To sway or not to sway

[Gizmosrcool]

Hi Everyone

I continue to wait in queue for a roadster with an ETA of 3/4/2023. I expect to take a few years to build and use for car shows, meetups, and autocross. The autocross will be 1-2 times a year unless I get the bug. I selected both front and rear swaybars. I will autocross for the fun and will not do it enough to likely move from novice up the ranks at all. Just go out on a nice day and have fun.

What do you think about including swaybars in the build? IRS rear. The FF units ok? Anything better?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thx, Tom

[Jeff Kleiner]

They’ll be fine for your stated intentions.

Jeff

[OB6]

Yeah, I agree with Jeff. While I'm not a Cobra expert, I do have autox experience and can say that you'll have a lot to deal with before worrying about sway bars.

[CraigS]

Yep, I'd definitely install them.

[edwardb]

I've had them on my last two builds. A Mk4 Roadster and Gen 3 Coupe. Front and back from FF with IRS. I'm a 99% street cruiser, but haven't found any downside. Both cars handle great for my purposes. I'd stick with the FF parts. The Roadster has the front chassis mounts as standard. The IRS chassis mounts for the rear are two added brackets that get mounted along with the IRS toe arms. Easy to do when building up the rear suspension.

[Gizmosrcool]

Thank you everyone. I’ll keep them in the build. Tom

[klawrence]

Speaking of sway bars, I have front and rear on my Gen3. Drives great on nice roads, just when I get to a crowned road or one that PennDot was drinking on the job you can really tell and at times it can unnerving. Now I do not autocross and just cruise mostly wondering if it makes sense to remove my front and rear sway bars. Thoughts ?

[Rsnake]

I have had two Factory Fives and push them hard on the track and Autox course.. I never could get rid of the oversteer with the rear sway bar installed and thus neither the roadster or my new coupe have rear bars. Never tried without the front sway bar so cannot comment. Both cars balanced really well with no rear bar. The roadster would snap oversteer on tight auto x course with rear bar attached. Have a friend who attached the rear bar on his type 65 against my advice and hit a wall a Laguna as the rear came around on him really fast, he no longer runs the rear bar.

[J R Jones]

I have had two Factory Fives and push them hard on the track and Autox course.. I never could get rid of the oversteer with the rear sway bar installed and thus neither the roadster or my new coupe have rear bars. Never tried without the front sway bar so cannot comment. Both cars balanced really well with no rear bar. The roadster would snap oversteer on tight auto x course with rear bar attached. Have a friend who attached the rear bar on his type 65 against my advice and hit a wall a Laguna as the rear came around on him really fast, he no longer runs the rear bar.

A rear bar can be a delicate influence in conjunction with other influences. I ran a 66 Shelby GT350 in the Trans Am and upgraded to a Boss 351 for Elkhart Lake. The new engine was over revving on the straights so I had to switch from 3.89 to a 3.5 rear gear. Unfortunately I did not have a Detroit Locker available and installed a (short track) spool, locking the axles together.
The resulting oversteer was huge; the outside tire was trying to spin the inside tire. I disconnected the rear ARB and the car was much more manageable.
jim

[lance corsi]

My experience has been that the front asb has a large effect upon turn-in. It allows use of a softer spring rate for cruising but shares the cornering load when necessary. Much better for everyday driving imo.