BUILD THREAD “The Juggernaut”

[Streetbu]

Well, been doing some looking around and comparing, think I have it narrowed down to 2 possibilities:

UMI naturally:

1978-1988 GM G-Body 1” Tubular Rear Sway Bar, Chassis Mounted, Pro-Tour - UMI Performance Inc.

UMI’s G-body Pro-Tour style bar is a true multi purpose high performance rear sway bar. The chassis and differential housing

www.umiperformance.com

And RideTech:

Rear Sway Bar | 1978-1988 GM G-Body

Ridetech has upgraded the traditional notion of sway bars with the new MuscleBar™. Using precision CNC tubing benders, PosiLink end links and Delrin lined mount bushings, Ridetech can now produce sway bars with unheard of dimensional and rate accuracy. FEATURES • Precision CNC-Bent Tubing For...

www.ridetech.com

Both are close in price and features, the shipping time is much better on the RideTech kit, it can ship before the end of the month through Speedway Motors. UMI isn’t expected to ship until sometime in December. 😠

Streetbu, scoti, UNGN, melloelky, motorheadmike, where are you guys? Still looking for input and feedback if anyone has any experiences down this road.

This can be a varied answer. I can tell you what I have and what works for me. That doesn't mean it will be your best choice though.

I'm running a factory rear sway bar and a F body 36mm front Bar. This seems to give the car a decent balance for me. If you go too stiff on the rear bar, you end up being very twitchy while cornering and have a tendency to snap the rear end free when least expected.
From everything I've ever read, most G bodies do best with either no rear sway bar, or just the stock rear bar. Mind you this is for cornering not drag racing. Too stiff a bar upsets the balance and the chassis

 

[Rktpwrd]

This can be a varied answer. I can tell you what I have and what works for me. That doesn't mean it will be your best choice though.

I'm running a factory rear sway bar and a F body 36mm front Bar. This seems to give the car a decent balance for me. If you go too stiff on the rear bar, you end being very twitchy cornering and have a tendency to snap the rear end free when least expected.
From everything I've ever read, most G bodies do best with either no rear sway bar, or just the stock rear bar. Mind you this is for cornering not drag racing. Too stiff a bar upsets the balance and the chassis

Thanks for your input Shawn. I realize these things can be somewhat subjective. However with the exception of the Grand Prix I had and that rusty wreck Cutlass that I parted out a couple years ago, all of my G’s have had factory sway bars. And after driving that POS a while back with no rear bar, I’ll never have another G body without sway bars.

I am aware that it’s possible to go “too big” on the rear bar, but I think a 1” one and with a realistic setting (they’re both adjustable), a guy could fine tune it to match the rest of the handling characteristics of the car.

 

[Wraith]

Not impressed with the muscle bar uprights, just me, those look like they are more like a "ball joint" mount, not solid. I'll probably go with a splined style that I've been shopping tonight.

*Edit

Of course I have changed the geometry with the Macguyver 8.8 truss setup.

 

[scoti]

Well, after doing some research late into the very early morning, I pulled the trigger on what is sure to become the first of many new parts coming for the car.

With my raising and lowering the car the last couple days on the air ride system, the issue of bump steer has come to the forefront of my mind again. Did some fairly in depth research into it this morning, and read a lot of very informative posts on MonteCarloSS.com and a few others on the subject, particularly on our cars with the use of B body spindles. I’m actually using 3rd gen F body spindles, but with the exception of the bearing sizes they’re essentially the same.

I came across this old post right here at home on gbodyforum from UNGN that I had forgotten all about:

Going Back to B-Body Front Brakes

I’m getting my 1986 T-Type back on the road after 2 years of sitting. I’ll post a build thread with all of the upgrades/changes. But for this thread I’m going to go into the Pro’s/Cons of B-Body Brakes on a G-body. The T-type currently has 12" LS1 Front Brakes, that look great and all, but I...

gbodyforum.com

This appears to be the best solution to addressing the problem and the man knows what he’s talking about, so I decided to follow his lead.

Ordered this adjustable drop center link from Howe Racing…

View attachment 185871

…and these 1/2” taller lower ball joints from Proforged on Amazon.

View attachment 185872

These ball joints will have to replace the ones currently in my RideTech StrongArms, so hopefully there won’t be a compatibility issue there. There is a very good possibility that I might have to notch the crossmember protrusion to achieve the full drop potential of the center link, but I’d much rather do that now while the chassis is still in bare metal.

This is why you mock things up and test fit everything before worrying about the “pretty”.


Now, help me spend my money. After reading and learning about the superiority of the Pro Touring style rear sway bar, I’ve decided that I definitely need to make the switch/upgrade from the stock style Hotchkis that goes between the lower control arms that I have now.

Any recommendations on a “go-to” kit to use? I’m not interested in the used Blazer route, I want all new and high quality, preferably in a kit with the end links. Only catch is I have a narrowed 12 bolt in the car, so whatever one I get will have to fit 3” axle tubes. I generally haven’t been all that impressed with the clamp on mounts for the axle portions of the kits that I’ve seen, I think I would prefer a weld-on style. I could also weld on a clamp style if push came to shove, but seems a waste though.

Recommendations guys??? I’d like to get the parts coming ASAP as the end links are going to occupy some of the same real estate that I have planned for the fuel line bulkheads, and I need to plan for it accordingly.

Look @ QA1's rear setup. Adjustable; chassis connected vs the trailing arms, Chromoly, & competitively priced vs similar stuff. That's what I'll prob get when the time comes.

As streetbu mentioned above, a stout bar out back can & will bring the arse end around if things aren't tuned well. I always like the stock GN/MCSS bars. Anything bigger seemed to upset things too easily. But.... That's w/the bar tied to the trailing arms. Another reason I'm trying something independent from the suspension links & tune-able.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Look @ QA1's rear setup. Adjustable; chassis connected vs the trailing arms, Chromoly, & competitively priced vs similar stuff. That's what I'll prob get when the time comes.

Will do, that’s one that I haven’t looked into yet. Thanks for responding!

 

[scoti]

Will do, that’s one that I haven’t looked into yet. Thanks for responding!

I edited the response as well.

 

[64nailhead]

Mind you this is for cornering not drag racing.

Agree ^^^^with this 110%. A straight line car needs ARB and driver that you want to corner needs a sway bar.

My son ran the UMI bar with adjustable upper and lower arms. That was worth the money over a factory bar. I would recommend that to anyone that wants handling and is running a 275-325 width low profile street tire.

I’m trying to keep my car from twisting on the hit at the strip with zero concern for at speed cornering.

 

[melloelky]

Well, been doing some looking around and comparing, think I have it narrowed down to 2 possibilities:

UMI naturally:

1978-1988 GM G-Body 1” Tubular Rear Sway Bar, Chassis Mounted, Pro-Tour - UMI Performance Inc.

UMI’s G-body Pro-Tour style bar is a true multi purpose high performance rear sway bar. The chassis and differential housing

www.umiperformance.com

And RideTech:

Rear Sway Bar | 1978-1988 GM G-Body

Ridetech has upgraded the traditional notion of sway bars with the new MuscleBar™. Using precision CNC tubing benders, PosiLink end links and Delrin lined mount bushings, Ridetech can now produce sway bars with unheard of dimensional and rate accuracy. FEATURES • Precision CNC-Bent Tubing For...

www.ridetech.com

Both are close in price and features, the shipping time is much better on the RideTech kit, it can ship before the end of the month through Speedway Motors. UMI isn’t expected to ship until sometime in December. 😠

Streetbu, scoti, UNGN, melloelky, motorheadmike, where are you guys? Still looking for input and feedback if anyone has any experiences down this road.

I'm running the 1" rear pro tour bar and it's a nice piece.i wish i welded the saddles on but it just didn't happen.you select by axle tube size etc etc.the hardware's good,straight forward and from what cpp bar looks like it's a lot less going on.the heims/rod end mount via the rear cross-member and that's it.upgrading from the style you're currently running will be an improvement by design alone.i know you have some space restrictions but this is a tidy set up.i ended up adding a set of two piece stainless clamping shaft collars.it's common on spline style front bars that don't have the bind factor to stop them from from side to side.my set up pale's in comparsion to yours but this bar keeps me flat and yes i had an axle leaking @that time😉,I'm super jealous of that center link btw but those proforged BJ's are solid.I'm running them upper and lower..

[URunfurl="true"]https://www.mcmaster.com/6436K38/[/URL]

 

[ProTourElky]

Detroit Speed and Speedtech Performance both offer frame connected bars and have been in the handling game awhile. Detroit has 1” and 1-1/8” options as well as brackets for stock or 3” housings, I am using the 1” on my El Camino build. Both are competitively priced as well.

 

[motorheadmike]

Detroit Speed and Speedtech Performance

And they do think rather highly of their products.

For the money the Hellwig "Pro-Touring" bar is the best compromise.

It does have adjustable endlinks and different rate settings. And it doesn't use heim joints which will fail with lots of use.

The challenge with all of these frame mounted designs is they don't work well with extremely low cars. I cut the endlinks down on the wagon's Hellwig, and I shimmed the UMI drag bar down from the axle on the Monte.

Buy cheapest one knowing you will not be bolting it on.