I have no rear sway bar on my '81 C3 Corvette now??
I've decided that I want a rear sway bar and a installation kit that should include mounting brackets, bushings , links, washers, spacers, in other words what ever mounting hardware that is needed to mount a rear sway bar to a '81 vette that did not come with a rear sway bar.
I was told to get the 7/16" size because bigger is not better with rear sway bars.

Does anyone know the correct size to get & if there is a installation kit that contains all the parts that I need?

Where should I get them?

thanks

|UPDATED|4/15/2004 8:36:03 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

I can't help myself. Here I go again.

Sway bars always improve handling. But there are a few things to consider.

A stiffer front sway bar will increase understeer, meaning the car stays flatter, but tends to plow the front wheels ahead, You need to turn the front wheels a bit more to make the same curve.

A stiffer rear sway bar will increase understeer, again the car stays flatter, and the rear end will tend to come around on hard curves easier than before.

If the rear is twitchie, use a smaller bar in the rear, or larger in the front. If the car does not turn in crisply enough, put a smaller bar in the front, or stiffer in the rear.

A matched set will keep the car flat and balance the front and rear handling. The stiffer they are, the flatter the car stays, and the better the suspension and tires hold position relative to the road. This keeps the entire tire width evenly loaded, which provides better traction, thus better cornering. This is often perferred to very stiff springs. The sway bars lead to keeping a softer suspension and better ride, and still improve handling.

Most of our cars (no matter what they are)are set up to somewhat understeer. This is considered safe handling, as the car will tend to go straight when someone pushes it too far, instead of doing donuts. With enough horsepower any rear drive will do donuts. So installing a rear bar makes the handling more neutral. A very good thing for us.

A sway bar will not affect straight line ride quality on smooth surfaces. On a raising for falling surface (dip in the road) the bar moves evenly side to side and has no affect on the car. It only works when the two sides are not at the same height (body roll), and tries to keep it even height side to side. You can feel the difference if one side hits an uneven surface.
If the bar is broken or a link is broken the car will lose handling, and want to follow irregular surfaces. This can be very noticable on uneven surfaces and pavement cracks at high way speed.

The reason the throttle will have a big affect is the total traction available between the tire and road. Any tire has 100% traction. That 100% percent may be different amount between tires, but what a tire will max out at is 100% for that tire. If exceed 100%, the tire will slip. This is true braking, acellerating, or cornering. When you combine those actions, some traction is used by each function. You can't exceed 100%. If you are corning at 70% traction, and acellerate with enough force to use 40%, that's 110%, which means you lost traction and your sliding. Not good unless you are in the process of a smokey burnout.

I know this does not fully answer your question, but with some research of sway bar mfg and spec, this info will get you there. Tires make a difference in your selection, as will the type of driving you do. Asking folks who have tried different things also helps. Wait, that's exactly what you did. How about it group? What combinations have you used, good or bad?

I put a 3/4" rear sway bar from Vette Brakes and Products
on my 78. You can find them on line-lots of good parts!
Steve