Bob,
Lou's sway bar had re-engineered mounts that were sturdier than the flimsy stock
mounts which easily ripped free. They did not use the crossmember slot. It was a
quality piece, but required greasing w/a needle fitting, as it had no grease
fittings.
Al J.
BTW, wasn't Lou national champ in a TVR Griffith back then????
Bob Palmer wrote:
> Duncan,
>
> I believe the original source for your nominal 1" sway bar was Lou
> Anderson, a long-time Tiger owner and autocrosser here in Vista, Calif. I
> believe torsional stiffness goes as the diameter cubed, so the fact that it
> is made of hollow pipe instead of solid bar has a rather small effect on
> stiffness. I believe Lou, who's a professional engineer, concluded that
> cheap, mild steel pipe would work just about as well as the best solid 1"
> bars and had quite a few made up. I believe they were sold through CAT in
> the late '70s. The stock bar is 3/4" and you could buy the 7/8" LAT-82 only
> through Traction Master as was also the case for the two rear sway bars
> (LAT-80 & 81). The availability of these Tiger sway bars and the assignment
> of LAT numbers was apparently something done by Richard Wheatly after
> leaving International Automobiles and joining Traction Master. I guess
> whether these are "official" LAT pieces is a matter of interpretation, but
> according to Norm, they were never available through Rootes as were the
> other LAT options. (See page 110, The Book of Norman)
>
> As to whether a bigger sway bar is better, I guess the answer is not
> necessarily. In particular, the clips that hold the sway bar to the lower
> A-arms are not really strong enough to handle the stress of a 1" bar. I
> found this out the hard way on turn 9 at Willow Springs one weekend. Also,
> installation of a 1" bar is difficult. The bar came with some pieces to
> Tygon (clear plastic) tubing in place of the molded rubber pieces (4) that
> the standard or 7/8" bar comes with. Still, it is a tight and difficult
> installation. The effect of increasing the front sway bar stiffness will be
> a reduction in body roll and oversteer (or increase in understeer
> depending on your perspective). If you want to improve the car's handling,
> you probably need to stiffen up the suspension at all four corners first,
> then perhaps go to the 7/8" bar up front and if you are really serious, add
> a 5/8" or 3/4" sway bar in back. A sway bar is relatively easy to install,
> but it really doesn't do the job like stiffer springs, although it will
> keep the car more level in a turn, which is good (but not good enough for
> some of us).
>
> Regarding the alignment of the windshield with the vent window, there are
> rubber shims that are used to adjust the rake of the windshield for this
> purpose. This subject was discussed here just a couple months back I think.
>
> I'm sorry I just couldn't give you a simpler answer to the sway bar
> question, but hopefully you can interpret my comments in your own context.
> If you need further clarification, I'll be happy to expound further.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Bob
>
> At 01:43 PM 11/28/99 -0600, The Charltons wrote:
> >Tigers,
> >The driver door "vent" window frame is too close to the windshield frame at
> >the top. Has anyone had success adjusting the gap once everything has been
> >together for a while, without having resultant water leaks?
> >
> >Also, my sway bar measures slightly over 1" in diameter and is hollow. Is
> >this an aftermarket bar? I've been told a 1" bar will improve the handling
> >over stock, but does this mean a 1" hollow bar?
> >
> >Duncan
> >charlton@flash.net
> >B9473116
> >
>
> Robert L. Palmer
> UCSD, Dept. of AMES
> 619-822-1037 (o)
> 760-599-9927 (h)
> rpalmer@ucsd.edu
> rpalmer@cts.com
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