I think that I'm beginning to see the problem, we are
talking about two different animals!! First I have it
on my MK1. Second, it does not need any tape or
wooden blocks, nor does it have any sort of bushings.
It bolts directly to the vertical uprights, with no
moving parts!! It was somewhat difficult to install, as
it is spring loaded. While on jack stands, you bolt on
the one side and then jack up the wheel on the other
side, until at the right position to insert the bolts. Yes,
it's poorly designed, but a real asset on the Auto Cross
track!! I ordered it out of Florida 6 or 7 years ago. Bill
My reply to you was short, giving a curt tone, which wasn't intentional.
I agree, it's pretty much fool proof when installing a sway bar, though I've
seen them boogered up in some interesting ways, including my attempts years
ago with an old Audi Fox I once had as a much younger, and more foolish,
lad. Note, no matter how much electrical tape you use, it just will not
hold it onto the a-arm. :-) My attempts at doubling up a swaybar on the
front of my old Beetle using hose clamps and some blocks of wood worked much
better.
A sway bar, unless it's binding in its bushings, will not restrict the
moving of the entire rear end of the car up and down. You should be able to
push on the center of the rear bumper, and bounce the entire rear end up and
down just like before the bar was installed. If you can't, there's a bind
somewhere, and it almost has to be in the bushings. It can also be a matter
of a poorly engineered swaybar. The Spitfire rear end moves fore and aft as
it goes up and down. The pivot axis is a straight line drawn from the
u-joint to the radius rod mount on the body tub. If a sway bar was mounted
with in such a matter that it would not allow that necessary fore and aft
motion, it would bind the suspension. Mounting one without end links could
do this, and I have seen them engineered this way.
A properly engineered and mounted sway bar will give a harsher ride though.
Because bumps and dips in the road do not come to both sides of the car at
the same time. So while the suspenion action going straight over speed
bumps doesn't change with the sway bar, the suspension action does change
going over individual pot holes and bumps. You would also detect this by
trying to bounce the bumper from one corner of the car, instead of trying to
bounce the entire rear end of the car from the very center of the bumper.
At $50, you have my interest on this rear sway bar. I'm curious to see what
I can work for the rear suspension combining a true swing spring, sway bar
and camber compensator in various configurations. It may not work at all,
and I may end up waiting until I do the GT-6 rotoflex rear instead. But the
swaybar could still work for what I want. So if this is a swaybar for the
wider square tail Spitfires, I'd like to hear a little more about it, and
yes, I very well may buy it from you if you're truly willing to sell. It
could compliment my 1-1/2" monsterious front sway bar. :-)
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