Rear Sway Bar

[3XBrownCutty]

i was at the junkyard yesterday, and noticed an 84, 4 door regal limited. it was in pretty good shape, and i noticed that it had a rear swaybar on it.

would that bolt on to my 83 cutlass? it has a 7.5 rear end, would i have to just unbolt it from the regal, or to i have to take the pieces that connect the rearend to the frame also?

Thanks!!

 

[Tony_SS]

It'll fit. Just unbolt it - crawl under and take a look - its pretty straight forward.

 

[megaladon6]

double check that your lower control arms have the bolt holes for the sway bar. if you do pull the bar, keep the spacers that sit inside the LCA and have the bolts through them.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Yup, always take all the hardware when you pull parts at the junkyard. You never know when you will need it.

 

[Geesie]

Wow, I've never seen a 4-door G body Regal in the wild. I figured that everyone who wanted four doors would just get a LeSabre.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I pulled my 3.23 rear axle from an 83 Regal 4 door with a V6. IIRC, it would be code GU4 on the SPID sticker.

 

[78mali350]

wait. not to steal thread. but does the rear swaybar help that much?

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

It sure does! These are nose heavy cars ( 60/40 for a MCSS), so they tend to plow pretty bad. This is safe for octogenarians who used them to plod along to the golf course when they were new, but not very good if you like to take a corner anywhere near the speed limit. The addition of a rear bar adds roll stiffness to the rear end of the car, and makes it more involved in the turning process, thus subtracting understeer and making it more neutral. Any time you increase stiffness at one end of the car, it makes that end respond quicker and turn faster. I would even go further and get an aftermarket bar that is bigger than the large 7/8 rear bar used in the performance models ( I think there are 3 different sizes used depending on model and engine). While this just scratches the surface of suspension theory as it relates to sway bars, it is the essence of why they are used. I know that when I added mine, it would kick the rear out on the beach whereas before it would plow badly. It was a noticeable change for the better. If you do add the rear bar to a car that did not come with it, you will also want the complimentary front bar from the same car to complete the package. These cars, especially the base models, are notorious for overly soft and unresponsive suspensions.

 

[Vern]

Yea the springs were stupid soft on the base models and even somewhat soft by todays standards on the performance models. That is why the inexpensive Moog 5658, 5660 and other springs are such a great upgrade. Because of the springs being so soft & for other reasons sway bars help these cars a lot. Some came with only the spindly front bar, (terrible) some came with the spindly front & a spindly rear bar. (better) The performance models and some others got the f-41 option which was the thicker front and thicker rear bars. (still better especially when with the triangular front braces and the underhood braces or a rear frame tail connector.) You can also directly bolt on a 34mm hollow bar from a early 90s f-body. Its the same thickness as the thicker performance model gbody bar only hollow so its both lighter and a little stiffer. Also their was a 36mm hollow bar that came on WS6 performance suspension models of the Trans Am & Camaro equivalent early 90s f-body. This bar is pretty stiff but is great if you want to make her a more serious corner carver or offset a heavy big block or diesel motor.

 

[Tony_SS]

I think there's a general misconception that the factory offered up different sized rear sway bars. I have only come across ones that are 7/8 in size. If you got the F41 package, that included the rear sway bar. Otherwise non F41 cars got the smaller 1" front sway bar, no rear bar and no jounce bars. So unless I see otherwise, there's only one size rear sway bar at 7/8" that came from the factory.