project Rentedmule

Some toys came in the mail today so hopefully the mule will be back on the road soon

those endlink holes look pretty far outboards. good feature, if you can find a swaybar that will be long enough. s10cnyncrvr actually extended his swaybar, but im not a big fan of that idea.

They're supposed to be bolt-on, are you thinking the endlinks aren't going to line up?  Harley mentioned that he bent a few links because of the positioning of them on the shockwave arms.

They're supposed to be bolt-on, are you thinking the endlinks aren't going to line up?  Harley mentioned that he bent a few links because of the positioning of them on the shockwave arms.

yea, i think they will bolt on but with angled endlinks which make a big effect when you are lowered.
at least thats what I think from initial glance. who knows till you measure/bolt on.

my theory is that these are g-body arm derived (if not the same) who i've heard have longer swaybars.

I'm positive they're just G-body arms with the correct frame mounting hole size for an s-series.  I didn't think the swaybar mounting hole position would be different though since G-bodies have a wider frame which necessitates the wider swaybar.

They do have longer/ wider arms, and, you there are a few options for some really stiff after market bars.
Camaro bar should also work as a G body bar option. I don't know if the front to back distance from the frame bushings to the link mounts will work though.

For racing purposes, has anyone eliminated all the sway bar bushings? By that I mean heims from the frame, and a threaded shank bolt with only washers and nuts at the links?

We use a set up like that for our oval track cars. Here is a link to my favorite store:
http://www.howeracing.com/p-7630-vertical-ez-adjuster.aspx
or   http://www.howeracing.com/p-7632-howe-quick-change-sway-bar-adjuster.aspx

Pretty soon you guys are going to think I work for Howe, but they just have never done me wrong.

For racing purposes, has anyone eliminated all the sway bar bushings? By that I mean heims from the frame, and a threaded shank bolt with only washers and nuts at the links?

i think most of us have to stiffen up our frame before we need to do that

From everything I've read stock G-body lower control arms are identical to s-series arms except that they take a different diameter bolt for the frame mount holes.  A wider swaybar will interfere with the tire near full lock. I polished a spot on the stock swaybar with my tires when I was running 16" camaro wheels with spacers that were too narrow.

With the coilovers and 550lb springs I think I'm relying much less on the swaybar for controlling body roll now than I did before.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how the new delrin bushings feel compared to the stock rubber ones.

Gotcha. I'm a little out of touch with the 2wd frames.

I've been doing a couple of rally cross events, and some of the Subaru 2.5 RS guys have been running that way.

I've eliminated the end link bushings on my ZR2, and have a Afco's up front with a really tight/ slow rebound, and fairly easy compression. still using T bars. The result is really firm cornering. The shocks help keep the wheel sucked up into the  fender when there is a lot of tension on the sway bar from the out side wheel. when I'm on the gas exiting the corner, the inside tire will sometimes have daylight under it.

Got the idea from a big bar, soft spring set up people have been trending to at the local race tracks.

The soft spring big bar setup sounds great actually but there's nothing available off the shelf that's larger than the ZQ8 bar.  I need to get the new LCAs on and race it for a while to see how everything is working as is. 

Because of the LCA issue I haven't really been able to get a consistent platform to start adjusting the shocks from.  I did feel like the coilovers made it significantly quicker on course - I judge my progress based on how close I am to the times of a few of the fast guys that I race with and I went from being 3-4 seconds back to 1-2 seconds back. The problem was that because of the coils settling and the LCA's collapsing I would set the ride height before a race and then it would collapse back onto the bumpstops so it was horrible to drive on the street.

I've always been a proponent of the soft spring big bar design, it's just more fluid and seems to stick better to the track.

G-body arms and 2WD arms are identical, I've checked them side by side. And only one of the bolts is larger, the rear bolt is 14mm instead of 12mm, I'm fairly sure.

Unfortunately, we need thicker bars, the only option is nascar style bars with custom arms, which is not just expensive, but not that easy either. They can be mounted to the stock mounts with custom bushings, but it's far from ideal.

The auto-X truck that GM built used a 40mm hollow bar IIRC.  I'd be nice if that was available from the GMPP catalog!

The auto-X truck that GM built used a 40mm hollow bar IIRC.  I'd be nice if that was available from the GMPP catalog!

I've never understood why there isn't more info on this truck.  Surely someone other than Hot Rod has seen it.

They also used cut Z85 coils according to the article on that truck which really don't qualify as soft by any definition of the word. 

I did some digging and found one of the people who raced the truck on facebook and sent them a message.

maybe he'll get back to me.

They also used cut Z85 coils according to the article on that truck which really don't qualify as soft by any definition of the word. 

hey i have those

That's what my truck originally had and I remember that it felt much softer after I switched to ZQ8 coils!

If you do want to run the Nascar style, or Splined straight bars, I was thinking that the best way to do it would be to mount it over the frame. The cams for them come in different lengths, but most I've seen for front bars are pretty long cams.

If G body bars and control arms are similar or identical, there are 40mm, 44mm, 48mm, and 50mm hollow bars out there for the picking. I ran across a bunch of Monte Carlo and Malibu stuff at a swap meet a couple years ago, but the thought of doing a protouring rig wasn't even a twinkle in my eye.

Mule, and anyone else looking for consistent setups for racing,

After you have LCA's that are worth a shit in your rig, and a shock spring combo that feels good to you. Setting the sway bar should be a two person deal.

With NO load on the drivers side of the sway bar and your ride height set, the driver needs to be in the the seat with everything they are going to be racing with, and a buddy needs to make sure the passenger side it tight. Then, they go to the drivers side and load that side of the bar. Try to count the threads coming through the Nylok. I know this sounds like it doesn't make a difference, but when setting the ride height, the bar needs to be unloaded. if you are adjusting the height lower, and the bar is loaded, it will actually feel like the bar is barely even there when your taking a good corner.

I may be saying what a lot of you already know, but it's the attention to detail, and the little things that will keep knocking seconds off your times.

Thanks for input - I didn't know that!  There are a few manufacturers that will custom bend swaybars as well.  It's been a while since I took a good look at clearances under there but it may be fairly easy to swap to a straight bar.  The G-body bars are significantly wider than the s-series bars but I think it's easy to get a straight bar in any length you want.