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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