whopper

Hib, thank you for a very well written article. Read it twice people, to make sure you get the nuances of what Hib says, as there is a lot of good stuff there.

Years ago I had a 1975 Volvo that I used to autocross on the odd weekend. I put on performance tires and wheels, Koni shocks, shorter performance springs all round that dropped the car about 2 inches, added a rear sway bar, then upgraded the front sway bar. Each addition was done one at a time so I could evaluate the change and determine the next step to make the car "balanced".

With the addition of the lowered springs without the Koni shocks the ride was jiggly, even on smooth streets, as the stock shocks could not contain the action of the stiff springs properly. Adding the Koni's made a world of difference in the ride, and in the transitions into corners - smoothed them right out.

With the rear sway bar addition used in conjunction with the STOCK front sway bar, the car was a bit of a handful, but sure was fun, as the rear end would step out under throttle quite nicely. Gotta love rear-wheel drive.

But upgrading the front sway bar to match the addition of the rear bar, transformed the car into a real handling machine. The cornering tip-in was much smoother at the limit, with no tendancy for the car wanting to swap ends abruptly.

One addition to Hib's naration - regarding each change that improves one aspect of the car's handing, it often exaggerates another aspect's weakness - I likened it to "the weakest link" philosophy. The objective is to end up with no weak links - especially when safety is involved. A good case in point.... when I upgraded the front sway bar it overstressed the lower control arms to which it was attached. The stiff front bar caused the stamped steel lower control arms to flex to the point they began to develop cracks near the sway bar mounts. The cure was to upgrade the lower control arms to a performance arm that was reinforced with a welded in steel bar from Volvo's Performance catalogue. End of that problem - weak link removed.

In the end, the Volvo was a very well-balanced machine - very smooth in the cornering transitions, and I used to say, it cornered till your ears bled. It was very hard to approach it's cornering limit on the street. Of course trying that on the street now a days is not politically correct, nor safe. Using the autocross to determine the progress of the changes worked very well. As Hib noted about trade-offs..... after all those changes the ride was not to everyones taste that is for sure - it rode very rough but was a real thrill to drive, and I was very comfortable with it.

Thanks again Hib.

cheers all

Tom

monza

because we haven't before...


nice write up hib. i'm considering bringing my set-up tips guide that i put together over here... if i get time over the break i will to add to this... maybe a sticky or something.

thanks!

hhrcrafty

Other than the usual "Oooh! I can take the exit ramp going 80 instead of 60 now because of my NEW Progress Tech Rear Sway Bar!", no, I haven't seen it.

Bolt-ons developed and marketed for a few hundred dollars to people who rented a torque wrench from AutoZone for the weekend cannot replace years and millions of dollars of chassis development without consequences. Hib's post is one of the first I've seen that address those issues.

monza

well since you like it written out in detail and not cliffnoted... here:

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/show...d=1#post223608


enjoy.