Some Sway Bar questions...

[JEDsMK7]

Where have you guys been finding your “1.310” '87-'88 Thunderbird TurboCoupe’” front sway bars?

Does Ford still sell these? Is there a vendor that sells them?

As an alternative, I looked into the ADDCO 504 front sway bar offered on Summit Racing. Summit’s listing says it’s a 1 1/8 “ (1.125”) diameter bar - not the 1.250” shown in the “Performance Suspension/Mounts/Interchange/Part #'s/Reference List” Thread.

Does Summit have an error in their listing or is the thread mistaken?

I live at the end of an 8-mile long winding two-lane blacktop country road. Suspension upgrades are the biggest practical improvement for my 50,000 mile 92 LSC!

[marked for life]

I have an extra sway bar off of 1987 XR7 COUGAR (No turbo) which measures (1.290'' thick) 42 1/2'' eye to eye,(75.00$ plus shipping)that I just pulled off some cars from the junkyard or I think it better to say The treasurer yard. I have been trying to find out what the eye to eye is on the 87/88 (turbo coupe) XR7 or the 87/88 Thunderbird turbo coupe center to center is. I pulled a sway bar from a 1986 cougar XR7 Turbo coupe and it measured 43 3/4'' center of eye to center of eye (1.290'') thick. Someone has to know the spec's for these front sway bars. No 87/88 cougar XR7 TC or 87/88 Thunderbird Turbo coupe at this yard. There's also 3 1987 Mark VII'S LSC; 1 1990 LSC ;and 1 1988 lsc with many good parts. I hate to let the cat out of the bag.( My little stash) but it's called (sechristautoparts.com) in Dawson Pa (U-pull it) probably 50 to 60 cougars and t-birds. Over 7000 cars at this place. No more 1.290'' Bars though because I got them all. I looked at every car there. (as of this date 12/16/ 2006) You need summit part # aco-415 for the rear, the letter which follows it represents zinc or powdercoated (G or U) Measure your 92 front bar center to center and let me know what it is. My 1990 LSC IS 44 3/4'' center to center (suspension loaded) Be precise.

[marked for life]

hey fordace you still here

[marked for life]

1.125 is the stock size. Dont buy that one

[JEDsMK7]

Originally Posted by marked for life

I have an extra sway bar off of 1987 XR7 COUGAR (No turbo) which measures (1.290'' thick) 42 1/2'' eye to eye,(75.00$ plus shipping)that I just pulled off some cars from the junkyard or I think it better to say The treasurer yard.

Thank you! I'm interested, but I just want to confirm you're sure it will fit the Mark VII? The interchange thread shows the 87-88 XR7 Cougar sway bar as a bit thicker at 1.310" - hard to measure that precisely!
The energy suspension frame bushings I want to use are 33mm (1.30"). Is it possible the bar is actually 33mm thick?

Frame bushings for the 1.125" stock LSC sway bar seem hard to find. Going with the larger XR-7 bar will give me a much better selection of bushings.

I cannot measure the width of my stock sway bar with the suspension loaded because its on jack stands in my garage (sorry). Its my hope that when I do "load" the suspension, the stock sway bars will not be on the car!

[marked for life]

Is the sway bar on the car now? If not whats the center of eyelink to center of eyelink. My 90 LCS measured 44 3/4''. (off the car) I also used my dial caliper and measured in the center of the bar. The conversion from 1.290'' to metric is 32.77mm. When trying to measure these bars that have been installed on the cars I believe there is some tweaking on thes bars because of them being loaded so the bars are not perfectly round any more like they were when they were new. 1.310'' Is 33.28mm or a tad over 1 5/16''. I'm going to sand and measure the outside of the bar to see if they are concentric. I'll do 2 measurements. There are many post concerning air bag clearance issues with the endlinks thru the full range of suspension travel. Bluegrass says you might have to shim the back (5/16'') of the sway bar frame mount to get the necessary clearance. I think it was 3/4''. Make sure you get the clearance or say goodbye to your air spring.

[Robb]

Originally Posted by marked for life

1.125 is the stock size. Dont buy that one

That is stock size but...

When I had my S-10 I ordered a rear sway bar for it that came missing some parts. After a run around with that company, I sent it back and bought a Hellwig. The Hellwig was smaller diameter but instead of being cold rolled steel like the first one it was 4140 chrome moly. Much stiffer than cold rolled steel. Something I never would have thought about if it was not brought to my attention. I (or someone) should find out what the Addco bar is made of. I'm almost sure all the stock Ford bars are cold rolled steel.

[marked for life]

Today I mounted the 86 XR7 Turbo Coupe front sway bar on my 1990 LSC. I know for sure it was a Turbo Coupe front sway bar because the dash cluster had the boost guage and I looked at the VIN Number concerning the year (4/1986). It fit real well. As much clearance as the stock bar and the end links had very little lean with NO shimming of the rear of the sway bar frame mounting brackets at all. Lining both sway bars up side by side on the ground they look very similar, (stock 1990 LSC compared to the 1986 Turbo Coupe XR7)then I removed and installed the 87 XR7 (Non turbo) and the end links were within 3/16'' of air springs so I put shims (washers) on the back of the sway bar frame mounts which gave me the clearance (1/2'') but the endlinks were severely angled . (/) (\) That is pretty dam near how much they were tilted maybe even a little more. Don't like that at all. I'm wondering how much lean the 87/88 XR7 Turbo Coupe leans or the 87/88 T-bird Turbo Coupe leans. ANYBODY.. This is not for me but for everybody eles because the 86 XR7 Turbo Coupe is the bar I'm going with and I don't know if the 87/88 XR7 TC front sway bar is the same as the 86 XR7 TC... So it really comes down to 1987/1988 Turbo Coupe XR7 VERSES 1987/1988 (NON TURBO COUPE XR7) OR 1987/1988 Thunderbird Coupe VERSES 1987/1988 (NON TURBO COUPE) Thunderbird... Come on guys lets figure this out for posterity...

[marked for life]

Hey skymasteres are you still here