Will a rear sway bar off of a G Body fit an A body? I just started looking for one for my car and figured it would be easier to find one off of a G body. Thanks Gary
John/ Terry, Keep us posted please. Have got B body dropped spindles and lower a arms on the front of the 65 Skylark and am planning on putting a 31mm front bar on from a trans am with poly bushes (can anyone confirm if it will fit? I was told it would) and I need a bar solution for the rear to make it handle very well. Oh and I've an air ride to go under it in place of the springs. regards, Nick
I am under the impression that that bar will fit any 64 to 72 Lark or GS. I would find a regular lark front and try to fit it. If it fits then you know the big one will. I have an extra rear for Skylarkman. I am going to be trying out a 1 3/8 rear on my 72
I have a fat front sway bar in stock that is a few inches narrower than the 66 GS bar. I could be from an 82-up F-body. It will not fit. I went with a 84-ish Caprice cop car front bar. It's an inch wider than the GS's, seems to fit okay, but haven't driven the car yet. For a stock rear bar, www.gmpartsdirect.com has a good price on them. The PartsPlace was decent too. Shipping it is another story....
Depends what year TA; Front bars only!!! 2nd gen Fbody (70-82) fits Abody (64-72, 73-77) and A and G body (78-88). Watch for rubbing on steering links, and need to swap from regular hex bolts to (allen head) socket head bolts on at least 2 on clamps. 3rd gen F body (83-92) won't fit; too narrow. 4th gen don't know. Also rears from Gbody don't fit 64-72 Abody.
My front sway bar is from a 74 Super Duty Trans Am. I'm now looking for a 1-3/8 rear sway bar to stiffen up the rear end some more. The G-Body sway bars attached similar to the A-Body but they aren't a direct bolt-on.
Guys, Hi - reviving an old thread. May be coming out to Darlington at the end of next month. Ideal time to pick up some new brake drums, a wiring kit and a rear sway bar for my 65 Skylark project. See above; it has the regular spindles and front discs off an '81 le Sabre (keeping it all-Buick here - yeah I know they're actually the same across the GM B-Bod range :laugh: )), which drop the front end, custom upper arms, new rubber bushes and stock GM A-Body lower arms. I'm planning to put in a 31 or 32mm bar (1 1/4"?) from a Trans Am which I understand fits. Now question is what rear bar and where from? Kanter list one which is 1" wide and is the same for all 64-72 Specials/Skylarks and I'm guessing all 64-72 A Bodys except the Nova? Will also box the rear lower (and the top?) arms and use rubber bushes instead of buying custom lower arms with poly bushes party from the 'keeping it all stoock' from the insurance point of view - they're OK with the front end bacuse it's 'safer' with the upgraded brakes. Not going to argue with that :grin: The other reason is I don't like the hard ride poly gives, I want a smoooth ride and we don't exactly have smooth pavement roads here in Ireland. More you backwoods country tracks! As an aside (and I know this post is getting long - sorry) on a 66 Mustang I once had I used GT front springs, stock rubber suspension bushes and poly sway bar bushes front and back on a 1 1/4" front and 1" rear bar and it handled like it was on rails - soft and compliant over the bumps and very stable and controllable in fast bends - better than the new 94 BMW 318 I had at the time actually! The purpose of this build is for similar good handling and a smooth ride - not quite a real G-Machine but as close to. Everything's a compromise LOL. I've seen someone recommend a 1 3/8" bar in several places. With poly sway bar bushes would this be spot on for my build and handling wishes or too agressive. Also where best to buy to from? I ahve to say I'm pretty impressed by the Spohn and hotchkiss rear bars here http://www.spohn.net/shop/1964-1967...stable-Rear-Sway-Bar-1964-1967-GM-A-Body.html and here http://www.hotchkis.net/6472_gm_abody_extreme_sport_rear_sway_bar.html since they don't mount on the lower control arms but the frame as seems much better. Also they doesn't hang down below the axle centre housing and as I want to get the car as low as I can go would be a good thing. But at $395 and $309 they are a little spendy for my budget - and Hotchkiss say their rear bar needs their tubular lower control arms - not sure why! This looks a better bet from CPP http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1962...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories its for a 62-67 Chevy II/ Nova but I wonder if it fits the 65 Skylark? Also a hollow bar might be god for weight saving (not least for bringing it back on the plane!) - the BMR Fabrication bar looks very nice but at $400 is starting to get a little silly! Isn't it the same as the Hotckiss bar? BMR say their bar works well on the street and not just a drag racing bar (which I won't be doing, except potentially once a year for a bit of fun anyway). I guess we've all watched OVerhaulin' and know that Hotchkiss do stuff focused on street handling perfromance rather than drag racing performance - yes? This looks an interesting & relevant conversation on the Chevelles board http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=251810 As another aside I've seen several negative posts about the GMPerformance rear bar - snapping in the middle and around the bolt holes. Don't want to go anywhre near that since the hassle of getting another one in to Ireland is too much to contemplate - no experimentation & right first time here folks! Maybe I should consider a set of rear frame rail re-inforcements as well if I can find a set of under $50. Sorry for the long post but all advice welcomed please!! regards, Nick :beer
Re: 65 Skylark Rear sway bar TTT. Anybody? ray: Does anybody ahve any experience of a frame attached as opposed to a lower control arm attached rear bar in a 65/6 Lark for non-drag racing (ie: road/ cornering) use. Does anybody have any experience of Hotchkiss, Spohn, or any other bars please? Need to order one in the next few days. regards Nick
Re: 65 Skylark Rear sway bar I have done both but not on an A-body. I like the factory bar because it works, looks good from behind and is cheap. Not sure about the ones you are referring to that break but I've had the same one on my car for 30 years and not a bit of trouble. I used to road race (back roads) against buddies in T/As and kick their butts so I don't think I took it easy on the bars. I put urethane bushings in the front bar but that was all. Our roads here are rough and stiff just can't get a grip on the road.
According to UPS tracking, the Spohn Performance Pro-Touring Adjustable Rear Sway Bar I ordered on the 10th should be on my porch when I get home today. I've gone nearly 19 years without a rear swaybar on my old Skylark. I fabricated the lower control arms in 1991 from 3" x 2" rectangular tube steel using Energy Suspension poly bushings. The upper control arms were reinforced with 1/16" thick washers welded on the sides. This weekend I'll be installing the Spohn swaybar, the lower control arms from my old Skylark, and new UMI Performance upper control arms along with springs from a '79 LeMans. I'm going to try and take as many pictures as possible and I'll be sure to post here what kind of difference the bar makes. If anyone's wondering why I went with the Spohn Pro-Touring bar instead of a more traditional bolt-thru swaybar, it's because I would have had to modify the fabricated swaybars I made to incorporate mounting holes and these would have had to be reinforced. Since is would have cost just as much for new UMI lower control arms and a standard-mount swaybar, I elected to simply buy the Spohn unit. In my case, it was going to cost about the same either way, but I think I made a better choice by buying an adjustable bar. -Phil
I have made the 77-87 A-G body fit the 64 - 72 rear it is not pretty but can be done ou: I like the earlier straight bar for looks the problem is the angle of the arms is different but with spacers and well as drill a few new holes to use the original G body control arm stifeners:TU: I did it because i can get rear bars here for $6.00 and i am cheap hahahaha Ken
Thanks - yes Phil I was thinking along the lines of a Spohn bar since it is an adjustable unit and seemed the best (cheapest and good?!) of the $500 H&R one, Hotchkiss and Spohn. Plus I didn't want a drag only bar. What were your reasons for going Spohn instead of the other 2? Also, please tell me about the '79 Le Mans springs? Mine are open ended rears, I guess yours are pigtailed both ends? regards, Nick
I've got the bar. Well made. I haven't had time to get underneath and put it on as I've been concentrating on disassembling my old Skylark before I send it off to pasture. The quality of craftsmanship is there. The assembly and mounting instructions leave a little to be desired. I plan on replacing the upper control arms with UMI performance adjustable units I bought back in May, and I have to get the lower control arms and springs out of my old car since I plan on tackling a full "rebuild" all at once. I've already got the front springs, upper control arms and shafts for the 3" drop up front as well. I can go ahead and take some pictures tonight of the bar assembly and try to get them posted so you can see in greater detail what you're looking at as opposed to the pictures on Spohn's site. -Phil
When I crafted these LCAs back in '93 I didn't have a rear sway-bar and really hadn't intended on putting one in so there's no attachment points and if I were to drill the holes I'd definitely want to overbore them and put steel tubing in the holes and weld them in place to reinforce the mounting points. In the end, I decided it would be easier (re: less work) to install the Spohn bar and on top of that I get adjustment capability as well.
