Front sway bar question

[Koelsch]

Hello

I have a 55 Chevy with a 72 Camaro front end with the original sway bar. The upper and lower control arms are from CPP. I had to get new sway bar linkages, and the spacers seem a bit tall. Does the end of sway bar that attaches to the linkages need to be parallel to the ground, similair to the rear suspension, or can it point up? If so, how much is acceptable?


Thank you for help

Jens

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Looks fine to me.

If you need something to check, take the sway bar loose on one side and check to ensure the left front and right front ride height are the same. As long as you aren't unnecessarily preloading the bar, send it.

[Koelsch]

Awesome! Thank you very much

[David Pozzi]

Doesn't look bad to me either.
The sleeve can be shortened to level the bar end if you wish, but you may have to use a shorter bolt. In a perfect world the bar end tab should be flat/level, but it doesn't look off enough to worry about. It's the result of lowering the chassis from design height. A too short spacer will cause binding so I would not shorten the sleeve below 2". It looks like .5" shorter would be good.
Don't go crazy on the end link torque. Squeeze the bushings a little but don't squash them down. With rubber you would tighten till the bushing was the same diameter of the washers but newer materials react differently & it can cause a bind.

[Sleeper68]

Doesn't look bad to me either.
The sleeve can be shortened to level the bar end if you wish, but you may have to use a shorter bolt. In a perfect world the bar end tab should be flat/level, but it doesn't look off enough to worry about. It's the result of lowering the chassis from design height. A too short spacer will cause binding so I would not shorten the sleeve below 2". It looks like .5" shorter would be good.
Don't go crazy on the end link torque. Squeeze the bushings a little but don't squash them down. With rubber you would tighten till the bushing was the same diameter of the washers but newer materials react differently & it can cause a bind.

David,

What does sway bar bind due to an over-shortened ARB endlink feel like? I think this may be part of my "intermittent steering assist loss" issue. My front ARB endlinks are about 1.75" between washers. The bushing material is polyurethane. Hellwig 1.125" Hollow bar on 1968 Camaro.

Sorry, not trying to highjack the thread.

Ryan

[Koelsch]

Cool, I will double check the torque. Thank you for the fedback

[firebob]

One other thing to consider when you are adjusting your links is to make sure all four wheels are on level ground. If one rear wheel is on a little high spot the opposite front wheel will have a bit more pressure applied and so on. It may not seems like much but when you stand behind the car and wonder if your springs are going because it's not sitting flat anymore, it might be just be because the sway bar adjustment was off.

[David Pozzi]

It would cause corner entry understeer. The end links need to move left to right a bit to prevent bind, plus some front to rear due to the arc of the sway bar arms. I've run 2" tall end link sleeves and it seemed to be ok but I wouldn't want to go below 1.75". Try loosening the end links two turns each and see if it makes a difference.