Modifying a Corvette stab bar

[astroracer]

I need a little help. I have a C5 Vette stab bar I would like to use on Bad Ast and need to do some bending to reposition the outer link. This is a 23mm hollow bar.
I need to move the pick-up point down and out about 2 inches.
Does anyone have experience modifying these bars or something similar?
Thanks for looking.
Mark

[novaderrik]

stab bar?

[derekf]

stabilizer bar/sway bar

[silver69camaro]

Typically OEM bars are a hardened alloy, so be sure to keep that in mind when welding. They can be modified sucessfully but it really depends on what you want to do...

[astroracer]

Typically OEM bars are a hardened alloy, so be sure to keep that in mind when welding. They can be modified sucessfully but it really depends on what you want to do...

Thanks Matt,
I realize the bars are usually hardened, not planning to do any welding. Just want to "rebend" it a bit to optimize the link orientation. Heating it to ease the bending process will anneal it so I want to avoid that unless you know of someone who can do that work and then re-harden it.

[silver69camaro]

If you just need to bend it, go for it. It's pretty tough to do but it can be done. I've annealed them before without any problems, although I know that it isn't the technically correct thing to do. Heck, I've run plain carbon steel bars that had no hardening at all!

[astroracer]

Alright, bud, sounds like a plan.
AND... what I hear you saying is, I could make my own bar out of say, 1 1/4 o.d. x .156 wall D.O.M. and have a viable solution to my bar problem... I know hardening increases the tensile strength and that improves the performance of a "smaller" bar over a "bigger" bar, which saves weight. In this case I am not concerned with a couple lbs of extra weight so, building my own bar is an alternative. Making it adjustable is icing on the cake...
Thanks

[Norm Peterson]

I know that Jon Aadland modified a 4th Gen F-body bar to make it adjustable by some method that included welding, so there might be something there you can use. If nothing else, it appears to be possible to weld out toward the endlink attachment points without adversely affecting the more highly stressed portions of the bar.

From about midway down this page (http://www.jonaadland.com/Z28/Mods/Mods.html) there's a link to a FRRAX.com thread discussing it. At least I hope it's still there (my work computer blocks FRRAX).


Norm