Need a little help. I recently I rebuilt my 70 cougar (351-4) suspension. I installed all heavy duty components. All went well except for the rear sway bar. The sway bar I used is a ¾” Scott Drake C7ZZ-5486 also identified as an ADDCO #995. This sway bar has several issues. 1) it runs right through both factory tail pipes, I’ve since had custom 2” pipes routed around it but squeezing them in has raised other potential interference issues. 2) the sway bar hits the top of the leaf spring U bolts when the axle is bounced high. I want to replace it.
The options I have identified so far are as follows:
A – An original factory sway bar and hardware. This is a DOWY-5A772-A and the related pieces. These are both expensive and rare. I’m not maintaining a perfect matching parts car so this seems excessive.
B – Some under axle aftermarket kits. These are markedly different than the ADDCO bar above in location and sub-frame connection. Both of these mount on a bolt in a hole drilled in the sub-frame that doesn’t appear to be real secure unless the optional welded approach is used.
Hellwig #6806 (3/4”) listed for 64-70 Mustangs and Cougars and a similar
Total Control Products (3/4”) ARRM1-12 listed for Mustangs 64-73[/list]
C – Bars that mount the same as the ADDCO #995 bar I’m replacing
CJ Pony RSB2 – This has the same general shape as the ADDCO #995 above
Performance Suspension Technologies G-Max (7/8”) - SWAY 678 this too has the same general shape as the ADDCO #995 above
Eibach (3/4”) 3561.312 Mounts the same but the picture shows a different shaped bar
The ADDCO bars like the one you have are noted for tearing out the rear frame rails where the U - Bolts go through. The engineering for those mount points is not overthought. It’s a real pain to repair the damage one of those can cause in a few thousand miles.
Have you thought about maybe just installing better tires and then not installing a rear sway bar? Other than the factory type installation I think all of them have serious shortcomings.
There is only so much you can do with tires especially on 14 wheels. My understanding is that the heavier front sway bar should be matched with a rear one. I like the way the car handles but not the way the Addco bar mounts nor its other issues.
I’m especially interested in experience with the Hellwig and TCP bars or a way of providing factory type frame mounts and using the Adcco 432 factory bar copy.
I have a Hellwig 3/4" rear anti-roll bar in my 69 XR 7. Installation was easy and it works well. It has been in my car for over 30 years with no issues. I put a front bar from a big block car (15/16" vs. 5/8") to balance out the effect of the rear bar. Handling is great.
Thanks of the responses. I ordered a Hellwig 6806 today. Addco makes a factory bar but it doesn’t come with brackets so that eliminated that. All of the bars that mount the same as the Addco #995 bar would line up the cross bar into the exhaust so they were not considered further. The TCP bar appears to be the same as the Hellwig and was not discounted as much. This is also posted on the “My Name is … and I’m a Cougaraholic” Facebook group with a few other comments.
Not doing so well with the Hellwig 3/4" rear sway bar on my 70 XR7 351C-4V. Hung the bar in place this afternoon. The parking brake cables run down on the inside of the sub-frame. These run in the same space as the end links for the Hellwig bar. I don’t know if the 70 is different than the 69 but the parking brake cables would not be easy to move, it would require welding new new mounts for them. Moving the end links to the inside of the bar would clear the parking brake cable but the extra length on the bolts that would be needed would greatly increase the load on the sub-frame where the bolts go through it . Talked to their tech support and sent pictures, I guess I’ll see what they come up with or pack them up and send them back.
Thanks. I had attempted to research them but all the instruction sheets that they had for the one for the Cougars didn’t match the right part number and were for Camaros and Firebird. I’ll try calling them.