it the same as a lower control arm? I just bought a new ones for the rearend. Also I check out a picture and assume it is the same thing. I could be wrong, but that is all I bought.
Thanks

HRpartsNstuff "Your WWW performance parts supplier"

Thanks for the link

Personally I would go with a 1 3/8" bar that fullthrottle speed sells. An HR bar for a street car that sees occassional track time is silly. A car that sees a LOT of track time and you are trying to squeeze max performance out of then I would go with an HR.

Well I am looking at max performance regardless of track time. I know that might be wrong to think, but that is just me.

 

[Boost231]

The above post is spot on. If you aren't runnin' low 11's or faster, a 300 dollar weld in affair is worthless. A 1&3/8ths inch rear bar is perfect.

Not sure what your referring to, but i didn't have to weld in my HR Bar. all you have to do is drill 4 holes

 

[Nick Micale]

Personally I would go with a 1 3/8" bar that fullthrottle speed sells. An HR bar for a street car that sees occassional track time is silly. A car that sees a LOT of track time and you are trying to squeeze max performance out of then I would go with an HR.

Our experience of 6 or 7 GN's replacing the stock sway bar, and the HD bar with the HR bar, is that it is a great improvement on the street, and much better than a HD replacement.

On street/strip cars we remove the front sway bar as it is difficult to get decent traction when launching with it. When the HR bar is installed, good street handling is restored.

There have been NO downsides to installing the HR bar on a street car.

The photo in my sig is BEFORE the HR bar was installed. :biggrin:

 

[tuggy24g]

My question is that since my car is an El Camino and not a Grand Nation/Regial will the HR sway bar still fit?

 

[Stroker-ace]

WOW! $509 for a sway bar...

But looking at the pictures and reading the reviews and write up it all seems worth it.

I will be investing in one of these eventually.

 

[tuggy24g]

Yeah same

 

[UNGN]

WOW! $509 for a sway bar...

But looking at the pictures and reading the reviews and write up it all seems worth it.

I will be investing in one of these eventually.

With a 1 3/8" (full throttle/ATR) bar, you will need to upgrade the lower control arms to aftermarket, because the bar will absolutely destroy the stockers, so you have to add those into the lower cost.

The H&R bar won't affect the LCA's.

With Big tires in back, you want to run lots of rear bar to reduce under steer. H&R Bar is lots of bar.

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

Tell me how it destroys the lca's. I want to know what to look for, to keep an eye out on mine.

 

[coach]

Tell me how it destroys the lca's. I want to know what to look for, to keep an eye out on mine.

I would have to agree. If you do not set it up right, it will eat the bushings out of them in a very short time. I had a new set of Metco's in my car and the big ( 1 3/8 ) bar. I didnt notice when I put it in, but the big bar lined up great in the front holes, but the rear was a little short. I just bolted it in and within 500 miles, it had pulled arms in and just 'FUBAR'd my bushings. I took it all apart and replaced the bushings and when reinstalling it, I saw the gap and filled it with 2 washers per side. The arms were not being pulled out of alignment that way. I could only imagine how bad those flimsy OEM arms would distort. That bar is very unforgiving and would reek havic on that thin sheelmetal.
I talked all this out with Rick at Metco. He agreed. I now have an HR bar.

Just letting you know what I expierenced.
Coach