66 sway bar bracket bolts

[Ed K.]

Both the asembly and shop manuals call for 120 lbs.ft for those 5/16 bolts. Scares me. Anyone have a problem with bolts breaking as being torqued this high? I had one break at 60 and it was very difficult removing the nut plate due to the nut plate touching the head of the spring bolt. The bolt that broke could be defective but 120 lbs.ft..........?

Ed

[Rich P.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

Ed,

thats nuts. It might be 120 inch LBS the highest torque bolt an a vette is 100 on the rear spindle nut.

Rich

[Wayne M.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

Are you talking about the FRONT stabilizer bar ? The '65 AIM shows 9 to 12 ft.lbs on the bushing bracket nut.

For the rear bar (F40 / 41), found in section UPC L78, torque initially showed 100-140 ft.lbs, but there was an over-write changing the "ft" to "in' (inch) with a 'DS 9x7' authorizing note (numbers following DS are practically illegible in my copy).

[Wayne W.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

Ed,

thats nuts. It might be 120 inch LBS the highest torque bolt an a vette is 100 on the rear spindle nut.

Rich

I agree with Rich, That's nuts. You are going to wring every one of them.

[Jerry W.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

Divide inch lbs by 12 to get equivilent foot lbs......120 divide by 12 =10 ft lbs

[Philip C.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

HELLO, a little common sense Phil 8063

[Joe L.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

Ed,

...the highest torque bolt an a vette is 100 on the rear spindle nut.

Rich

Rich------


There are several bolts on a Corvette which exceed the torque value for the rear spindle nut (i.e 100 lb/ft). These are:

1) Pitman shaft nut-------140 lb/ft (sometimes INCORRECTLY shown as 140 lb/inches);

2) Caliper half clamp bolts-----130 lb/ft

3) Drum brake anchor bolt -----130 lb/ft

4) Parking brake anchor bolt----120 lb/ft

5) Big block main cap bolt-------105 lb/ft

It's also very possible that the torque for the 69-82 steering arm bolts exceeds 100 lb/ft, but GM never published a torque spec for these bolts.

[Wayne M.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

You're forgetting the "big kahunga" of them all -- the KO spinner nut at 450 ft.lbs

Ref '65 AIM, UPC P48, sheet 1.

[Ed K.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

Thanks guys.
It's rear sway bar. I'm so deeply involved back there, forgot about the car having a front! Limited play car time - haven't seen the front in about a year.
As for the torque, I had questioned it. That's why I looked for a second confirming document (the assembly manual). The repro bolts have no grade markings so I first torqued one bracket bolt set to the trailing arm at 30 lbs.ft. Survived so I went to 60. End of story. That sway bar to trailing arm assembly is a poor design - definitely an afterthought. I also thought that perhaps the bolts were a harder grade so as to withstand a high torque in this mickey mouse design.

[Twan B.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

It's a lot of torque, correct me if i'am wrong but does the rear stabilazer bar also accur on '65 BB??? or was it an option. I've just looked under my '65 L75 and it's not there!
Gr.
Twan

[Ed K.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

Hi Twan
I don't know about 65, or 66 for that matter. My sway bar is shown in the "Options" portion of my 1966 Assembly Manual - ya know - the samone that tells me to torque the bolts to 120 lbs.ft. Maybe it's not part of the big block or posi packages. BTW - the shop manual calls it a stabilizer bar.
Ed

[Wayne M.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

It's a lot of torque, correct me if i'am wrong but does the rear stabilazer bar also accur on '65 BB??? or was it an option. I've just looked under my '65 L75 and it's not there! ... Twan

As I mentioned above, it's really only 8 to 12 ft.lbs (when converted from inch-lbs) [or around 16 Newton-meters max., for you guys ]

Yes, the rear sway bar was found only on '65 L78 cars (whether you ordered the F40 heavy duty suspension or not). You could only get the F40 with fuel injection (L84) or the 396, but with the big block and F40, you still got the same rear stablilizer bar; wasn't affected by the heavy duty suspension package. The shocks and springs and front stabilizer WERE different, though. Therefore, the rear sway bar appears only in the UPC L78 section, sheet D3.

F40 definitely not available with base, L75 or L76 cars, in the 1965 MY.

There is no page in the '65 AIM for F40; the UPC option index, sheet 1 (pg. 269) lists F40 with an asterisk which means the option is indexed only (ie. the assembly plant should need no special instructions, as it installs like something already covered in the other sections). Therefore, the rear sway bar appears only in the UPC L78 section, sheet D3.

[Joe L.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

It's a lot of torque, correct me if i'am wrong but does the rear stabilazer bar also accur on '65 BB??? or was it an option. I've just looked under my '65 L75 and it's not there!
Gr.
Twan

Twan-----


During the years of big block availability, 1965-74, the rear sway bar was ALWAYS part of the big block option. It was not part of any suspension package and it was not separately available as an option. This is also why it is only shown in the big block UPC section of the AIM.

For 1975+ (and, POSSIBLY, very late 1974), things changed. Of course, there was no big block option after 1974, so no rear sway bars were installed for that reason. However, a smaller diameter rear sway bar became part of the FE-7 suspension package at that time. So, for 1975+, the rear sway bar is part of a suspension package.

[John H.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

That's why I looked for a second confirming document (the assembly manual).

Ed -

The '66 rear stabilizer bar installation is shown in the Assembly Manual in section L72, sheet D2, and the torque on the bracket bolt is a classic misprint - it's shown as 115-155 ft-lbs. It was finally corrected in the '67 A.I.M. (section L36, sheet A11) twice - once to 115-155 in-lbs. on 10-27-66, and the second time to 108-144 in-lbs. on 12-7-66.

[Twan B.]

Re: 66 sway bar bracket bolts

That's al i wanted to know. Thanks Wayne!!
Gr. Twan