Nice job. Can't wait to see more updates an projects and many more videos soon my friend. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Fab On. Weld On. Keep teaching. Keep Making. God bless.
As an autocrosser since the late 90’s (89 Corvette) I have put bigger bars on almost every car I’ve owned. Now I need to add swaybars to my lowered 37 Hudson coupe. Good to know there is a way to build them myself. 👍🏻
Cool! Keep in mind - this style of bar only works on a torsion-beam axle. You will need more mounts (center ones ont he chassis, for example) to work on any other style of suspension. But yeah - I have made a number of bars on a number of cars over the years.
gusset the mount plates and or make them thicker too. plug weld in a short length of rebar inside and in the middle.... plug weld from center out towards the bend...adding more plug welds for more rigidity. (or just put bolts through for adjustability adding and removing bolts/pins to suit the track) schedule 80 pipe next
Why not build 2 chassis connection points like most other manufacturers sway bars the only one i can think of off hand with just the control arms hooked up are the old vw bug front sway bars 🤔 But as yours are they were not allowed to pivot on the arm so I guess the 2 center points may not be needed but id try to add them too see if that gives you more stiffness
Neat. Pretty sciencey stuff, your rear sway bar builds! Does the bar help correct the front wheel drive plowing feel when cornering hard? That is so hard to get used compared to a rear wheel drive where you can bring the back end around pretty much whenever you want to.
I did draw up another set of arms like you are suggesting, but I couldn't visualize it being stronger than tube arms. I'm going to find out soon enough.
As someone who has used their accent in track days id love to see how this turns out once its fully completed. And are there any plans on selling the it as a DIY kit or a fully assembled to order unit?
So the aftermarket bars for these cars (well not THESE ones, nobody makes one specifically for the MC right now, but similar beam axle Kiyundais) seem to pick up on both the inboard and outboard holes in the spring perch and make heavy implications that they're doing that to counteract any camber gain one might see from the trailing 'legs' of the beam twisting under load. Any thoughts on that? I'm thinking of doing a bar like your earlier 7/8" design and incorporating this feature as well but I'm not entirely sure if there's much to be gained or a risk of side effects there.
Although now that I've posted out loud I am kinda wondering if we want that camber gain so the outside rear tire engages in a controlled slip to help the car rotate rather than breaking loose completely and pointing me directly at the annoyed Corvette I forgot to point-by. Part of me wants to point a gopro at a dial indicator on this beam for a couple spicy turns to see if/how much the beam flexes in that way.
I would not lose any sleep over camber change in the rear on this car. If you wanted to get serious, I would slot holes to get at least -2.5° camber up front, and look at those poly caster bushings you can get for the front as well. I am currently running a 1" SCH40 rear sway bar right now (1.315" OD), and still want more (though it might be really good for road racing, I want something more "autocross twitchy"). Plating the axle "U" itself will be next for me.
Yeah I'm already working on doing all that stuff up front, and the offset LCA bushings are on order. If you want a little more meat in the beam itself the Forte/Soul beam looks like it might work in there... I'm in the midst of swapping 1st gen Forte brakes/hubs/knuckles on mine as well and it all just legos together except the CVs. I'm leaving the beam for now cause I'm going after the low hanging fruit first and that swap will require drilling spot welds and swapping the upper spring perch/shock mount ass/y for the revised shock position, not quite ready to get surgical with this car yet.
I realize I'm late here, but wouldn't fresh rear axle bushings be more effective than the sway bar? Or at least make the sway bar more effective? I got some new bushings for mine, but after looking at where they need to be pressed in and out, I'm planning on getting a rear axle from pick n pull and filling the bushings with a poly adhesive; it ahould be a significantly smaller headache.
I'll bet new bushings make a difference. I'm pretty sure poly bushings are available, but that torsion beam axle twists A LOT, and it's reducing that twist that makes the biggest difference. The bushings won't really stop the actual twisting of the axle. I'm going to try a welded plate to box the axle itself soon.
@GregWellwood I actually bought a set of poly bushings from siberian bushing, but with limited experience and a bushing tool that didn't seem like it would work in that location it didn't seem like the best idea to do the swap. I'd gladly trade those for a sway bar 😅
Hey I’m watching this after reading ur article and I love your accent I have a black 09 accent hatchback and I’m just now doing mods on it , I’m 18 and I’m not so good at fabricating yet so I’m kinda lost on what to do. Can u help me out here
Start by doing small mods that you can handle, bolts ons and such. Your skills grow as you dabble more and more down the road of modifications. I don't know where your skillset is, or what tools and equipment you have, but start with small stuff that you can manage. At 18 I did very little in the way of metal fabrication - I could do mechanical rebuilds and repairs. I did my first engine swap at 21, which included fabricating motor mounts and exhaust. By 27 I had fabricated electric go karts. By 32 I had built a tube-frame dune buggy from scratch. By 35 I had built a Lotus 7 replica from scratch (fabricated my own suspension, and shortened my own driveshaft) and got it street legal. Start with stuff you think you can manage, and those new skills feed the next skills, and you get better and better (and bolder and bolder).
Made. Build. So many people doing things that have been done for years just trying to use big words to describe it. Like a garbage man calling himself and urban refuse transfer engineer. I took the trash out, I made a sway bar; it's just saying. George Carlin talks about this so much better than I
Nice job. Can't wait to see more updates an projects and many more videos soon my friend. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Fab On. Weld On. Keep teaching. Keep Making. God bless.
As an autocrosser since the late 90’s (89 Corvette) I have put bigger bars on almost every car I’ve owned. Now I need to add swaybars to my lowered 37 Hudson coupe. Good to know there is a way to build them myself. 👍🏻
Cool! Keep in mind - this style of bar only works on a torsion-beam axle. You will need more mounts (center ones ont he chassis, for example) to work on any other style of suspension. But yeah - I have made a number of bars on a number of cars over the years.
gusset the mount plates and or make them thicker too.
plug weld in a short length of rebar inside and in the middle....
plug weld from center out towards the bend...adding more plug welds for more rigidity.
(or just put bolts through for adjustability adding and removing bolts/pins to suit the track)
schedule 80 pipe next
Sounds great. Good luck with the mods and improvements.
Why not build 2 chassis connection points like most other manufacturers sway bars the only one i can think of off hand with just the control arms hooked up are the old vw bug front sway bars
🤔 But as yours are they were not allowed to pivot on the arm so
I guess the 2 center points may not be needed but id try to add them too see if that gives you more stiffness
Neat. Pretty sciencey stuff, your rear sway bar builds! Does the bar help correct the front wheel drive plowing feel when cornering hard? That is so hard to get used compared to a rear wheel drive where you can bring the back end around pretty much whenever you want to.
Yes, very much so. Done right, you can bring the back end out by abrupt lifting of the throttle. This car needs still more.
Cool. That plowing is something I really dislike!@@GregWellwood
Can you extend the flat mount area to the weld circle? That with extra weld tabs near the pipe might make it stiffer…..almost like “T” stock.
I did draw up another set of arms like you are suggesting, but I couldn't visualize it being stronger than tube arms. I'm going to find out soon enough.
As someone who has used their accent in track days id love to see how this turns out once its fully completed. And are there any plans on selling the it as a DIY kit or a fully assembled to order unit?
Possibly.
Why not bend the pipe 90 deg like the solid bar?
I don't have the right die.
Would 4140 be better than 1018 for this?
So the aftermarket bars for these cars (well not THESE ones, nobody makes one specifically for the MC right now, but similar beam axle Kiyundais) seem to pick up on both the inboard and outboard holes in the spring perch and make heavy implications that they're doing that to counteract any camber gain one might see from the trailing 'legs' of the beam twisting under load. Any thoughts on that? I'm thinking of doing a bar like your earlier 7/8" design and incorporating this feature as well but I'm not entirely sure if there's much to be gained or a risk of side effects there.
Although now that I've posted out loud I am kinda wondering if we want that camber gain so the outside rear tire engages in a controlled slip to help the car rotate rather than breaking loose completely and pointing me directly at the annoyed Corvette I forgot to point-by. Part of me wants to point a gopro at a dial indicator on this beam for a couple spicy turns to see if/how much the beam flexes in that way.
I would not lose any sleep over camber change in the rear on this car. If you wanted to get serious, I would slot holes to get at least -2.5° camber up front, and look at those poly caster bushings you can get for the front as well. I am currently running a 1" SCH40 rear sway bar right now (1.315" OD), and still want more (though it might be really good for road racing, I want something more "autocross twitchy"). Plating the axle "U" itself will be next for me.
Yeah I'm already working on doing all that stuff up front, and the offset LCA bushings are on order. If you want a little more meat in the beam itself the Forte/Soul beam looks like it might work in there... I'm in the midst of swapping 1st gen Forte brakes/hubs/knuckles on mine as well and it all just legos together except the CVs. I'm leaving the beam for now cause I'm going after the low hanging fruit first and that swap will require drilling spot welds and swapping the upper spring perch/shock mount ass/y for the revised shock position, not quite ready to get surgical with this car yet.
I realize I'm late here, but wouldn't fresh rear axle bushings be more effective than the sway bar? Or at least make the sway bar more effective? I got some new bushings for mine, but after looking at where they need to be pressed in and out, I'm planning on getting a rear axle from pick n pull and filling the bushings with a poly adhesive; it ahould be a significantly smaller headache.
I'll bet new bushings make a difference. I'm pretty sure poly bushings are available, but that torsion beam axle twists A LOT, and it's reducing that twist that makes the biggest difference. The bushings won't really stop the actual twisting of the axle. I'm going to try a welded plate to box the axle itself soon.
@GregWellwood I actually bought a set of poly bushings from siberian bushing, but with limited experience and a bushing tool that didn't seem like it would work in that location it didn't seem like the best idea to do the swap. I'd gladly trade those for a sway bar 😅
Only guy in town with a red tree lol.
And fence.
Aren’t sway bars usually made from spring steel?
Yes, but if you don't move it out of its range of elasticity, it likely won't matter.
WHERE IS THE SWAYBAR UPDATE?!?? I am now committed
Hey I’m watching this after reading ur article and I love your accent I have a black 09 accent hatchback and I’m just now doing mods on it , I’m 18 and I’m not so good at fabricating yet so I’m kinda lost on what to do. Can u help me out here
Start by doing small mods that you can handle, bolts ons and such. Your skills grow as you dabble more and more down the road of modifications. I don't know where your skillset is, or what tools and equipment you have, but start with small stuff that you can manage. At 18 I did very little in the way of metal fabrication - I could do mechanical rebuilds and repairs. I did my first engine swap at 21, which included fabricating motor mounts and exhaust. By 27 I had fabricated electric go karts. By 32 I had built a tube-frame dune buggy from scratch. By 35 I had built a Lotus 7 replica from scratch (fabricated my own suspension, and shortened my own driveshaft) and got it street legal. Start with stuff you think you can manage, and those new skills feed the next skills, and you get better and better (and bolder and bolder).
How did sway bar #4 work out?
Very pleased with #4. It is 1" SCH40 bar _and_ arms. I have not uploaded the video on that yet, as I have #5 in the wings.
MAKING a bigger sway bar.
Manufacturing...🤷♂
"Conjuring"
Made. Build. So many people doing things that have been done for years just trying to use big words to describe it. Like a garbage man calling himself and urban refuse transfer engineer. I took the trash out, I made a sway bar; it's just saying. George Carlin talks about this so much better than I
Well, I do happen to a veritable cornucopia of colloquial euphemisms using the Kings English.
Fabricobbling! Skookum as frig!