best front sway bar for a car that never had a sway bar

[moparstuart]

Looking to put bigger torsion bars and a front sway bar on the convertible superbird (birdible )
car was never  equipted with a sway bar is there a good one that will work with out changing out the the other suspension parts  .   what is the best torsion bars to use  ??  440 six pac motor in the car and that long nose weighs the front end down .

[tan top]

got addco  bars on mine , because they were the only aftermarket sawy bars out there at the time i think    ,  bought from  http://www.p-s-t.com/Products  ,  if you do not have a factory bar  , they supply a swaybar kit with the barlink  brackets that bolt to the  front shock absorber bolts !!  

also firmfeel do a similar set up !
http://www.firmfeel.com/b.htm
if i were to do mine all again think i would go with the FFI bars   but not sure how their rear bar would work with a 3 inch exhaust  

[bill440rt]

Hotchkis. Hands down.

[Charger-Bodie]

Hotchkis. Hands down.

Im not trying to be an arse,but what is so much better about the Hotchkis bars ?

[HPP]

Hotchkis bars are large,1 3/8" I think- so they look impressive, and tubular, so they weigh less. Their front bars don't perform any differently than a $100,  1 1/8"Addco bar, though they do weigh a bit less doing it. 

For t-bars,Ii'd go with 1" units.

[Charger-Bodie]

Hotchkis bars are large,1 3/8" I think- so they look impressive, and tubular, so they weigh less. Their front bars don't perform any differently than a $100,  1 1/8"Addco bar, though they do weigh a bit less doing it. 

For t-bars,Ii'd go with 1" units.

Ive had the Addco front and rear bars on 3 cars now and I'm very impressed with them. That's why I was wondering ow much better they could be. My car stays real flat and level....

[bill440rt]

AFAIK, the Hotchkis bars are the only ones out there that are hollow. It is the hollow design which makes them better/stronger, from what I have read. As mentioned, since they are hollow they are also lighter so there is less weight. They come powdercoated black, and the hardware, links, brackets, etc are really beefy. The bushings all have zerk fittings on them so they are greaseable.

The rear bars are also adjustable in three levels so you can dial in stiffness. Like the fronts, all hardware is super beefy & bushings are greaseable.

Yeah, the car tracks real flat & level, too. A BIG improvement over stock!

[HPP]

The hollow design isn't inherently stronger, but it is a better approach. It performs the same job with less of a weight penalty and we all now less weight is a better thing. So in that regard, it is better, but its roll resistance is no different and the hollow design is what necessitates they be bigger than a comparable solid design to retain that same resistance.  In a solid bar, whether sway bar or t-bar, the outer 25% of the bar provides 75% of the resistance. So logically you can put a hole throug the middle of it and only loose 25% of its resistance. The way to get that lost 25% back is to make it larger. The Hotchkis bars are considerably larger than the solid bars out there.  Following that same theory, if you gundrilled a 1.22 t-bar, you could significantly reduce its weight and create a bar that has a wheel rate more like a 1.05 bar than a 1.22 bar.

For rear bars, the same theory applies. In this case, Hotchkis and PST Pro Touring rear bars are the best out there not only because of their light weight, but also because of their adjustability. Most other solid bars do not have the built in adjustability that Hotchkis bars do.

[moparstuart]

who is the best and cheapest supplier for the addco one that will fit a non sway style car  ??

[Charger-Bodie]

who is the best and cheapest supplier for the addco one that will fit a non sway style car  ??

Ive found them cheapest on ebay. and yes they do have them for non bar cars,but make sure thats what you get.

[Budnicks]

I have Summit Racing 1-3/8" front & 1" rear on my 68 RR , (they had U-bolts to mount to the rear axle housing sway bar mount & bushings, I am going to weld on the bushing pivot mounts & just use regular nut's & bolts in the near future) , they have the "hammer tone (silver) grey/black paint" & rears are adjustable with 3 different settings & come with a thick "L" bracket to use for the outer front mounts on the shock bolts, if your car isn't equipped with a sway bar & mounts on the lower control arms from the factory mine came equipped with a factory front sway bar I didn't need to use it, they were like less than $300 ($168frt / $118 rear, I think) for both front & rear, with poly bushings, if I remember correctly...  Just saying there are others, I have used Addco, Hotchkiss & PST all are about equal in quality to the Summit's, but the Hotchkiss are the lightest & probably the best fit, but they are the most money also...  I would use any of them, you will be satisfied with the handling, especially if the car dosen't have any sway bar on the front & rear now...  JMHO

[moparstuart]

I have Summit Racing 1-3/8" front & 1" rear on my 68 RR , (they had U-bolts to mount to the rear axle housing sway bar mount & bushings, I am going to weld on the bushing pivot mounts & just use regular nut's & bolts in the near future) , they have the "hammer tone (silver) grey/black paint" & rears are adjustable with 3 different settings & come with a thick "L" bracket to use for the outer front mounts on the shock bolts, if your car isn't equipped with a sway bar & mounts on the lower control arms from the factory mine came equipped with a factory front sway bar I didn't need to use it, they were like less than $300 ($168frt / $118 rear, I think) for both front & rear, with poly bushings, if I remember correctly...  Just saying there are others, I have used Addco, Hotchkiss & PST all are about equal in quality to the Summit's, but the Hotchkiss are the lightest & probably the best fit, but they are the most money also...  I would use any of them, you will be satisfied with the handling, especially if the car dosen't have any sway bar on the front & rear now...  JMHO

yeah my car has no sway bar , 383 torsion bars and a big old huge superbird nose on the front .
i need to do it !!!!    

[Budnicks]

I have Summit Racing 1-3/8" front & 1" rear on my 68 RR , (they had U-bolts to mount to the rear axle housing sway bar mount & bushings, I am going to weld on the bushing pivot mounts & just use regular nut's & bolts in the near future) , they have the "hammer tone (silver) grey/black paint" & rears are adjustable with 3 different settings & come with a thick "L" bracket to use for the outer front mounts on the shock bolts, if your car isn't equipped with a sway bar & mounts on the lower control arms from the factory mine came equipped with a factory front sway bar I didn't need to use it, they were like less than $300 ($168frt / $118 rear, I think) for both front & rear, with poly bushings, if I remember correctly...  Just saying there are others, I have used Addco, Hotchkiss & PST all are about equal in quality to the Summit's, but the Hotchkiss are the lightest & probably the best fit, but they are the most money also...  I would use any of them, you will be satisfied with the handling, especially if the car dosen't have any sway bar on the front & rear now...  JMHO

yeah my car has no sway bar , 383 torsion bars and a big old huge superbird nose on the front .
i need do it !!!!    

Just Suspension has 1" torsion bars for like $220 also, I live in the mountains & I use them also, along with soon to be installed tubular upper & lower Caps Automotive control arms (I have used on several B-Bodies), I like my cars to handle as well as go good in a straight line, even just the sway bars "you won't be unhappy" it makes a world of a difference, if you do the torsion bars also it will be night & day differerce, if you also do the Caps Automotive tubular upper & lower control arms, it's like a sports car in comparison to stock configurations... It also helps improves your braking with less body movement & wasted motion & much better adjustability of the camber & caster I am also going to use a Caps Automotive Dynamic Adjustable front Strut rods, I have used before, they are kind of stiff for the street, but make them way more adjustable than the stock type...

[moparstuart]

 thanks i'll check out just suspionsions torsion bar  my 440 is killing the small ones   , i'm not going to get to radical just street driving so torsion bars , firm feel steering box and sway bar are it for this go around anyways  . 

[Budnicks]

thanks i'll check out just suspionsions torsion bar  my 440 is killing the small ones   , i'm not going to get to radical just street driving so torsion bars , firm feel steering box and sway bar are it for this go around anyways  . 

Yep I understand, I just like to give the info out & let people make up their own minds, If I had something rare, I would probably keep it close to stock as possible, even if it's a clone you want to have a  specific look or style, my cars aren't really all that rare...

[GreenMachine]

Hellwig sway bars are hollow as well, they are high quality with a "Hammered" finish and the cost is in between Addco and Hotchkiss.

I put them on my '68 Dart that had a 273, now has a 440. It made a big difference, I didn't change the T bars though, so now I don't feel every bump in the road and it still corners good, it'd probably be better with a rear sway bar though.

I was impressed with the quality of the Hellwig, everything was very nice.

[moparstuart]

 having a hard time finding a front sway bar  that set up for a non sway bar car 
  I dont have the controll arm that are set up to mount a sway bar  but an told someone makes one  ??

[HPP]

The biggest issue on no sway bar equiped cars are the tabs to attach the sway bar ends to.  On the less expensive kits this tab is an .25" thick angle bracket that bolts to the lower shock mount. If you want it to look more original, you can buy aftermarket, weld on tabs that mount similarly to the stock bracket.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HSS-23367/

[tan top]

having a hard time finding a front sway bar  that set up for a non sway bar car 
  I dont have the controll arm that are set up to mount a sway bar  but an told someone makes one  ??

yeah  addco from pst   sold a  two versions  ,  one  for a car that had a factory front sway bar !! &  a sway bar kit , but for a car that never had a factory fitted bar , the kit would come with two L shaped brackets for the barlink ends  that bot to the front lower shock absorber mounting bolt , remember seeing them i'm their catalog ,  just had a quick look on their site , its all changed now & can't find it  , but there are ! were  two two distinct kits for each year  & size of bar

[GreenMachine]

having a hard time finding a front sway bar  that set up for a non sway bar car    I dont have the controll arm that are set up to mount a sway bar  but an told someone makes one  ??

Here's some pics of my '68 Dart. The 90 degree mount is extremly thick, probably overkill. This is the sway bar I bought: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HEL-55906/ The Hotchkis replacement mounts are about 2 or 3 times as thick as factory, I bought a set to replace a broken factory mount on my '70 Charger.

[moparstuart]

  yes addco only sells one kit now and all of them come with the   " L " bracket  according to there tech line
 thanks much for the pictures  should help on my install