Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Performance Installed the prototype 24mm sway bar in my SVT

Well after working with the Steering and Supsension Group of my company (AAM) I got them to CNC bend me up a couple of 24mm HOLLOW sway bars. Their geometry is basically identical to the stock version , with the exception of the diameter ofcourse.
Anyhow on Saturday morning I installed it in my driveway.
The trickiest bit to the hole install is getting the stock bar out of the car and the new one in due to the gap between the front of the rear subframe and the back of the gas tank. The gap is probably about 15mm, so even getting the stock SVT bar out is hard!
The trick to do it is to support the gas tank with a jack and loosen off the tank straps to allow you slide the gas tank forward to increase the gap.
Once that's done it all easy sailing from there.
The bar fits beautifully in its place. No interference whatsoever, there is plenty of clearance in the vehicle. I reused the stock brackets but used 15/16" poly bushing in place of the junky stock rubber bushings. I also removed the stock tie rods and cut the crappy rubber bushings off the trailing arms and replaced them with Ø1-1/8" X 5/8" polyurethane endlink bushings.
With it all bolted back together, the fit and finish is great. There are ABSOLUTELY NO CLUNKING OR CREAKING noises from the rear end.
And the most important thing....the handling is

INSANE!!!!

Almost all the body roll is gone and understeer has become a thing of the past. The car is very neutral now (feels weird for a FWD!), and throwing her into corners rewards you with a tight line and minimal tire protest. This has to be the

BEST

handling mod, hands down. It really compliments the H&R springs I have on the car. My car handles now, how it should have from the factory by SVT! The only disappointment was that the adjustability I was trying to incorporate is not possible due to the design of the tie rod ends, which basically don't move, so you can't tilt them to access the other hole. Also the subframe is too close to the end of the bar (1" clearance) so the extra length in the arms would cause interference. But with the way the car handles I don't see why you would want to adjust it for more understeer, so it really doesn't matter. It's perfect now!

In anycase, we are looking for vendors to sell the bar through (so email me), but there is a very good chance that I may be able to support a group buy. As such I need to here from at least 25-30 people who could lay down $110 for each bar. I will also supply you with bushings for both the sway bar and tie rod ends. the stock bracket get reused.
If you are SERIOUSLY interested in getting in on a group buy, let me know buy posting here AND by email, so I can show the finance department here.
For the engineers out there specs are as follows:
Steel: SAE 4140 24mm (15% wall) tube, heat treated.
Coating: E-Coat (hardened powder coat)

"My car handles now, how it should have from the factory by SVT!"

Actually, SVT tried a bigger sway bar and ran into "packaging problems" (the clunk?). It sounds great.

Dan, that's interesting.....
I can assure you though their is no clunk or noise whatsoever. Installation is probably what they were worried about due to the gas tank being so close to the rear subframe. But the bar has room around it once installed.

Alos it is confirmed, I can do a group buy on the bars. $110 each. I have to confirm shipping. We do have a company account for Fed Ex, and I hope we can use it, seeing as this is a company product.

your picture link doesn't work. I'd like to see what it looks like.

I am interested in getting in on the group buy.


BUT, my car is a 97, is there a problem installing it on my car?

Let me know
Cya
mike

Hey Aussie I'm interested. I'm looking at picking me up a SP or BAT bar, but this sounds pretty good. Now all u need is 24 more people......

Guys PLEASE EMAIL ME so I can collect details.
Also I after some guys at the NECO forum didn't believe my claims on the stiffness and weight savings on the 24mm hollow bar, I posted this meassage:

OK, seeing as none of you believe me I will give you the engineering math. A hollow bar of x mm in diameter is not necessarily torsionally stiffer than the same bar in solid, BUT the difference is minimal , yet the weight reduction is signifigant.
Any how, the Polar moment of inertia J is directly proportional to the the 4th power of the diameter, and as such the equation for polar moment of inertia of a solid round bar is:
J=(pi*d^4)/32
The same equation for a hollow round bar is:
J={pi*(do^4-di^4)}/32, where do is the outer diameter and di is the inner diameter.
And due to the fact that we use such a high power (4) the removal of the center doesn't really hurt the torsional rigidity, but save a LOT of weight.
Hence for a 18mm SVT rear sway bar the polr moment of inertia is 10305.994mm^4
For the aftermerket 22mm solid it's 22998.029mm^4 (223% stiffer than stock)
And for my 24mm hollow (15% wall) it's 24751.487mm^4 (240% stiffer than stock and 17% stiffer thanthe 22mm bar)
But here are the weights!
Lets compare cross sectional areas; the 18mm bar is 254mm^2, the 22mm bar is 380mm^2 and finally the hollow 24mm bar is 230mm^2. So if all were from the same material the 22mm bar is 50% heavier than the stock SVT bar (18mm) and the 24mm hollow bar is 10%lighter than the stock SVT bar.
So you CAN have you cake and eat it too.
Now.... I don't want to hear anymore BS please, just orders!
email me if you want to order a bar at sarigia@aam.com
Thanks,
Anastazi

Also, from what I understand, the rear sway bar is the same on ALL Contours from '95 to '00./ So it'll work on any Contique or Cougar.

Silly thought ... Could you all make up some adjustable end-links?? I'd like the ones with a spring on the link.

bad ASCII art ( || )- end bush
||
_||_ _ spring seat
\ /
/ \- SPRING
- - -spring seat
||- threaded rod
||
( || )- end bush
This setup will let the car roll a bit , until the spring binds. Once that happens the car takes a set and digs in. By tweaking the preload on the spring , you can tune the bar to your taste.

Just to support Aussie, his math is correct and logical. A hollow bar (if bent correctly) is more advantageous weight wise.

That sort of thing costs mucho $$$$$.
there is still a smidgen of body roll, it's not like you are riding a shopping cart. So realistically you don't NEED to have this feature.