Team Chevelle banner

Hellwig Pro Touring rear sway bar ROCKS!

5K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  Blown1932 
#1 ·
A long time ago I made a post on here asking about upping my rear spring rates so I could ditch the dumb "slapper bars" I had on the car. Originally I put them on to kill wheel hop but I sorted the rest of the suspension to the point they weren't needed for that purpose but left them on because I liked how they stiffened up the car in corners. The downside they did induce a lot of oversteer from binding and not letting the rear end work.

Mark from SC&C posted in that thread recommending the bar instead of springs. It took me a long time but I finally found myself in a place with the money to buy a bar and recently got time to install it.

Install was a bit of a pain but nothing too terrible. Wish the instructions mentioned which way was right side up because I originally had it installed upside down.

Now that I have fixed that it's working great! The car is still really flat in corners but smoother and I haven't pushed it hard enough yet to get oversteer related to cornering rather than power delivery.

As an added bonus when the car springs from a stop it wants to go a lot straighter than it did before. The car has always had a tendency to drift the rear to the left instead of going straight. It also might be my imagination but I seem to be getting a little more weight transfer on launch as well.


I'm hoping to hit an autox soon and really put it to the test but I am pleased to say for now I am completely happy and no longer feel the need to increase the rear spring rate and suffer through a harsher ride.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I recently put a 1 3/8 hollow bar front and the Hellwing PT bar on the back and I haven't felt it was that big of a difference.

Once I get to the track I expect to see/feel the handling improvements, but pepping around the city just doesn't put the load on the suspension to be that noticeable to me.
 
#3 ·
Not sure what your setup consists of but I have 750# front springs, stock front F41 bar, ebay tubular uppers with .9" taller balljoints, and Afco shocks. Rear is Hotchkis drop springs, KYB shocks, and the Hellwig bar.

At one point I tried taking the slapper bars off and using the stock F41 rear bar along with some lower control arm relocation brackets and I made a trip around the block then put it back how it was because there was too much body roll and the rear felt too loose.



What setting are you running your bar? I had some clearance issues with the endlinks vs my exhaust so I ended up installing it at the hardest setting. I think I could back it down to the middle hole and still be pleased.

I made a couple quick trips around town and then checked my bolts were tight and hit some twisty lake roads pretty hard. Car stays mostly flat but feels controlled and smooth, if I really got ambitious with throttle on corner exits I could get a little oversteer out of it but it was also a smooth loose and not a harsh snap loose which I've experienced a lot out of the car before and grown to anticipate.
 
#5 ·
Up front I have stock springs (435 lb new), Viking DA shocks, tall spindles, and tubular UCA and LCA's.

Rear I have new 175 lb rear springs on adjustable weight jacks. Edelbrock no hop bars and Viking DA shocks.

I am running the bar on the soft setting. Going from no bar to a proper chassis mount bar is quite an increase in roll stiffness so I figured the soft setting was best. I've taken some corners quickly, but the same speeds I could handle before, so I can't really judge the true difference.

If I can ever get my EFI working properly, Ill hit the track and high hopes would be 2 seconds off my lap times.
 
#4 ·
I added the front and rear hollow bars from Hellwig, and I like the way it feels... Of course, my car just had the stock front bar and no rear, and while my previous Chevelle had a 1-1/4" front and a stock rear bar, I sold it years ago...

Autocrossed with the Hellwigs, and it was nice, I only spun once... At that was my fault...

Windy roads, car feels nice, but not sure how much is directly attributable to the bars. I also have the SC&C Stage 2 kit with the taller ball joints and SPC upper arms...

Car still drifts sideways upon tire spin :grin2:
 
#6 ·
+1 on wishing the instructions were a little better, as per which direction the Hellwig bar gets installed. I too first installed it upside down. I think I got it right now.

Joe
 
#9 ·
with "correct" installation the hoop part will hang down a bit near the bottom of the diff cover

if you install it upside down the hoop will contact the diff cover once the suspension is loaded...I didn't notice anything wrong at full droop but after a drive I crawled under to inspect everything and at that time noticed the bar was contacting the cover and was obviously under some abnormal stress since it had rotated one of the axle tube u bolts a little

at first I thought it just needed to be adjusted so i put the car on stands and left the jack under the pumpkin and soon found no matter what I couldn't make it work without issue, I was going to need an additional inch or more of adjustment beyond what the end links could do...then it dawned on me the bar could be upside down, in fact I seem to recall someone on this forum posting they had a similar issue a few years ago...so I dropped the bar off and flipped it over then began a mock installation and everything fit a lot easier and I was able to adjust the end links to rotate it where it didn't touch the cover

I do not have a picture but I took a cold idle video and you can see the bar if your look closely (it also appears I need to check adjustment on the U bolts again, one might have twisted on the axle a little):

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top