aftermarket sway bar size

Any experience or opinions on 3/4 inch sway bar on a MGB roadster? They come in 5/8 (the stock size on a MGB/GT I believe) and 3/4 (the one I have on backorder) and 7/8.

I swiped the 5/8" bar off my GT and put in on the roadster, when I bought an aftermarket 3/4" bar for the GT. Both cars werk well like this. Had a rear stabilizer bar that I tried on both cars. Liked what it did for the handling, but had problems with the mounting points. It mounted to the tabs on the flange area near the U-bolts, and had a tendency to snap the tab off... ended up removing it and hanging it on the wall.

Rod H. Wrote:

I have a 7/8" on the front and it works well regarding keeping the car flat in the turns. It really makes the car ride very harsh, if I were to buy one I'd go with the 3/4".

There was a 9/16" on the 74.5 that helped it a lot. That was one weird B though.

There is a rear anti sway bar on the 77-80 cars, a very successful piece of equipment.

I still don't understand increasing the front sway bar on these cars.

Is there an ongoing oversteer problem? My 80 is perfectly balanced with stock parts (even though it does lean, it still handles like it is on rails), my GT tends to understeer (so adding a bigger one would make it plow more)

Maybe other members cars are set up a lot different...I still think the factory got it right in this dept (maybe cept for 75/76 models).

I have always been in the camp, you increase the front bar, you need to increase the rear to match to avoid understeer. Since there is no aftermarket rear sway bar that mount in factory locations (77+), I see no benefit to increase the front, at least in the 77+ models.

My 72 plows like a pig, I would rather throw a smaller bar in the front of that.

Consider that increasing the bar size will increase the spring rate not linearly but geometrically. (if the bar is basically the same shape/configuration as the "now" bar). a small increase in diameter give a lot more spring rate.

A cheap deal might be to make solid or hard plastic bushings for the chassis attachments and also for the end link attachments. You might increase NVH but you will get a bit more "feel' doing this.


Swamper says....
""""""""It really makes the car ride very harsh, """""

A sway bar has NO fucnction going in a straight line down the highway. Only in roll as in turning a corner or ess. The bushings may be binding or their might be excessive preload on one side.

Keep in mind when buying a new bar from a different mfgr or with diffrent configuration such as longer or shorter legs or bar width , that the "new" MIGHT have less or more spring rate than your old one.

Mac: Just terminology. Sway bar, anti-sway bar, stabilizer bar, I hear them used interchangeably.

Paul: I agree with your reasoning, and did buy one for the rear of the GT sized appropriately, but then had problems with the attachments. The '63 seems to be fine with just the bar from the GT, but I'd like to reinstall the rear bar on the GT as it handled more neutral with it.

I had the larger bar on the '63 for a while *with* the rear bar and it was amazing! Like 4 wheel steering, yet still safe and predictable. That was 25 years ago though.....Fact is, I just putt around with these cars now.

My '65 has a 3/4" which I like. A bit flatter than the typical "stock" B, if there is such a thing. My front coils are essentially OEM, with less than 10K on them. I had a '67 with the 5/8, and I prefer the 3/4.

With the elevated ride height, and softer springs, the RBs are a completely different beast. My '80 is stock and I like it as it is. A nicer ride in town with the pot holes and speed bumps. With the elevation the rear anti-sway seemed to help.

I've seen recommendations to dump the rear anti-sway if you drop the ride height with lower, stiffer springs.

As with all suspension improvements, the condition of the rest of the suspension is important.

Thanks to all for their input!