Joined: Thu Jun 25 2009, 11:41PM
Location: Santa Ynez CA
Posts: 105
Apologies if this has already been discussed but I couldn't find anything searching for Dorman specifically. Does anybody have any experience with Dorman front and/or rear sway bars? As fun as the floaty, boaty, Fury is, a little more cornering confidence would be appreciated. RockAuto has the bars for $250 shipped for the pair, and that seems like a deal to me, but is it worth the effort?
The pictures of the sway bars at rockauto look a LOT like Addco bars. I would advise you to NOT use the rear sway bar pictured. Unless you reengineer the link attachment to the frame rail. Please research the bars and how they attach before you make any purchase. The front bar might be a good choice especially in view of the fact that a factory original bar may be hard to find. The factory front bar also would be smaller diameter than 1-1/8. Back to the rear bar issue: be aware that the C-body cars from 1968 (maybe earlier) through 1978 have the same distance between the rear springs at the axle mounting area. Also, it so happens to be the same spring to spring distance on the 1971 and up B-body cars. Therefore, one could use the rear bar from a 71 up B-body on the C-body. One would have to engineer a suitable frame rail bracket to work with the B-body bar. Depending on the year of B-body bar, there may be some other minor items to contend with in mounting but it is otherwise just wrench work. It is something I myself have done. Good luck.
Joined: Wed Aug 11 2010, 10:15AM
Location: E WA
Posts: 1230
gingerfury68 wrote ...
Apologies if this has already been discussed but I couldn't find anything searching for Dorman specifically. Does anybody have any experience with Dorman front and/or rear sway bars? As fun as the floaty, boaty, Fury is, a little more cornering confidence would be appreciated. RockAuto has the bars for $250 shipped for the pair, and that seems like a deal to me, but is it worth the effort?
Rockauto does not list these sway bars for any of the other 1968 C-bodies (Polara, Newport...) which would make me worry a little!
Joined: Thu Jun 25 2009, 11:41PM
Location: Santa Ynez CA
Posts: 105
Good info! Thanks. I suppose that does raise a few flags. I haven't been able to find decent mounting instructions for the bars and had hoped maybe someone here knew where they went. Perhaps I'll try my luck with just a front bar for starters.
Joined: Sat Aug 19 2006, 05:03PM
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2919
If you don't have a front swaybar at all, why don't you find a factory one from another C-body that had one? They can't be that hard to find. If you lived local to me, I'd offer to give you one.
Reusing an original swaybar, you may need to weld the brackets onto your front subframe, and replace the old rubber bushings.
Apologies if this has already been discussed but I couldn't find anything searching for Dorman specifically. Does anybody have any experience with Dorman front and/or rear sway bars? As fun as the floaty, boaty, Fury is, a little more cornering confidence would be appreciated. RockAuto has the bars for $250 shipped for the pair, and that seems like a deal to me, but is it worth the effort?
Darn, I fumbled. As to whether the sway bars are "worth the effort". I say YES. Most definitely so. Front and rear sway bars, properly sized to each other and to the car upon which they are mounted, will greatly enhance cornering ability. Less body roll. Less tire scrub in turns. It can be difficult to find negatives about having sway bars on your vehicle.