Sway bars really do work!

My 62 never had a front sway bar so I got a used 1" jobby and poly bushings and installed it yesterday. I noticed a difference on the first turn out of the driveway! Way better cornering and the whole front end feels stiffer. Drives like an Indy car! Well not quite:D For those that don't have one get one!

I'll be doing the Tie rods next...as you can see from the photo, one of em is bent?:eek:

http://www.raaacartoons.com/62nova/swaybar.jpg

Amazing eh! I put one in my T-Bird a few years back and the difference was like sailing the Titanic to sailing a Destroyer! Pretty amazing!!

Enjoy it!

John

Amazing eh! I put one in my T-Bird a few years back and the difference was like sailing the Titanic to sailing a Destroyer! Pretty amazing!!

Enjoy it!

John

That's funny! Now put a really big on the back and you'll think you've got rear steering. Seriously though, balanced sway bars (front to back) are very important for handling.

I didn't even put one on the back and it still handles WAY better than before although you may not want to put one one that is as big as the front. My frfiend did that in a '69 Chevelle he had and started to understeer at speed. When he took it off it had the same oversteer he was trying to get rid of so he just left it off and lived with it.

John

What size would I put on the back with a 1" on the front?

Drive it first and see if it oversteers too much at speed. Depending on howm much it does you might want to start with a fairly small one and go up from there. Otherwise, just leave it as is. Many people run without rear swaybars!

John

http://home.comcast.net/~onovakind67/deuce2004.jpg

A leaf spring suspension will work very well without a rear bar. You find a lot of serious road racing setups without them.

The rear sway bar size is dictated by spring and shock rates as well as the front sway bar. many solid axle cars get by without the rear bar. Putting too big a bar on the back will cause the car to overstear (which may or may not be a good thing.) With a one inch front bar and relatively stock springs, you probably won't want a rear bar. Rear leaf springs also reduce the need for larger rear bars. Most people on the ProTouring forum don't put the rear bars from the Hotchkis kits on their 3rd gen Novas or 1st Gen Camaros. I plan on starting with no bar. I'll try a couple of autocrosses and see if the car is understearing (needs a bar) neutral (needs nothing) or overstearing (figure something else out.)

It's my understanding that the first gens have a propensity for swapping ends unexpectedly after installing a rear bar. I'm not running one on mine.

how difficult was that to install?

It was a piece of cake! I got mine used so I had to round up some hardware and make 2 mounting plates to mount it to the cross member but if you buy a kit it will come with all that stuff. The end links will come with the kit too.

how difficult was that to install?

Keep in mind it's totally different for 1st/2nd gens and 3rd/4th gens. 1st/2nd gens don't really have anything to get in the way, whereas 68+, the bar has to be mangled through the springs.

Matt