Re: [FWDLK] Custom Sway Bars for our cars

[Nathan Nuttall <nnuttall@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gary, I would recommend going with a smaller bar than 1.25".  Remember that torsional stress goes up as the square of the diameter so that a little goes a long way. Bars that are too large cause your car to wander and really don't give you any improvement over the "right" size. I experienced this with a 63 Nova. The standard aftermarket bar for the early Nova is 1", but some company was selling a 1.125" bar, so I bought it feeling that bigger has got to be better. Long story short, I absolutely hated that bar and would prefer having the stock 11/16" bar over that one. The 56 Plymouth is not that much heavier than the early Nova unless you have got a blown, all iron Hemi in it ( which may very well be ). It is also not a very wide car so that the bar should be pretty stiff without much diameter. Another serious potential problem is the added stress on the lower control arms. GM A body cars (chevelle, GTO, 442 etc) are notorious for breaking their lower control arms in a catastrophic way. This is in part due to the excess stress of high performance springs and sway bars on multi-decade old arms. You need to consider if the 50 year old, fatigued stock control arms on the Plymouth can handle the excess stress. No one is going to make tubular replacements for us the way they do for GM muscle cars! Anyway, I recommend going on the conservative side - 1" to 1.125" with stiff, polygraphite bushings to ensure that the bar is doing its job.

 

Thanks for finding this company that is willing to make custom bars. I would like to have one made for a 56 Plymouth as well. What's the point in having a nice car if you don't enjoy driving it? Gotta love those fins!

Nathan Nuttall

So. California

-----Original Message-----
From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List [mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Gary Pavlovich
Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 12:33 PM
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] Custom Sway Bars for our cars

Dave,  I am looking at using a 1 1/4" front sway bar.  The '56 Plymouth "channel" that the original bar fits into is a limiting factor; approx. 1 1/4" wide.  However, I believe it can easily be modified by enlarging the channel or adapting a larger external bracket to bolt to the channel frame utilizing Polyurethane or PolyGraphite bushings.

 

I am presently working this out with "Mikey" at Quickor suspension.  Feel free to e-mail him with any requests for custom or standard bars (front and rear); this should help us all with Quickor supplying us with improved handling/safety, much like AAJ has done with his disc brake packages.

 

www.quickor.com

 

 

Thank you,

Gary Pavlovich

----- Original Message -----

From: David Homstad

To: Gary Pavlovich

Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 12:08 AM

Subject: RE: [FWDLK] Custom Sway Bars for our cars

Gary,

 

So, what diameter bar did you decide on? And what kind of prices are we looking at for a “custom bar”? Do they have new bar bushings?

 

Dave

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List [mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Gary Pavlovich
Sent: Monday, December 30, 2002 11:56 AM
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [FWDLK] Custom Sway Bars for our cars

 

Mopar Groups:

 

I am having a custom sway bar made for my Poly stroker vehicle and thought some on these lists might be interested/benenfit from this mfgr.; Quickor Suspension.

 

The contact is Quickor Suspension, 1-503-654-2175, ask for "Mikey".  Web contact is www.quickor.com.

 

Take care,

Gary Pavlovich