This is an idea to make the stock rear sway bar somewhat stiffer for a few bucks by moving the levarage point inboard.







Modified by fireant at 10:45 AM 4/9/2006

 

this will not make your sway bar any stiffer, in fact it will make it softer. by having to endlink on the and of the sway bar, the bar has more torque and can control the sway of the car more easily. so by moving the endlink inward, you are removing torque and the strength from the sway bar. and on the other hand, if you wre to try to lengthen the endlink further away you would put too much stress on the sway bar and it would bend rather than help sway. if you want to upgrade to something stiffer, then only real answer is to get a stiffer bar.

 

This technique has been done on other types of cars as well, and it really does stiffen the effect of the bar.

I have been autocrossing with adjustable sway bars for years now, and its commonly known that you can effectively stiffen a sway bar by moving the linkage inward. This decreases the amount of levarge that the control arms have on twisting the bar, resulting in a storter, stiffer spring.

Its exactly how my Suspension Techniques 3-way adjustable bar works. I've done my homework.


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If you still dont believe me, get a wire coat hanger, and mock up a little sway bar... like this shape |________|

Now use your fingers as endlinks and try to twist the bar with your fingers right near the coners. It is difficult or nearly impossible. But if you move your fingers out towad the ends you can more easily twist the hanger.

So I am suggesting that you move the endlinks inward from the stock location towards the corners...making the useable area of the bar shorter, and more difficult to bend.

Modified by fireant at 12:28 PM 4/9/2006


Modified by fireant at 2:07 PM 4/9/2006

 

I've revised the drawing slightly to help clarify.

 

awesome!! good writeup
-Josh

 

what LCA's do you use for sway bars???

 

This modification is speicifcally for the factory Si LCAs. They have a threaded hole in them for the factory endlink.

 

Looks like a good idea. Lets see a howto

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BB6racer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">this will not make your sway bar any stiffer, in fact it will make it softer. by having to endlink on the and of the sway bar, the bar has more torque and can control the sway of the car more easily. so by moving the endlink inward, you are removing torque and the strength from the sway bar. and on the other hand, if you wre to try to lengthen the endlink further away you would put too much stress on the sway bar and it would bend rather than help sway. if you want to upgrade to something stiffer, then only real answer is to get a stiffer bar.</TD></TR></TABLE>

um no. sway bars work on torsion. that is, the stiffness of the bar is the result of bar resisting the twisting motion. if you move the pickup point in (making the arm shorter) you effectively reduce the torque you are applying to the bar, so its easier for the bar to resist twisting. on the other hand, if you do what you say and lengthen the arm, you are increasing the torque applied to the bar, making it harder for the bar to resist twisting. and like you said, would probably shear the bar.

 

GSRCRXsi, thanks for helping explain this.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by YasRex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Looks like a good idea. Lets see a howto </TD></TR></TABLE>

OK, I'm going to put one together and post pics.

 

ok i did my homework and you were right, i apologize. i guess i just had the whole leverage thing wrong. now i am interested in doing something like this. how would you go about making the bracket on the sway bar that attaches to the newly moved endlink? in your drawing it looks like some sheet metal wrapped around the bar, but would that be enough to hold the sheet metal bracket in place and prevent it from sliding up and down tha sway bar?

 

Yes that definitely looks like it will make for a stiffer sway bar. I'm not sure I would make the mount with a piece of sheet metal simply wrapped around the bar as shown, becuase it would be hard to keep it from rotating about the tube.

 

BB6racer, no biggie...its a wierd concept.

I spent a few bucks and a couple of hours on it so far and while I DID get one built, it is not wrapped tightly enough around the bar itself, so it would slide along the bar. As it is, it would work with hose clamps on either side, but I think there's a better solve.

I'm looking into a different technique for "wrapping it" OR just using two different peices and securing it with a bolt on top and bottom.

More to come.

 

How would u upgrade the bushings on the middle of the bar? They have some right? If so, you could use bushings as the endlink and make an adaptor to that.