Which sways should I buy?

[crashmy911]

Looking to buy adjustable sways. Which ones should I buy and why? thanks Car is a 80 sc that will be used for auto crosses and de's. 23 31 torsion bars , chamber plates and elephant racing bushings all around with 7's and 8's fuchs. At moment have later sways from 87 911.

[jester911]

Read this to help with your decision. http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/showthread.php?t=404291

[Dixie]

I chose Tarrets. I have no regrets.

[crashmy911]

So what I see is that the Smart Racing Bars are the most durable and have the most adjustment because of different sizes. The tarrets would be less money and probably good enough. The other brand breaks! Any one change because of problems. Are 22 or 23 bars big enough?

[RaceProEngineer]

Crash,

Here is a thread I started in response to the request of several of the racers here. Most of it applies to autocross as well. Lots of reading, but it may help you determine WHY a particular type or feature would be of benefit, and how to make the most of them once you have them.

How STABLE is your Roll Center?

Hope it helps,
Ed

[crashmy911]

Will I need the bigger bars on the car. It should weigh around 2400 to 2500 pounds. This car had the adjustable sways on it before. Where the bar goes through the front there is hole that looks like it had three bolts around the center where the roll bar would have passed through the unit body. Which bars uses a rounded three bolt pattern where it passes through the body. The smart racing bars look like they have alot more bolts at this junction.

[Peter C2]

+1 on Tarrets, Smart Racing bars hung too low for my car.

[cstreit]

+2 on Tarrett. Have them on my racecar.

[antaircooled]

I think Weltmeister use 3 bolts on the front and possibly also early factory. I went for Tarrets as they were hollow, look real good and have found them to be excellent as well. I race a '74 Carrera with 21/28 torsions and custom valved Bilsteins, Elephant polybronze all round and Elephant monoballs front and rear. The 22's seem fine for my car and it weighs around 2400 lbs.

[Shawn 357]

+3 on the Taretts
I have run Smart Bars, Taretts, and Weltmeisters. Out of 5 porsches that are raced in my family all 5 have Tarett Sway Bars (all the other brand bars have been sold or sit in the rafters).

[Jeff Alton]

I too have installed a few sets of the Taretts (and had them on my own car). I now have the SRP ones, but see no advantage. There is some marketing hype with the SRP ones. The Tarett ones are much lighter and work great for all but someone who runs multiple tracks that are so different they need to change the bar diameters to get the set up right at each track.....

They are a reasonably priced top shelf product instead of a top shelf priced/top shelf product, if that makes sense...

Cheers

[Peter Bull]

Maybe try a set of knife, or blade, adjustable swaybars?

You get a very large adjustment span without having to worry about overly sharp angles between the the drop link and the lever arm of the swaybar. And the front one can be mounted to a structural part of the car, rather than through the sheet metal in the middle of the wheel well.



It requires some fitting though...

/Peter

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

In general, the geometry for through-body sway bars is better than that for under-body bars. I do not remember exactly in what way, though.

--DD

[Cory M]

Originally Posted by Peter Bull

Maybe try a set of knife, or blade, adjustable swaybars?

+100 for the Taretts

Interesting set-up Peter. Looks pretty close to the control arm and the stiffness of the steering rack brackets it is mounted to is questionable, but it is an interesting take on it anyway. There are a couple of shops in the US who will make cockpit adjustable bladed 911 swaybars for your 911, they are so expensive they make the Smart bars look cheap (well over $1k each), unless you have a very serious race program you are wasting your money. The Tarett bars are race proven high quality parts, they will provide the stiffness and adjustment you need and they won't break - Pelican sells them too.

[Peter Bull]

Originally Posted by Dave at Pelican Parts

In general, the geometry for through-body sway bars is better than that for under-body bars. I do not remember exactly in what way, though.

--DD

Hmm, that sounded really convincing, but it is definitely better for this



/Peter

[crashmy911]

Peter that looks like the same bolt pattern on the ones that were on my car at some time. Does some one have pictures of the tarrett bars as they pass into the unit body. Thanks On the front.

[Jeff Alton]

I wonder why this bar tore the sheet metal?



That is not a design problem per se, but more of an adjustment problem....

Cheers

[Peter Bull]

Originally Posted by Cory M

+100 for the Taretts

Interesting set-up Peter. Looks pretty close to the control arm and the stiffness of the steering rack brackets it is mounted to is questionable, but it is an interesting take on it anyway. There are a couple of shops in the US who will make cockpit adjustable bladed 911 swaybars for your 911, they are so expensive they make the Smart bars look cheap (well over $1k each), unless you have a very serious race program you are wasting your money. The Tarett bars are race proven high quality parts, they will provide the stiffness and adjustment you need and they won't break - Pelican sells them too.

It is just a test setup to see which parts need to be moved, or removed. The angle of the photo makes it look a little more cramped than it actually is, but the stock swaybar mount on the wishbone has to go. As you point out, the flat bar that the swaybar bracket is mounted on looks a little weak and will be replaced with a more rigid one. However, until I've decided exactly how to fix the bar I use the stock flat bars.

Including transport and tax, both the Tarett and the SRP setups are more expensive than my setup is. Since I run relatively stiff springs I also need relatively stiff swaybars and I don't want to fix the front one in the sheet metal in the wheel well.

/Peter

[Chuck Moreland]

Originally Posted by Jeff Alton

I wonder why this bar tore the sheet metal?



That is not a design problem per se, but more of an adjustment problem....

Cheers

While it is an adjustment issue, I would argue it is also a design issue.

A proper design would place limits on the range of adjustment to prevent anyone from doing this. There should be a stop of some sort.

It is also not clear if this car was equipped with the required backer plates. I don't see them in the picture.

[cgarr]

We made our own setup with a backing hub and self centering bearings, we will see how it works? No binding!

I do like Peter's design, keeps the weight low