H&H Specialties, Inc Swaybar for the 911

[jluetjen]

My 911 has H&H Specialties Swaybars on the front and rear. The front end has been clunking and clanking when going over train tracks and driveway transitions for a while, so I took apart the front sway bar and discovered that the bushing were shot. As a side note, I've got the 19 mm bars front and rear. Anyhow, the bushings look like standard aftermarket style bushings like these.



After ordering a set of aftermarket bushings from Energy Suspensions, I discovered that alas they are not the same as the H&H bushings. The H&H sway bar bushings are longer, thinner, and don't have a flange on the ends. So the aftermarket style just don't fit into the H&H brackets. After doing some searching here and on the internet, I found out that while H&H is gone, the Lee Houseman still lives down the street from the original address in Chelmsford -- the next town over from me.

I just gave him a call and arranged to stop by and pick-up some replacements this week.

[joetiii]

Strange coincidence John. Must be the Woodstock Karma.

I have H&H sways bars as well. My front is a 20mm through body bar. All my suspension checked out OK so when I detached the drop links, all my chassis squeaks and creaks went away. I tightened the 3 13mm bolts that hold the bar to the chassis since they were a little loose, but I think new bushings are in order.
(mines a 69er too). Any chance you can contact Lee, or get me his contact info so I can renew.

BTW, the bushes you picture look similar to my rear mounts. My fronts are hidden behind that triangular plate in the body.

joe

[jluetjen]

Sure. I'll post what I learn after I visit him.

By the way, the documentation that I have suggests that he sold a 19 mm kit and a 21 mm "Race" kit which also had Delrin bushings.

[jluetjen]

Joe. I had a nice visit with Lee this evening and I'm happy to report that he is still quite spry and happily selling parts. He had the bushings that I needed he sold them to me. In addition to 911 bars, I guess he's also got Z-bars for 356's, sway bars for 914's (the first aftermarket bars dating back to 1974 I guess) as well as stuff for water-cooled VW's and Saturns. If anyone wants to buy some "new" bars, there's a good chance that he's got them.

He said that he never made a 20 mm bar for the 911. The "19 mm" bar is actually a 3/4 bar, so you might want to double-check if that is what you have. You can give him a call if you'd like. I PM'd his phone number to you.

[Lonewolfe]

Hello!

I saw your post on the Pelican forum and am trying to get ahold of Lee Houseman. I know your post was about 3 years ago but hopefully you still are a Porsche enthusiast. Like you, I have an H&H Sway Bar on my Porches. Mine is a 19mm front sway bar on my 914. I'd lke to replace my bushings but H&H is no longer in business. Do you know if Lee Houseman is still around and how to contact him? I am looking for the Delrin bushings that support the swaybar as well as the rubber bushings for the drop links. The drop links look very similar to the stock Porsche sway bar links but are larger than the stock replacements that I picked up. So, they appear to be unique. I am also curious if any and what type of grease is needed to be used on the Delrin pieces. Any information you can provide will be much appreciated. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

I look forward to your reply!

Mark Hawkins
(415)305-7686 Cell

[jluetjen]

Hi Mark; I just PM'd you with Lee's phone number. Let us know how he's doing.

[71six]

Would it be possible for me to get his phone # also? Back in the mid 70's I had a 19mm H&H front sway bar installed on my 914-6 at Ralph Meaneys in Framingham,Ma. It's sounding rather clunky now so suspect all bushings need refreshed.
Thanks
Mark

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by jluetjen

Joe. I had a nice visit with Lee this evening and I'm happy to report that he is still quite spry and happily selling parts. He had the bushings that I needed he sold them to me. In addition to 911 bars, I guess he's also got Z-bars for 356's, sway bars for 914's (the first aftermarket bars dating back to 1974 I guess) as well as stuff for water-cooled VW's and Saturns. If anyone wants to buy some "new" bars, there's a good chance that he's got them.

He said that he never made a 20 mm bar for the 911. The "19 mm" bar is actually a 3/4 bar, so you might want to double-check if that is what you have. You can give him a call if you'd like. I PM'd his phone number to you.

FWIW, I have an H&H front bar and it's 20.5mm which translates to 13/16". Can I get his contact info too?

Sherwood

[jluetjen]

PM's just sent.

[jluetjen]

Here are scanned in copies of the original documentation for the H&H Sway bars on my car. The previous own kept them in the documentation that I got with the car. Please forgive the quality, but they are faded mimeograph copies -- purple on yellow paper. Those of us of a certain age will remember mimeographs and what that implies about print quality.

[joetiii]

Lonewolfe,

Lee did not have the correct bushings for my application. I ended up getting some OEM 19mm S through body bushings from Stoddard and had a local machine shop bore them out to 3/4 inch. Worked quite well.

Originally Posted by Lonewolfe

Hello!

I saw your post on the Pelican forum and am trying to get ahold of Lee Houseman. I know your post was about 3 years ago but hopefully you still are a Porsche enthusiast. Like you, I have an H&H Sway Bar on my Porches. Mine is a 19mm front sway bar on my 914. I'd lke to replace my bushings but H&H is no longer in business. Do you know if Lee Houseman is still around and how to contact him? I am looking for the Delrin bushings that support the swaybar as well as the rubber bushings for the drop links. The drop links look very similar to the stock Porsche sway bar links but are larger than the stock replacements that I picked up. So, they appear to be unique. I am also curious if any and what type of grease is needed to be used on the Delrin pieces. Any information you can provide will be much appreciated. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

I look forward to your reply!

Mark Hawkins
(415)305-7686 Cell

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by joetiii

Lonewolfe,

Lee did not have the correct bushings for my application. I ended up getting some OEM 19mm S through body bushings from Stoddard and had a local machine shop bore them out to 3/4 inch. Worked quite well.

Hmmmm. FWIW, 19mm (0.748") is pretty much the same as 3/4" (0.75").

Sherwood

[joetiii]

Sherwood, I tried installing the OEMs (can't actually remember if OEM is 18 or 19mm).

After getting them on the bar, I could not get them into the body which is what necessitated the machine work. the bushings I removed were a harder material and were causing chassis creak.

[db9146]

I have a 21mm H&H bar on the from of my 914-6 that the PO installed. It has the Delrin or teflon bushings. I'd like to replace these and also replace the drop links, maybe with some heim joints.

Has anyone gone this route before and blazed a trail on this to save me some time?

[MoparBoy72]

Could I also get the contact information for Lee? I would like a set of bushings for my H&H sway bar.

Thanks!

[djdonegan911]

Also need the 19mm id bushings.
djdonegan911@gmail.com

[vinziboy]

Hi, not sure if someone is still around (even if Lee is still around) but I am desperate to replace the bushings on my sway bar setup. Anybody has a way for me to join Mister Lee?

[tcsracing1]

i have the 22mm H&H sway bar on my 1972 911.

Bushings would be nice to replace.
Source?

[jluetjen]

I would suggest using the same strategy as joetiii did above. Buy a couple of 7/8 bushings and then mill 0.009 inches off of them. To be honest you could most likely sand or file that amount off and save the cost of the machine shop.

[911pcars]

I haven't tried it, but it might be possible to use either a 3/4" drill or 3/4" ream (w/reduced drive shank) in a drill press or lathe if available, then slowly feed into a vise-held 19mm bushing. As for lube, apparently not needed:

Try this:
https://youtu.be/s-2nJeH8kiw

Sherwood