swaybars: PI vs. addco?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Someone has a set of PI swaybars for sale.

I bought the addco rear swaybar last year, for which I had to drill 4 holes and bolt in these plates and U bolts to hold it.
I've got a wagon, which has a thicker but hollow front sway bar.

Are there any benefits to installing PI swaybars? Is the front PI swaybar going to be stiffer than the wagon's, and is the rear PI swaybar going to mount any more naturally or strongly than the addco aftermarket?


thanks for the advice!
-Bernard

[stinkydogfilms]

Hi Bernie,
Thanks for your help in my posts. I did put a front PI swaybar on I got from a member here. It is solid and weighs a bit. There is an exit with a curve shaped like a question mark(?) I like to hit at a fast pace 60-65 and no brakes required when exiting and nail it in the middle. The PI sway bar allows for at least 5 more MPH without any lean. I still have the rear PI sway bar to put on and looks like I will have to drill another set of holes. My rear control arms have one pair of holes from factory.
I think you would be please with a solid bar since there is no twisting.

Mike

[Lincolnmania]

the pi rear bar seems better than the addco but are getting harder and harder to find

the big hollow bar up front seems to work as well as the pi solid bar and works just as well in my opinion.

[91grandmarquis]

My addco rear works fine, and has held up great. I don't exactly drive like an old lady either, but I think that the PI bar looks a bit more rugged as far as how it is mounted. Also the addco bars don't really have a great bushing design so they make some noise. I have been meaning to make some rubber pads to go between the control arms and the plates so this noise doesn't happen. That being said the addco bar will break at the bolts before the control arms get bent to crap, the PI bar puts a lot of lateral force directly on the control arms, but I have yet to hear of a problem in either case.

[87_crown_vic]

i need to get the rear sway on my car asap... then get one off a limo at junkyard... will have to do this when gettin the front end parts

[turbo2256b]

Also the addco bars don't really have a great bushing design so they make some noise. I have been meaning to make some rubber pads to go between the control arms and the plates so this noise doesn't happen.

You dont want a bushing or pad between the control arm and the mounting plate or pad if anything weld the plate to the lower arm. If you think the squeeks are coming from there something is wrong with the mounting or its coming from something else.
I have over 100k on my Addco with no squeeks.

[91grandmarquis]

You dont want a bushing or pad between the control arm and the mounting plate or pad if anything weld the plate to the lower arm. If you think the squeeks are coming from there something is wrong with the mounting or its coming from something else.
I have over 100k on my Addco with no squeeks.

Thanks for the info, Ill probably end up welding the plates then, the bolts run up vertically through the control arms, since they are open on the bottom there is a large amount of bolt between the plate and where the nut is that has nothing around it and is free to move a little bit laterally. Im thinking I am hearing the bolts readjusting once in a while, but nothing has bent or moved out of place in the 2 years I have had it on.

[turbo2256b]

You could also make spacers out of heay wall tubing to fit between the plate and the top of the control am to keep from crushing the arm. Ford did this on the stock rear bar but bolts are sideways instead of vertical. This would work but never found the need myself.

[mrltd]

The better rear setup would be off a newer PI, where the endlinks connect to the frame and the bar is mounted to the axle. better than that, a bar mounted to/through the frame with the endlinks connecting to the axle.

I would suggest something bigger than stock on the front....The wagon and PI are similar in rates, if not the same. I had a huge improvement with mine going to a 98-02 Addco front bar, which IIRC is 1 1/4"

[1987cp]

Someone has a set of PI swaybars for sale.

I bought the addco rear swaybar last year, for which I had to drill 4 holes and bolt in these plates and U bolts to hold it.
I've got a wagon, which has a thicker but hollow front sway bar.

Addco does that too? That blows. I was really annoyed 10-odd years ago when I had to do that for my G-max swaybar from P-S-T. In my case, in my zeal to gain as much mechanical advantage as possible I suspect I go the bar a bit too close to the shocks, which I always blamed for the odd klunking noise I'd sometimes get. Also, I sheared the end of one of the provided U-bolts and never found a replacement, so I ended up running around with wire-fence-spec U-bolts instead.

It's often occurred to me since that it may be possible to devise a mounting arrangement that attaches to the sides of the LCAs like a stock swaybar. I suppose it'd involve some cleverness with a big piece of angle iron, and in place of the Grade 5 U-bolts maybe a clamp arrangement made from barstock and Grade 8 capscrews, or possibly something along the line of the U-joint U-bolts used on a 9" rearend.


But yes, like everyone says, the short of it is that as far as '80s-tech suspension tricks go, you should be in pretty good shape as is, assuming you already have poly front swaybar bushings and endlinks. That's basically the exact setup I ended up with on my wagon, and I was enormously pleased with it.

[merc91]

i has a civi front bar. then put PI bars on which was a tad better, than addcos front and back with ES poly endlinks... huge difference.