Front sway bar

[dedub]

I have a solid front sway bar that I think is 1" or 1 1/8" max, probably the stock one for the 80 El Camino. I'm thinking about getting a hollow one from hotchkis @ 1 3/8. Mainly because I've put my El Co. on a serious diet and I'm shedding every pound I can. Will the thicker hollow outperform the skinnier solid in a no kidding cornering scenario? Would the weigh reduction cost me in handling?

Thanks

 

[JBreu]

I just removed mine completely............ Then again I don't have worry about taking corners fast anyways as I got skinnies up front!!

 

[86Cutlass383SR]

There have been discussions of this before, might do a search for that. I'm using a hollow 36mm f-car bar on mine. The hollow bar supposedly is about as ridgid as a smaller bar but lighter or something like that. I can't remember the specifics right now, it's been a while.

Might want to check on that mid to late (3rd gen) f-body bar. Look for an IROC-Z and the bar will have small holes where it flattens out for the end link. Scrap yard prices are way lower than a new Hotchkis bar. 36mm equals about 1.44"

 

[oldtinsmith]

You must be careful at the junk yards when buying the hollow f-body front sway bars (take calipers). F-bodies had three diameters for the sway bars (all had the holes by the end links). The 32MM came on the f-41 package standard Z-28 I believe. The 34MM came on H. D. IROC's I believe. The 36MM came as a extra H. D. option and the 1LE f-body I believe.
The 32MM=1.259"
The 34MM=1.338"
The 36MM=1.417" (somewhat hard to find and usually expensive)
The 1 1/4" solid bar, and the 34MM hollow bar have about equal performance.
I base this information on a thread, on the MCSS forum.

Doug