63 Front sway bar

[Tracy C.]

I believe the std suspension for most mid years used 3/4" dia sway bar. I measured the one on my car with dial calipers and it is a 7/8" bar.

Question 1.. Did any factory applications use a 7/8 bar or is this an aftermarket piece?

Question 2.. In my search for a correct 3/4 bar, do I limit my search to the 63 - 67 models or is the same configuration used up through a later year?

thanks,
tc

[Duke W.]

Re: 63 Front sway bar

Base was 3/4" and Z-06 15/16". The 7/8" bar came into being in '65 for L-78 and was used on all base suspension BBs thereafter, and the 15/16" front bar was installed on F-41 BBs. At some point in the C3 era the base suspension front bar was increased to 13/16", but I don't recall the year offhand. These are probably the most commonly available due to the large number of base suspension C3s built in the seventies.

The 7/8" bar will increase understeer on your '63, which will help mitigate the limit and trailing throttle oversteer inherent to the '63 base suspension.

Roll stiffness contribution of the bar increases with the fourth power of diameter, so the increased understeer would be signficant, but in the "safe" direction.

Unless you feel the car understeers excessively, there is no harm in leaving it installed.

Duke

[Tracy C.]

Re: 63 Front sway bar

Thank you Duke...

Sounds like the 3/4 bar was used as base until the 13/16 came into play during the C3 run.

Is the configuration of the sway bar the same for both C2 & C3s?

tc

[Duke W.]

Yes, they are interchangeable *NM*