2.3L of fun

[icehouse]

That's good you like the feel. It makes sense it rotates easiers since by swapping to a softer bar up front its like you are essentially increassing the rear sway stiffness. Maybe with our rack we get more lock to lock becuase I can turn my wheels until they hit the inner fender or the sway bar in our racecar. How thick was your old bar?

[funwithmonkeys]

I had the futofab 1 1/8 bar. I'm pretty sure I was seeing a much higher rate than what it was designed at. The angle of the arms in relation to the end links meant that it was getting pushed at an angle instead of straigh on. It was actually bending the end links.

[JordanTr]

Hey Norm,

Judging from your pictures and work, you love being under your car!
Think you could grab some measurements for me? I need a sway bar option that'll fit now that I have a rack and this might be the ticket but I'm with Jeff and suspect that this isn't nearly as stiff as we think.

It'd be great to have both for the Futo bar and the T3 bar.

I had a 1" bar in the stock location and loved that with the way the car was set up. I want to build a circle track style bar to match that rate.

Thanks!

[funwithmonkeys]

I'm thinking I may need to go to the 1.25 solid bar to get a better rate on it. My car also has 300lb/in springs so others will have different results in their handling.
A 16"
B 32.5"
C 16.25"
OD 1.135
ID .616
It works out to 168.3 lb/inch.
Those measurements are with the powder coating on so it is probably closer to the 165 that Mike said. If I would go up to a 1.25 solid bar it would be at 270. Futofabs bar is about 450 which makes my car rather harsh on the rough roads I spend most of my time on.

[JordanTr]

Thanks. My calcs say that too. Do you have the dims off a stock/Orangeline bar? My parts are far far away...
Or do you have the calculated stiffness of the Orangeline bar to compare it to?

[funwithmonkeys]

My orangeline bar has been reshaped a bit so I don't know if it is still the same dimensions but on mine it calculated to just about 450lb/in. Really somewhere right in the middle of these two will probably be the sweet spot. I'm going to drive it like this for a while before I decide if I want to try it with a bigger bar. It is so much nicer over the bumps right now.

[JordanTr]

My orangeline bar has been reshaped a bit so I don't know if it is still the same dimensions but on mine it calculated to just about 450lb/in. Really somewhere right in the middle of these two will probably be the sweet spot. I'm going to drive it like this for a while before I decide if I want to try it with a bigger bar. It is so much nicer over the bumps right now.

Ah ok. That's good. Using that, then my 1" is roughly 250-275 ish so your comments for a solid 1.25" bar make sense. 1 3/8" OD, 1/4" wall would bump up to 330 ish
I'm with you, I think something similar to the 1" stiffness (stock location) or marginally more would be good.
Thanks for the details. Back to the regular program now.

[funwithmonkeys]

I'm not sure what spring rate you are running but that should be taken into consideration. Running with 250lb springs I would want a bigger bar than when running 300's to have the same body roll. I look forward to seeing what you come up with Jordan.

[icehouse]

We had a 1 1/4 with 1/4" wall in our race car then we up sized it to a 1 1/2 with 1/4" wall, we also did a race with no sway bars. To me even the 1 1/2 doesn't seem stiff enough. Better then the smaller one though. We just run on tread wear 200 tires not the crazy sticky 60 like you guys drive on. We also run 300lb springs. That being said we haven't played with different dampers which would be fun.

[funwithmonkeys]

Is there a reason you didn't try the solid bar?

[cartel]

Treadwear 80 to 100..

Im using koni race inserts. I would think the 1.25 x .25 would be enough.

[icehouse]

Is there a reason you didn't try the solid bar?

A solid 1.5" bar was a special order and cost more. It wouldn't have made it in time for the next race. Trust me I think about ordering it still! The bar on the car said and done was 500 bucks though. Seems like with tread wear 60 tires you would want an even bigger bar. I guess you guys just do fun runs so it's not like it has to be dialed to the max trying to get every 10th of a second.

[icehouse]

Treadwear 80 to 100..

Im using koni race inserts. I would think the 1.25 x .25 would be enough.

Depends on application. My coupe doesn't even have a bar and it won't get one. No point for a cruiser. Like stated above. It just translates road roughness and noise.

[funwithmonkeys]

Which tires are you using now icehouse? I was just looking at the new Yokohama A052. They are rated at 200 treadwear yet they have the same MS compound used on the A048M that is rated at 60 treadwear. They made quite a few changes to the construction to improve cornering response and wet weather drivability. It seems like the tire companies are making more cheater tires to get in on the racing series that call for 200 treadwear tires.

[icehouse]

I still run the R888r on my tan 510 and love them! They do amazing in the rain compared to the R888 and even compared to tires like the RE71. I want to try the Yokohama A052 but from what I read they heat cycle really fast. So half the life and way more cost makes it hard for me to switch from what I've been running. Since the autoxing I do only has a RWD class most guys run hoosiers. I usually beat all the RWD cars even if they are running Hoosiers. I keep thinking about trying a set of Hoosiers but they are so expesive. Our enduro car runs Hankook RS4 which is required because they are a sponsor. We get a tire for 100 bucks! It's amazing how long they last. We once got 32 hours out of one set! The grip level is moderate and they do have a lot of sidewall flex.

I will say as much as they may be "cheater tires" if you daily drive on fancy tires like the R888r they last forever on the street. Sam drove on his for 2 years and said the rain traction was still way better then his brand new RE71 he just got. Another work buddy put 20k on his set. Even our enduro car getting 32 hours on a set is crazy really.