REGAL 98 - 2005 Chevy blazer/ S10/ Jimmy rear sway bar mod

[Gbrick]

Hey what's up y'all. I need some help. I heard a kind of popular mod that's actually really cheap and effective for g-bodies. I wanted to do the rear sway bar mod from the vehicles listed above. From what I understand is that you have to have a 7.5 rear end or it won't work. So what I understand is that it has to be from a two-door two-wheel drive from a blazer Jimmy or S10. So I found one from a 2001 blazer cleaned up the rear sway bar. But don't know what else to do or how to do the install and I'm hearing that I should get the front end links from the front sway bar and just the normal rear end bushings preferably polyurethane. If you guys can help me out with the comprehensive install and what hardware I should order exactly, I will be forever indebted. Thanks.

 

[81cutlass]

I literally just installed that blazer bar on my cutlass Sunday.

I had it on my 2+2 for ~4yrs but it launches to hard at the track and was overcoming the stiffness of the blazer bar and I swapped to a CPP bar.

Anyways, yes, and 2 DR, 4wd or 2wd bar works. I have it on an 8.5: and it's fine. As long as you have the stock G body axle tube diameter on your aftermarket rear I don't see a reason it can't work on a 9" or 12 bolt or D60.

I bought the shortest endlink off rockauto and it was about right. It's like a 04 LeSabre part. Drilled a 1/2" hole into the angle bracket going from the rear crossmember to the frame. Stock G body front will be too long.
MEVOTECH MK5255

I bought new bushings for the bar itself where it mounts to the axle and got new U bolts and clamps but I am in the land of rust.

 

[CopperNick]

How do you plan to mount the outboard ends of the bar? This is a swap that I have personally done, only it was from another vehicle from your list into my "03 S-10, and when I acquired the bar and the axle mounts, I also acquired the brackets that bolt to the frame. The whole assembly is factory and installed just that way. For an installation into a G-Body, you may have to attach the end brackets to the bar, then use a jack or jack stands to lift and position it up adjacent to the rear end where it ought to be, and then take a look at where those end brackets are sitting. The biggest issues, I think, are going to be the width of the G frame versus the S-10/Blzer/etc., and the absence of holes. Without being under a frame to confirm my suspicions, you might find yourself having to fabricate mounting pads to attach to the frame. Once you have them put in place and the bar end brackets can land on them, well the method of attachment could be holes created by means of a drill and sweat equity or the application of some MIG wire love.

Do be aware that what all this will get you is an anti sway bar that is mounted to the frame at its ends, rather than being bolted to the lower control links.


Nick

 

[Gbrick]

I literally just installed that blazer bar on my cutlass Sunday.

I had it on my 2+2 for ~4yrs but it launches to hard at the track and was overcoming the stiffness of the blazer bar and I swapped to a CPP bar.

Anyways, yes, and 2 DR, 4wd or 2wd bar works. I have it on an 8.5: and it's fine. As long as you have the stock G body axle tube diameter on your aftermarket rear I don't see a reason it can't work on a 9" or 12 bolt or D60.

I bought the shortest endlink off rockauto and it was about right. It's like a 04 LeSabre part. Drilled a 1/2" hole into the angle bracket going from the rear crossmember to the frame. Stock G body front will be too long.
MEVOTECH MK5255

I bought new bushings for the bar itself where it mounts to the axle and got new U bolts and clamps but I am in the land of rust.

I literally just installed that blazer bar on my cutlass Sunday.

I had it on my 2+2 for ~4yrs but it launches to hard at the track and was overcoming the stiffness of the blazer bar and I swapped to a CPP bar.

Anyways, yes, and 2 DR, 4wd or 2wd bar works. I have it on an 8.5: and it's fine. As long as you have the stock G body axle tube diameter on your aftermarket rear I don't see a reason it can't work on a 9" or 12 bolt or D60.

I bought the shortest endlink off rockauto and it was about right. It's like a 04 LeSabre part. Drilled a 1/2" hole into the angle bracket going from the rear crossmember to the frame. Stock G body front will be too long.
MEVOTECH MK5255

I bought new bushings for the bar itself where it mounts to the axle and got new U bolts and clamps but I am in the land of rust.

Hey, thanks again for replying, really appreciate the help. So I retained the u-bolt clamps from the blazer. I'm just gonna swap out the bushing for something polyurethane I guess, unless you know the part number I should buy. So what I was told by some guy that I may need front end sway bar links from the blazer because they were long, from what this photo depicted. (His words) Do you have any photos of your swap? Also why did you switch to cpp exactly. Also what does CPP mean.

 

[Gbrick]

How do you plan to mount the outboard ends of the bar? This is a swap that I have personally done, only it was from another vehicle from your list into my "03 S-10, and when I acquired the bar and the axle mounts, I also acquired the brackets that bolt to the frame. The whole assembly is factory and installed just that way. For an installation into a G-Body, you may have to attach the end brackets to the bar, then use a jack or jack stands to lift and position it up adjacent to the rear end where it ought to be, and then take a look at where those end brackets are sitting. The biggest issues, I think, are going to be the width of the G frame versus the S-10/Blzer/etc., and the absence of holes. Without being under a frame to confirm my suspicions, you might find yourself having to fabricate mounting pads to attach to the frame. Once you have them put in place and the bar end brackets can land on them, well the method of attachment could be holes created by means of a drill and sweat equity or the application of some MIG wire love.

Do be aware that what all this will get you is an anti sway bar that is mounted to the frame at its ends, rather than being bolted to the lower control links.


Nick

Hey thanks for your reply. So I actually was doing the rear end suspension kit I bought from BMR. When I was finishing up I noticed I just did not have a sway bar at all. So I was looking for one and figured out I can do this mod, and I will have a more stiffer anti-sway bar rather than the very small stock one.

So

1. Jack up car
2. Jack center of axle housing
3. Clamp bar with stock u-bolt/ clamps and new poly bushings.
4. Drill hole in frame?
5. Use rear sway bar end links from donor vehicle.
6. Torque hardware down?

Do you have any photos of your swap?

Thanks

Also these are some photos I found.

 

[-dw-]

I did the swap over 15yrs ago. Would have to retake pics and try to remember what I did under there but I see pics here that im sure pretty much covers it. At the time just mounting the swaybar link to basically flat piece of steel it was going to deflect a bit and possibly break so I welded in a brace on the brace. ha

 

[81cutlass]

Hey, thanks again for replying, really appreciate the help. So I retained the u-bolt clamps from the blazer. I'm just gonna swap out the bushing for something polyurethane I guess, unless you know the part number I should buy. So what I was told by some guy that I may need front end sway bar links from the blazer because they were long, from what this photo depicted. (His words) Do you have any photos of your swap? Also why did you switch to cpp exactly. Also what does CPP mean.

Those are my pictures when the bar was on my 2+2. I took another set last night of the bar on my cutlass but it's identical. There was a guy on here that used a different end link and yeah, he also welded another brace in the top to support the end link. I got lazy on both my 2+2 and the cutlass and just drilled a hole in the brace. That brace probably does bend but my 2+2 has been a best of 1.63 60ft at the track and there was no sign of contact to the floor and the link hadn't cracked or bent. Maybe over 10 years it could but 3 years and about 10k miles didn't cause an issue.

I just bought replacement GM rubber bushings. I couldn't find a poly replacement but I didn't look that hard. Honestly new rubber is hard enough and that bar isn't that stiff where I think the poly is going to make that much of a difference.

The CPP bar is an aftermarket rear bar with larger diameter made by a company called CPP. It's stiffer is all but $270 vs. the $30 I had in the blazer bar.

 

[Gbrick]

Those are my pictures when the bar was on my 2+2. I took another set last night of the bar on my cutlass but it's identical. There was a guy on here that used a different end link and yeah, he also welded another brace in the top to support the end link. I got lazy on both my 2+2 and the cutlass and just drilled a hole in the brace. That brace probably does bend but my 2+2 has been a best of 1.63 60ft at the track and there was no sign of contact to the floor and the link hadn't cracked or bent. Maybe over 10 years it could but 3 years and about 10k miles didn't cause an issue.

I just bought replacement GM rubber bushings. I couldn't find a poly replacement but I didn't look that hard. Honestly new rubber is hard enough and that bar isn't that stiff where I think the poly is going to make that much of a difference.

The CPP bar is an aftermarket rear bar with larger diameter made by a company called CPP. It's stiffer is all but $270 vs. the $30 I had in the blazer bar.

Okay yeah I appreciate that alot actually. Thanks again for the help. It seems slot easier than what I might have thought.

 

[-dw-]

I just bought replacement GM rubber bushings. I couldn't find a poly replacement but I didn't look that hard. Honestly new rubber is hard enough and that bar isn't that stiff where I think the poly is going to make that much of a difference.

After i installed my bar i jacked up one side of the rear axle to see how tight it would act. Pertnear squeazed the rubber bushing out (exaggeration). I recalled late 90s caravans slopping out the swaybar bushings. Ive replaced many of them to get rid of the thumping under the floor. Well they looked like a close fit so i did make a set fit. Alittle grinding that was it. They were poly...

 

[CopperNick]

81 Cutlass, where did you get your new end bushings for that sway bar from?? Mine are about due for replacement and it is something that I have been considering as well. The idea of Poly-U bushings would be great!



Nick