Hey guys just wanted some info. I have the front swaybar installed and i am installing the rear this weekend....What will my difference in handling be compared to running a front only swaybar? ( i am very used to swaying the back end out around corners and controlling it with my 252 hp subie.)

Just wondering the in the pants difference?

A load of crap in the pants?

According to the experts, the rear sway will make you King of the Asian Drifters Society except you will go around in circles. You will also lift the inside rear, not allowing power to be put down, but the engine will sound great at 8K.

This is all hearsay you understand ...

Exactly. We need some real proof. Attempt the necessary maneuvers and report back.

Same as installing heavier rear springs, except without the teeth rattle.

If your rear end was already all over the place, you'll be doing 360s now.
Andy

I installed a stock rear sway on mine and I like the change. I installed the front bar about two weeks earlier (stock 16mm IIRC) and noticed virtually no change in roll rate or handling; pretty dissapointed. Once I added the rear bar it handled noticeably better IMHO. I plan on upgrading to a 21mm in the front in the future, but have other priorities now.

Okay I'll finish up putting the new clutch in (kinda toasted the old one--same clutch that was in my last N/A engine. I reused it, it looked half new! ) THis time it gets a stage 2 Puck clutch from Kennedy again.

Then I'll post back when i get it on the road again in the next few days. Its a stock rear swaybar. It never lost its rear end around turns even when i hit em fast....I could only make it a really cool controlled rear end break loose when i take a right or left turn in 2nd or 3rd and the boost starts to hit about 11 lbs or more.....then woohoo!! I am really getting the hang of drifting, lets hope the cops dont catch onto the one onramp that i do it on often!!

my new clutch.

How much torque are you going to put through that clutch?

I'm only asking because i had the same one and it couldn't handle 200+ torque. It burned up quick.

And their driveability sucks (for street driving) as you get a lot of "chatter" when taking off, say goodbye to smooth clutch action ...
Andy

Coming from a guy who's DD is a forklift

Rich

well what kind of pressure plate were you running??

Don't remember, but it wasn't stock ...

I now run the KEP Stage 2 and it's much smoother and plenty strong ...
Andy

Hey, nuttin' flatter in the corners than a forklift. . .

Rear bar is fine on the street and autocross and freakin' dangerous on the track. Disconnected one side after the first lap. Might be better now that I have the Tarret bar in the front but the back end felt like ice patch.

What kind of diff do you have in the back? Regular diff, no sway bar. Torsen or some equivalent diff, and a rear sway bar can be ok. I use a torsen with a rear and I am faster in an autocross. Maybe is just fits my driving style. Just my 2 cents.

-- brett

Well its on. I just have to extend the drop links by a 1/2 inch so they clear my exhaust. then its Testing time.

well good luck. IF you don't have a LSD of one sort or another you WILL lose power when you lift the inside wheel. BTDT. Mines sitting on a shelf right now! I now have 225lb springs and all is well.

Josh

+1

I did not reinstall my rear bar until the LSD went in. When I first bought this car, the suspension was all effed-up and with the rear bar installed and no limited slip, it was virtually undriveable.

Im a little late to this thread... but I'll throw in my 2 cents.

I installed front and rear stock swaybars and it was like night and day.

bilsteins all around, uprated springs and summer performance tires keep
me planted really well in the twisties. I don't track the car. Im only running
a stock 1.7 so there is <.1% chance I'll get wheel spin.

bottom line, I couldn't believe how much of an improvement they made.

I have one in my car. In the front i have a 22mm POS Weltmeister. I'm saving money for a Tarret bar. In the rear a stock sway bar. My car also has a limited slip. It does make the car more twitchy in high speed corners, but its nice for auto crosses and for the street. The main reason I keep it on is that where I live in Laguna Niguel there is this crazy corner on Avery that's half up hill and half on flat ground. Without the rear sway bar, the rear of the car lifts on the flat part of the corner and then the car spins out. Great for scaring on coming traffic and the spouse. With the rear sway bar the rear of the car cannot lift which causes the car to drift instead of spinning out.

Ok.. here is my input on this subject.


The suspension is a whole system. Changes you make to one part affect all of the other parts. What a sway bar does is provide roll stiffness without increasing spring rate.

If you are running stock springs and stock shocks, then having both the front and rear sway bars make sense. The car will corner fairly flat and will be stable. This is a description of my wife's 914.

If you increase the spring rate on the rear of the car to compensate for a bigger motor, you need to eliminate the rear bar. This is because you have increased the roll stiffness in the rear of the car with stiffer springs. If you leave the bar with the stiffer springs, the car will no longer be neutral handling.

If you add a limited slip or torque biasing differental, the car will again need a rear bar. The limited slip changes the turning dynamics, and the rear bar will help correct this.



The best thing to do is read... get a copy of a book called "How To Make Your Car Handle by Fred Phun". This book will teach you a buttload about how suspension systems work on cars, and how to tell what is wrong when you make changes.

I have two copies of it, and one has been read through so many times it is literally falling apart. But it is worth the cost, it can explain this stuff far better than I can.

Unless, you also made changes to the front ...

I have a front and rear bar. Front is a Tarret, rear is stock. No limited slip.
911 front end and 250lbs springs in the rear.

The car is very balanced with just a hint of understeer (which i like). It's perfect for street driving and on the big track.
I do get some wheel spin during AX in very tight corners (due to the lack of a LSD) but i can live with that for now.


The rear bar really helped getting the car to settle and the rear end to stick.
It's all in the combo ...
Andy

Hey Andy does your car weight more than mine. Mine is stock weight. Basically lost about 35 lbs in weight for my subaru engine, and gained about 35 lbs in front and underneath from radiator and water in lines. So definately not heavy by any means.

I have bilsteins all the way around, stock spring weight i think (yellow springs in back cant tell if they were painted)

I think i am liking the stock swaybar in the back. I havent done much high speed testing though.

Nope, i'm down to just under 2000lbs, so mine's a bit lighter than stock.



Don't!!!

I mean the high speed testing.
Get on a skid-pad (or parking lot) and test the balance at LOW speed.

If the car is tail-happy now, you don't want to find that out at 80mph!
Andy

.. Thats true....and DAMN GOOD ADVISE !

I kinda like the bar, its very flat in the corners now. And YES i did low speed testing. It looks like maybe i have higher spring rates just like you. How can i tell what i got if someone in the past painted them yellow to match the bilsteins. ?

The only way i can break it loose around a turn is touch the boost and it drifts but a very controlled drift (unlike before).

thanks guys for your help....