I was given a set of sway bars, front and rear. The rear is clearly factory but the front looks way too big to balance with the rear, so I have two questions.

1) What diameter is the factory bar?

2) Does anyone have pictures of the bar ends? These are tubes with splined cross holes and pinch bolts, and have adjustable links with heim joints.

Thanks in advance

David T

The front bar is always bigger than the rear bar on 914's so all is as it should be in that respect. The rear is usually hung on the wall since 914's have such a low center of gravity. All depends on what your car weighs and where the weigh is with respect to your springs and shocks... which are a type of springs.

- What engine do you have?
- What year car is it?
- What do you intend to do with it?
- Are there any modifications to the suspension that you can see, or do you not know what to look for?

Others will chime in on which are the stock sway bar sizes, but they have to be integrated into the front torsion bars (19mm) and the rear spring sizes (100#s?), which I never had.

There's more here we need to know.

Good luck!

I think the factory front sway bar has square ends and the ends fit into a lever like arm with drop links on the ends. I could take pix of one I have but not until tomorrow. A splined end bar makes me think of the suspension torsion bar. Those are in the front of a 914 but in the front and rear of a 911.

Sounds a little like a Weltmeister front anti-sway bar. They came in 19 and 22mm dia.
By "splined cross hole" do you mean a square opening that fits onto the bar? Splined usually refers to a multi-toothed end on a round shaft. None of the popular 914 front bars are splined. As Jim mentioned, front torsion bars have splined ends.

Definitely splined and definitely a sway bar. Both arms fit the ends of the bar and it is definitely larger than 19mm (an open end wrench wouldn't fit over the bar). If it helps the bar is either cad plated or yellow zinc.

I know the front will be larger (on almost every car) but the difference between these is greater than I was expecting.
The engine will be a 1911 with about 8.5:1 compression, hotter than stock cam and HPMX 40s.
1974
Street and occasional autocross.
Suspension is stock as far as I can tell. I haven't pulled the torsion bars but right now there are no sway bars, so I expect stock there as well. I will be running 195/65-15 tires, brand unknown at this time (a lot of work to do before it is on the road)
I may upgrade the springs/torsion bars and shocks, as I am not a light weight and tend to push a car a little harder than I should.

Stock fronts are 15mm. Stock rears are 16mm.



(17mm and rear springs are more like 85-90 stock)





You probably have a more common 19mm Welty up front and a stock bar in the back. Not a bad combo as the Welty allows you to adjust for a softer setting on a street car. If the rear is coupled with stock springs you should handle fairly well, again, for street.

Edit: Sorry, just read the part about the splines... not a Weltmeister but, again, if it's 19mm (or so) and adjustable, you should be able to get a decent ride out of the deal.

Not 19mm but I have to measure to see how much bigger. I'll try to get pictures today.

I stand corrected and just sits and learns a lot on this forum. Thanks for the info on stock cars Eric (et al)!

When I bought my '74 (a six conversion) it had 150# rear springs in the rear and they weren't enough. So I installed "blue" springs that were 180# and eventually they weren't enough either. I don't remember if they were Porsche springs or not, but the color displayed what rate they were without pulling them to test. Over the years, and different engines I've changed one thing at a time and it has morphed into a stiff car that rides like a kart.

Suspension changes are fun because they transform the car's handling... sometimes for the better!

Good luck

For your given driving style, I'd look to sell anything bigger than a 19 to someone who is more dedicated to racing. Use the money to buy one of the GPR bars or something similar. These adjustable 18-19mm bars have longer arms and allow you to set the bar to a more "stock" setting. Best of both worlds... you can tighten it up if you feel the need. Again, given your driving styles mentioned above, I prefer the stock bar.

I'm using a factory 18mm 930 bar with the longer RSR drop links so... my money is where my mouth is (actually... all of my money has been spent on 914 parts). I have the 930 bar on my 911 with stock arms and love it.