sway bar option for '72

[911SCfanatic]

I bought a '72 that has the optional front sway bar and the mounts for the rear sway bar, but with no sway bar.

I know sway bars, which were standard on the S, were options for the other models.

Question 1: Did my car have the optional rear sway bar, and the sway bar is simply missing? I am assuming it was once there and is now missing since I have the brackets, but I don't know if Porsche installed the brackes on all the models regardless of whether it had the sway bar option.

Question 2: Are the rear sway bar brackets the type I need to reinforce as preventative maintenance?

Thanks.

[pwd72s]

Bill...in 1972, 15mm dia. bars were standard on the S, both front and rear...optional on E's and T's. Hard to guess on a 32 year old car, but I'm assuming you have a missing rear bar. I'm running bigger bars, 19mm front and rear, have never experienced any bracket problems. It certainly wouldn't hurt to reinforce them though. I'd suggest getting a rear bar...the spec book I have says they were mounted front and rear. I'd think without both you'd have, er, "different" handling.

[911SCfanatic]

Thanks, pwd72s. How much do you feel the stiffer bars improved handling over stock? Did you make any other changes to your stock suspension besides the larger sways?

[BK911]

I have a 72 that only has a 15mm sway bar on the front. It makes the car want to push, which can be very frustrating sometimes.

The trailing arms did not have the provisions for a sway bar.

If I recall correctly, you could have gotten:
Front sway bar
Front and rear sway bars.
I think there was also a larger front bar available.

[Dan Morton]

I have both front and rear sway bars on my '70 911T. I ran mine for a short while with the rear sway bar removed (the shop lost it!) and there was a significant difference in the handling...it was much worse! I was able to locate a stock rear sway bar for a nominal cost and popped it right back on. I would like to upgrade to stiffer bars but not a real high priority right now.

-Dan

[Jandrews]

Can someone provide a rundown of which year's rear sway bars are interchangeable? In other words, can an SC or Carrera bar fit an early car?

If not, does a larger rear bar have to be aftermarket by definition?


JA

[911SCfanatic]

bk911, that's what I thought. But, does the presence of rear brackets mean that I had a rear sway at one time? or did they put brackets on all of them regardless?

[Tyson Schmidt]

If you've got the rear brackets, then it originally came with front and rear sway bars. The cars with no sways had no mounts either.

You can use an 18mm rear bar from a '74-'77. They have the same mount at the rear control arm. From '78 on, the bolted to the arm.

You can also use either the 18mm front bar from the early Turbo with your existing arms and drop links in front, or a Weltmeister 19mm (just the bar itself) with your existing hardware since it has the same square ends.

[911SCfanatic]

Excellent info, Tyson. Thanks.