Addco rear sway bar..

[bosco]

I'm having a problem installing an Addco sway bar on the rear of my GT. It appears the large bend in the center of the swaybar needs to be in the center in order to fit up into the tunnel area. The one they sent me is offset an inch to one side and hits on the side of the tunnel. I've contacted the source of my sway bar and then are not much help. The only way I can make this one work is to use a hammer on the body to provide some clearance.

Has anyone else installed one of these and did you have any problems.......?

[GTJIM]

From memory, previous posts have dealt with this in that the rear Addco bar has always had to be "fitted" Try a search with "Addco sway bar"

[jimsky]

My rear Addco sway bar installed with no problems at all. It was a while ago, so the details escape me but I don't recall any issues. I remember the installed bar appeared to be pretty close to the body, but it turned out not to be a problem. If you'd I can put the car up on ramps tomorrow, break out the digital camera and post some more photos of my installation.

[bosco]

Hi Jimsky,

What I was wondering is...."V" shaped bend in the middle of the bar is actually off to one side. Mine is 14" from the "bend at the end" from one side (passenger side) and 16" to the other. If the "V" shaped bend was in the middle it would work perfectly. Therefore, I'm wondering if I got an incorrect bar despite the fact that it says "902" on the box (which is supposedly the correct bar).

I've been using your pictures to figure mine out and if I allow ANY clearance at the body above the driveline I can just BARELY get the end link up high enough to drill into the spring seats. The bolt holes you drilled appear to be two or three inches above the bottom of the spring seats.

I made a call to the place in NC where I bought them a few weeks ago and they were not all that knowledgable/helpful......suggested I try to mount it below the driveline, which doesn't work at all.

[GTJIM]

It occurs to me that the torque tube is probably not actually "on centre" in the diff set up as the pinion is to one side of the crown wheel in the diff.
Perhaps they have got the sway bar right and the "bump" should be off centre!

[jimsky]

I bought my bars (front & rear) right from Addco. They were very helpful from the ordering end of things, but I had no technical issues. They do have a webite, complete with contact info:

http://www.addco.net/

It's real nasty outside today, lots of wind & rain. If there is a break today I'll move my 2 motorcycles out of the garage and put the GT up on ramps to make some measurments and take a few more pictures.

[jimsky]

Well the weather broke so I put the GT up on ramps. The rear Addco bar is "offset", the center bow of the bar is not in dead center. I took a couple of photos and posted them in my album, check them out.

[bosco]

Thanks for the extra pictures Jimsky. Something must be different with my bar. If I moved my mounting points on the spring seats up to where yours are my bar would have long since started hitting the body up in the tunnel. This thing is baffling me.

[GTJIM]

Bosco,

Here is a pic of an Addco rear bar for you to compare yours with.

The pic. came off EBay so I hope it is not the pic of the one you have bought or else we have entered the Twilight Zone!

[nobody]

I was just remebering a previous discussion about the Adco bar and was wondering if there are any other modifications to your car? In another thread I was told that becouse my car is lowered the Adco installation would be alot of what your describing. I was told that becouse of the way it mounts the OGTS bar was about all I could use. I also enlarged the pic that GTJim put on and it's offset to one side, The bar not the pic. Just an idea

[bosco]

No....my suspension is stock....not lowered or anything changed. I put the Addco front bar on and it was a piece of cake. My rear bar is offset, just like Jimsky's. If the main bend in the bar was in the middle instead of offset to one side it would fit perfectly.......as the tunnel is in the middle of the car. I'm wondering if the angle of the bend (off horizontal) is different on mine. My problem is EXACTLY the same as in a thread I found started by Opelbits when I searched "Addco Sway Bars". I've sent him a message to see if and how he resolved his problem.

I can make this thing fit with some work with a hammer on the driver's side of the tunnel, but I was hoping to avoid that.

Thanks for you comments on this.

[madhatterpdc]

Originally Posted by nobody I was just remebering a previous discussion about the Adco bar and was wondering if there are any other modifications to your car? In another thread I was told that becouse my car is lowered the Adco installation would be alot of what your describing. I was told that becouse of the way it mounts the OGTS bar was about all I could use. I also enlarged the pic that GTJim put on and it's offset to one side, The bar not the pic. Just an idea

Am I reading this correctly, that the OGTS is the better fit for a lowered GT?

[bosco]

Thanks for the picture GTJIM....

the center "V" on my bar appears to be positioned upwards at a greater angle which would indeed cause the problems I'm encountering. I guess i can have them measure the distance from the top of the "V" to the floor on another one of their bars and compare it to mine to see if I have an incorrect bar.

[GTJIM]

Hmmm .. and you can't go just bending the things either as they are tripple tempered spring steel.

[nobody]

Maddhatter yes, as Bosco is finding, you only have so much room to position and hit the lower spring mounts. I have spent some time with Addco both on the web and on the phone and there are shorter attaching bolt hardware between the bar and attachment to the spring cup. You can try that to get them close enough or just use the OGTS bar. The OGTS positions to the body first then you weld on attaching points to the axle. This allows for whatever ride height you may have. You just position higher or lower depending on your car before you weld. I've never heard of the Addco on a lowered car but that doesn't mean it can't be done. I have a 2 inch lowered GT and I have the OGTS, it was easy to install. However there is a significant price difference 99 for Addco and 210 for the OGTS, but one is 3/4 the other 1 inch.

[madhatterpdc]

Grant, I was waiting for a reason to choose Addco or OGTS, and was leaning towards the Addco so that I could skip the welding (and save some quid). I am now sold on the OGTS bars as I would like to eventually lower my GT. Plus the slightly thicker OGTS bars should be a little more stout (assuming the metals are at least similar).

[nobody]

Ok before it gets ugly remember that when you shift the dimension from stock to lowered your existing mounts aren't right anymore. Lower it then do the bar or you will be looking for shorter links.

[madhatterpdc]

So basically you are saying, do it once and do it right.

[bosco]

Same with me.......I wanted to skip the welding.......but this Addco bar is makin me crazy. So, Grant, did you mean that Addco sells shorter mounting bolts or I could probably find some elsewhere? I think it's probably a matter of finding a shorter spacer tube that goes between the two sets of bushings at the endlinks. Yes? Maybe?

[GTJIM]

On www.addco.net there is this illustration for bar end links replacement kits.

[GTJIM]

Here is a pic of the GTSource Rear Bar and also one of the attachment point of an Addco front. Borrowed pictures!

The front one is to illustrate a point: If the angle iron bracket is turned up the other way then the bar will rotate down lower. It would be possible to make a bracket that lowered the mounting point even more by lengthening the verticle leg (by using unequal web angle iron) and drilling the bracket mounting hole further away from the corner of the angle iron. Just make sure the bolt does not hang too low - reverse it and put the nut and threaded portion upwards. HTH

[nobody]

Thanks GTJim that answered a nagging question I had about the OGTS front for mine. Looking at the pic if I turn the bracket over and put the nut at the top I will effectively put the end link within 1/4 of an inch of where stock would have been before lowering the car. On a previous lowered GT I was always hitting that threaded end on something, that will fix that too. Ok time to jack up the other end of the car.

[GTJIM]

Here is another borrowed pic of the mounting of the OGTS on the engine mounting cross member:

It is also possible to reverse the mounting clamp here too, putting the capscreww above the bar, allowing fine tuning of the bar levels and postion.

[nobody]

Ok I've been staring at the picture for a while and Can't figure how you would put the screw above the bar going into that J shaped bracket. Did you notice the offset bend on the OGTS bar? Doesn't the Addco only have 2 and is flat? I wonder why?

[GTJIM]

Pry the j-shaped clamp apart and take it off the refit it the other way up. It will require another hole, now above the bar, for the bolt!

The dip in the OGTS bar must give clearence under the sump and the Addco bar is further forward, mounting on the chasis rails.