Spitfire Spitfire Mk1 Rear Anti Roll Bar / Sway Bar

The early spitfire handling problems were of course partly solved by the swing spring etc of the later cars. I don't have access to that stuff and was wondering how to improve the handling of my fixed spring mk1. I've heard of camber compensators and underslung bars but don't really know any specifics.

I figured that there must be an easy way to mount a sway bar across the chassis and onto the radius arm rods to kind of link the left and right wheels together and thus reduce the likelyhood of one wheel tucking up.

Can anyone tell me why this wouldn't work? It surely can't be as easy as I think because surely the factory would have done that in the first place. I understand that a sway bar essentially brings independant suspension back to being like a live axle but who cares if it loses a bit of flexibility in return for more predictable handling on the edge?

Hello Glen,
a rear anti roll bar will not do anything at all to prevent 'tuck under' It purely increases roll stiffness. The idea that it makes the suspension more like a live axle is not true.
Lowering the rear will help, but the thing to do is not to lift off in a corner as this causes the rear to rise and the wheels then go to positive camber and lose grip.
It should be relatively easy to add straps to limit the amount of droop in the suspension but I can't say what that would do to the ride?

Alec

Hmm I had thought that increasing roll stiffness and tying the two rear wheels together would in some way decrease the likelyhood of tuck in of the rear wheels as the likely hood of the rear becoming lifted on either side would be decreased.

Seeing as it must be relatively easy to fit a bar does anyone think I should try it or am I wasting my time?

Someone must have had a go at this in the past.

Hello Glen,

yes it will increase roll stiffness and also that will increase oversteer. It resists the body rolling but does not actually tie the wheels together. The tuck under is a function of load on the rear spring, reduce the load and the camber angle goes towards positive and the outer loaded tyre loses grip. Worst case is to brake while cornering. The anti roll bar has no resistance to up and down movement of the body only relative movement of each wheel to the other.

Alec