Rear Sway Bar?

[TreelandL48]

I am replacing the suspension on my 74 L48, 4 speed. The kit fron Mid America came with a rear sway bar which the car did not have originally. The bolt housing for the top of the spring bolt wont allow the supplied bolting plate where it si supposed to go. Is this normal?

What if I dont use the rear sway?

 

[JohnZ]

I'm not familiar with the kit you're installing, but adding a rear sway bar without making a corresponding change to a larger front sway bar to balance it is a BAD idea; the chassis is tuned for moderate terminal understeer, and just adding a rear sway bar will upset the roll couple distribution and cause major oversteer, especially in transient maneuvers (hard cornering, lane changes, etc.). Once the rear end breaks loose with that kind of setup, there's no bringing it back, and it happens in a hurry.

Chassis dynamics are designed and developed as a complete system; bolting on individual aftermarket catalog parts one at a time without considering what that one part does to the system isn't a good idea.

 

[George Black]

John: I agree completely with your comments. Many people add a non OEM large diameter rear sway bar (when vehicle came without one) and do nothing else---not good.

If TreelandL48 added a factory OEM rear sway bar (.562 size) to his 1974 AND changed the existing front factory sway bar (.750) to a larger OEM size--such as that used by big blocks ( .9375) would that work satisfactorily?

 

[TreelandL48]

I am replacing the front sway bar with a 1" unit. ALso new springs, and shocks all around.

 

[Bob Chadwick]

I remember adding sway bars to an old Mercury Capri. Pretty much a matter of trial and error. Found a big parking lot with no obstructions and drove in a circle increasing speed until either the front end or the back end broke loose and then adjusting one of the swaybars until we got it fairly neutral. Not very scientific but it worked fairly well.

 

[Buckskin7T7V]

I took mine off in 78 and it handles much, much better without it.