Rear Sway Bar
 

I am currently building a '71 Nova with a LS conversion. Putting Heidts Upper & Lower control arms, Heidts coil overs, 2' dropped spindles on the front. Already purchased 1.5" lowering Hotchkis springs for the rear. Looking for opinions on whether to add a rear sway bar, maybe one from Hotchkis? Have heard some people say leaf spring cars don't benefit much from a rear sway bar. Just doing all the fitting now, would rather add it now than later if I'm going to. Thanks for weighing in.

Is your car going to see much track time? If so a sway bar is going to help a bunch. Take a look at Mary Pozzis second gen camaro, it runs leaf springs. See how she set up.

That's a great project, it's going to be a rocket.

You will absolutely benefit from a rear sway bar. We had a recent track test with a stock 70 Dodge Challenger with leaf springs, and the difference after the addition of the rear sway bar was actually visible, as in you could see the rear of the car moving less after the bar install.

http://www.hotchkis.net/_uploaded_fi...3promo_pic.jpg

Since you are using our springs in the rear, the combination with the Hotchkis rear sway bar will be a perfect fit.

What are you running in the front?

Have not bought the bar for the front yet. Will the rear bar clear dual exhaust running over the axle?

Hi, We can’t always guarantee exhaust clearance due to the many ways people make exhausts. We did a Nova with the Flowmaster dual system and had to modify the pipes slightly from the original design, but once that was done, we didn't have any further clearance problems.

If someone tells you that rear sway bar doesn't do much good on a leaf spring car I don't think they have felt or seen the difference they make. I say definitely put one on.
And put Hotchkis front swaybar on it to while you are at it.

Tonny

I have heard of people not liking rear bars or removing them and getting better results. But every car I've worked on needed one. In particular, first and second gen Camaros needed a pretty substantial rear bar if the front bar is a very stiff one like most vendors sell.

Lighter front weight will require more rear bar or less front.
Wider rear tires than front will require a heavier rear bar or less front.

A matched set of bars is better than a mix and match set. Even if bar sizes are the same between mfr's, the mounting may be different and affect actual bar rates at the wheels.
David