Would you recommend the up grades to a 15/16 for a daily driver? Also I am putting on springs with a 1” drop, would you recommend using the original sleeves and/or reducing the sleeve length due to the 1” drop in the springs?
So you need to keep the linkage as vertical as possible, correct? If the sway bar tilts up a little that is not an issue, correct?
1" is too much for daily, so 15/16 is a good upgrade (Factory Competition Suspension included this upgrade, as I recall all big block cats got this in 69/70).
Its gonna be tough to keep it vertical due to bar & arm construction.
Too much worry about this;-)
Enjoy the ride
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I have a Hellwig 3/4" rear anti-roll bar, upgraded front anti-roll bar to a big block 15/16" bar, both using polyurethane Energy Suspension bushings. I have been happy with the handling for many years.
Not a daily here due to winter weather but I use my car for regular car stuff with a 1 1/8” front anti-sway bar. I love how flat it corners at speed. I also have complete Street or Track coil over front suspension, adjustable strut rods, R&P steering, big brake systems, tweaked alignment, and big performance tires.
Yes to both questions.
As far as the bar tilting up a little, that may be necessary in order have vertical end links. The only issue is that it may distort your upper end link bushings, but you can profile your bushings to correct for that. Your sway bar, after all, is working as a torsion spring. Understand that as the installation of the bar tilts, the eye on the end of the bar follows the arc of a circle and may travel away from the location directly above the end link mounting point on the lower arm. Directly above is what you want for a vertical link.
If the link is perfectly vertical, 100% of the force in the links goes to twisting your sway bar. If, for instance, your end link is 45-degrees from vertical then half the force in the link goes into twisting your sway bar and half the force goes into pulling your sway bar forward or aft. That lateral component of force reduces the effectiveness of your sway bar and accelerates the wear on your mid section sway bar bushings on which the bar pivots.
Your existing links may not be the correct length to install vertically. You can mock up end links easily with some threaded rod and nuts and washers. Don’t forget to account for the thickness of your bushings. Figure out your ideal length and the longest and shortest end link that will stay within 20-degrees of vertical and go shopping.
I like Adco and Prothane. They both offer a variety of different end links. Energy Suspension is also good stuff.
I kind of maxed out and put a 1 1/8" bar in front when, like Cougar_Bill, I cut my springs about 30 years ago. I cut mine 1 1/4 coils. I ground my bushings as I described earlier to make my tilted bar mount nicely. It has taken me too long, but I’m about to install a 7/8" rear sway bar to balance the big front bar I have. I also just did the Shelby drop this March and installed a complete Hotchkis Sport Suspension.
Small changes in front bar diameter make for significant changes, improvements, in roll stiffness. When your body tries to roll, your sway bar resists by going into torsion. Torsional stiffness is proportional to the FOURTH power of the bar’s radius. But consider if your end links are canted your suspension can travel without effectively twisting your sway bar. Also, if your bushings are shot the diameter doesn’t matter so much because your sway bar may not be supported firmly at the mid section and move a good bit without actually twisting.
If you can’t tell, I really enjoy suspension tuning. You can make big improvements for very little money. Like cutting your springs, the Shelby Drop, correcting you end link geometry, urethane bushings. But that Hotchkis suspension was not cheap.
I post this figure because I think it adds to the conversation.
Looking more closely, I see what you did there, Bill. No sleeve spacer, just bushings and washers. I like it. You took the end of the bar down instead of up in order to get to a good neutral position. You can fine tune it by shaping your bushings. If lowering the ends of the bar can’t get a car to a good geometry though, one may get there with longer links.
Honestly, I hadn’t thought of this. Probably because my original links don’t use sleeves - they have shaped ends. Now I want to see if I can get as good an installation lowering the ends of my bar, relative to the lower arm, as I did raising the bar which happened when I lowered the car.
That is a compact setup. I have an issue with the clearance between my sway bar and my Hotchkis adjustable strut rod that this mounting scheme may improve.
…Actually, looking at your first picture makes me think the longer link may be better for this. Times like this I wish I had a two post lift. And a four post lift. And a thousand square foot shop.
I agree, nice info & added content guys!
I ended up with spherical adjustable ones for the back bar as the ones from Stambar were less than desirable.
I stayed old school as the group I gathered info from was just that old school. Look up Walt Hane on Youtube… amazing guy & suspension professor!
Great information for everyone. Thanks for the help Rick and Bill. I feel like I am drinking from a firehose 
but amazing information. Thanks for sharing
Thank you Rick, I really appreciate it. I was going to start the suspension rebuild this weekend. I appreciate the help.
Set the ends of front bar so that it is parallel to the ground and measure the sleeve length needed while the car is resting on the ground.
I like the handling with a 5/8" rear bar when combined with a 15/16" front bar.
A bolt-in rear bar is now available from Addco K2-614-0U (special order).
You will need also to purchase a pair of lower mounting plates from WCCC:
https://secure.cougarpartscatalog.com/store/p/13798-1970-Mercury-Cougar-Rear-Sway-Bar-Mounting-Plate-EACH-Repro.html
See the discussion in
Thank you cougarunlimited I appreciate it. Does the 15/16” sway bar give a more stiff/responsive controls?
My bent drop link was due to originally lowered too far ( I put height back in it to get it legal) and nolathane bushes that were hard dura and nipped tight…those bushes need to flex… someone posted the angled cheat further along.
Typically, us Australians prefer firmer than US suspension… we don’t have the boulevards for a boulevard cruiser… it is a shift in bell curve… I am sure some of you will want firmer than “typical us”… mine is a solid one inch.
My front end is half Cougar, half XB Falcon GT ( all the steering is GT) discs are GM Holden Commodore drilled with Ford lug pattern with Ford Territory calipers … nothing I post is relevant to a standard Cougar.
Point I was making, Nolathane on drop links- particularly lowered can be a problem.
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I changed out the lowers this weekend with MOOG. The steering is much tighter, is that normal? This is a 1970 xr7 daily driver without the engine or transmission in it at present.
Good components don’t have extra play.
So feeling that increased tightness in the steering is not an issue?
Did you grease the ball joints? Otherwise that component should not make a deference on the steering feel while stationary.
I have found the “play” in ball joints of cheap components amazingly loose. You can move them with a finger!
Moog , not so. To align the cotter pin hole I use an awl, it almost bends it!
I did grease the ball joints but I did not turn it all that much because I was fighting the rain to get it back in the garage. 
. I will check the greasing again and turn the wheel to see if it loosens up. Bill, you are putting a lot of pressure to tighten town that castle nut, correct? I put approx 90lbs on a torque wrench. It was tough getting the L lower arm bolt attached to the frame and then it was really tough getting the lower arm ball joint bolt aligned and into the lower portion of the lower brake harness (not sure the term). Does that make sense? I had to use another jack and put a lot of pressure (hammer) to get it set in the hole correctly. Then the steering got tight.