Early Valiant Barracuda Club - Aftermarket Ft anti-swaybar

Aftermarket front anti-sway bar

By Roger Kizer

Knowing how these old cars handled when stock I decided to install polygraphite bushings all around and instal a front anti-sway bar. Now I had attempted to install it like the directions said, but there were some inherent issues doing it this way. Bolting it up in the manner described would result in broken bolts, not to mention that it would need to be re-enginered anyway to work properly. My first attempt had the pivot mounts too low and it dragged the ground. This article will show my solution to getting the bar mounted with all the given hardware plus a few washers and some welding to mount it and have it stay mounted.

This is how the instructions show you where to put the mount. K frame lip? You could mount it on the angle of the K frame too, if you can find the lip. Thats fine but where do you mount the upper bolt to? It gets in the way of the strut mount if you bolt it up like the picture from the directions. How is this supposed to be sturdy?

Here is a mock up of the given directions for the swaybar. I feel even if you weld the angle bracket to the K frame the stress on the bolts would bend and snap them. Also the pivots are too close to the center of the bar. You can see the two holes in the K frame for a factory bars mounts. Unless you have a machine shop it would take some doing to make mounts that use these holes.

Here is where I will mount the brackets using the hardware given in the kit. notice how far out the pivot is giving the bar better support. I will mount the end links as shown in the instructions but you could weld those angle parts to the lower control arms.

Here you get a better idea of how it will look. The mount will be angled a bit and welded to the angle piece and that new asembly will get welded to the K frame. Both ends of the angle piece get welded to the K frame while the long piece gets welded to the angle.

Take some measurements and mark your K frame. Then you can hold the pieces together for tack welding. Here is the flat piece and the angle welded together on all 4 sides and welds ground to check for defects.

Tack weld the mount to the K frame and double check your measurements now. If they are good then complete the welds an grind them to check for defects. A view of the completed mount welded to the K frame.

And a side view of the new mount.

The mounts have slots, not holes in them. We use them to our advantage here because if when you measured you were off a bit you will have a clearance issue with the bar hiting the K frame. After bolting up the bar and checking the clearance,I welded some washers to the back side of the bracket welded to the K frame and to the mount that holds the bushing in place.

With the washers in place there is no movement in the bar at all.

You can see on the right side I was off on my measurements but was able to weld the washers where I needed them to get good clearance from the bar to the K frame.

Here is a shot of my clearance. Its close, but it has not moved in the two weeks since the bar was installed and the car handles great.

This is how the instructions show you where to put the mount. K frame lip? You could mount it on the angle of the K frame too, if you can find the lip.

Thats fine but where do you mount the upper bolt to? It gets in the way of the strut mount if you bolt it up like the picture from the directions. How is this supposed to be sturdy?

Here is a mock up of the given directions for the swaybar. I feel even if you weld the angle bracket to the K frame the stress on the bolts would bend and snap them. Also the pivots are too close to the center of the bar.

You can see the two holes in the K frame for a factory bars mounts. Unless you have a machine shop it would take some doing to make mounts that use these holes.

Here is where I will mount the brackets using the hardware given in the kit. notice how far out the pivot is giving the bar better support.

I will mount the end links as shown in the instructions but you could weld those angle parts to the lower control arms.

Here you get a better idea of how it will look. The mount will be angled a bit and welded to the angle piece and that new asembly will get welded to the K frame.

Both ends of the angle piece get welded to the K frame while the long piece gets welded to the angle.

Take some measurements and mark your K frame. Then you can hold the pieces together for tack welding.

Here is the flat piece and the angle welded together on all 4 sides and welds ground to check for defects.

Tack weld the mount to the K frame and double check your measurements now. If they are good then complete the welds an grind them to check for defects.

A view of the completed mount welded to the K frame.

And a side view of the new mount.

The mounts have slots, not holes in them. We use them to our advantage here because if when you measured you were off a bit you will have a clearance issue with the bar hiting the K frame.

After bolting up the bar and checking the clearance,I welded some washers to the back side of the bracket welded to the K frame and to the mount that holds the bushing in place.

With the washers in place there is no movement in the bar at all.

You can see on the right side I was off on my measurements but was able to weld the washers where I needed them to get good clearance from the bar to the K frame.

Here is a shot of my clearance. Its close, but it has not moved in the two weeks since the bar was installed and the car handles great.