• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

MGB-GT front GT anti-sway bar on an MGB

Share this page

M

MarkJ

Member
Offline
What do you think? I am finishing up putting the front suspension back together on my 73 B and I was thinking about going with a MGB-GT front anti-sway bar because I was told they are heaver than the stock half-inch bar on my B. I'm running the tube shock conversion (adjustable koni's) on the back with no sway bar. Advice?
Tony, got a GT anti-sway bar that will clean up nice?
 
When I started building my V8 car, I focused on updating & improving the suspension & was gonna go with larger bar onboth the front & rear...Ron Hopkinson suggested I use one of his oversize front bars & stay with my stock rear one; Doug Jackson concurred...don't know if that helps but, yes, I have several & believe they are larger on late B's & GT's (9/16" vs 5/8")

[ 08-08-2003: Message edited by: tony barnhill ]</p>
 
Hey Mark,

Like most RB MGBs – my 78B came stock with both front & rear anti-sway bars in an attempt to compensate for the poor handling acerbated by the ridiculously high ride height. But while I have already lowered & updated most of the suspension, I have kept the stock sway bars intact.

I don’t know for sure how my B would handle differently if I didn’t have the rear sway bar. But I can only assume that it would be degraded if I was to remove it. So I would tend to think that this would be a positive upgrade for your B.

Likewise I don't know if there is a big differance between the GT and the Roadsters front sway bars - so I'll hold my comments. However the I would think that the rear would be a positive. My only concern that I could think of would be the “clearance” between those tube shocks and the rear sway bar. Some time back I installed the rear Monroe Tube shock kit available from Moss. While it didn’t turn out to be a major issue the clearances was kind’a tight. So be sure to look it over really closely before you start tearing things apart.

Good luck,


cheers.gif


[ 08-08-2003: Message edited by: Bret ]</p>
 
Brett...the rear of my V8 car has its original sway bar, serious tube shocks that can accommodate coilovers, anti-tramp bars, a panhard bar, composite springs, Saab rear disc caliper & Wilwood sliding mechanical park brake...with 205 tires & ther's plenty of room!
2panhard002.JPG
 
Bret,
I was thinking to leave the rear alone (ie. no anti-sway bar). I have the Koni's set on full stiff which keeps the back of the car pretty flat, but the front wants to roll. Hence the thought to go with a bigger anti-sway bar up front.

Tony, (or anyone with a GT) can you confirm that the sway bar on the GT is heaver than the roadster? My stock bar is 1/2 inch.
 
Roadsters from 1977 (# 41001) on & all GT's had larger bar on front!
 
When playing around with sway bars just remember that a stiffer front bar increases understeer, a stiffer rear bar increases oversteer. That's why the earlier Bs had only a front bar - adding a rear bar tended to cause the nasty habit of the rear passing the front in corners.
If you add a rear bar where there was none, you'll also need to upgrade the front bar to a heavier one. By the same token, if you increase the size of the front bar, you'll need to add a rear bar (or increase the size of one already in place) to compensate. Otherwise, you'll end up with an understeering pig!
Whatever you do at one end, you need to be sure the other end compliments the change or your handling will be destroyed (unless, of course, your intention is to change the bias toward under/over steer).
 
MarkJ...its hooked up to a Glenn Towry 300hp 4.2 Rover V8 through an aluminum billet flywheel into a built TR8 5-speed tranny into an MGC rear end! Its gotta be solid to transfer all that power to the road!
 
Joe Reed,
You are so right on this, many people don't seem to understand this fact.
D
-----------------------------------
When playing around with sway bars just remember---
-------------------------------------
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>if you increase the size of the front bar, you'll need to add a rear bar (or increase the size of one already in place) to compensate. Otherwise, you'll end up with an understeering pig!<hr></blockquote>
Joe...that - increasing the size of the rear bar - goes against what Doug Jackson & Ron Hopkinson suggested?

[ 08-08-2003: Message edited by: tony barnhill ]</p>
 
Most of you guys know how I feel about this. For one thing if you ajust those shock up they are going to be like riding a buck board. For street driving the stock set up is more than enough. I have taken some 35 MPH curves at 65 MPH without any problem. I think Tony is going to be disapointed in the way his car rides over a bummpy road. The main weak place in your suspention is the same as my Midget, Rear axels. You use the HP you have and your going to ring the right rear off. It took me two axels, and two trannys before I stop using the power like I wanted to. You are going to still have to be gentle with off the line starts, and hard shifting. The only salution is TiTanium axels with double bearings. I don't think they make them for a B. They are $$$$$$$$ for a Midget.
 
I never said it wouldn't hold up Tony, I just don't want to be behind it when you light up the tires the first time. narrowed 9" ford with Lincoln disc brakes would be bulletproof and easy to change gear ratios in
 
I know, guys...I'll probably eat my share of crow...
...oh, Joe..think I realize why Doug & Ron told me to keep my stock rear bar: they both knew I was using Doug's panhard bar with it...

...& Tom/chuck...I'm beginning to think about D&D's rear end as an alternative after I blow mine up!
 
Tony,
I should have figured you were doing something pretty serious. Do you think the MG rear end will handel all that horsepower and torque without self distructing? If it does, it really says something for the strength of those rears.

Joe,
Thanks for the info on understeer and oversteer. My thinking is to experiment with a stiffer front bar since I added the Koni shocks on the back. The Koni's did wonders for the cars handeling, but... I wonder if it could be even better.
 
Markj...chuck says 'no'...Don Smith says the gears aren't gonna hold up (& he rebuilt the rear end)..Dick of MG Ltd reminded me last night that he can get different gear sets from UK...& D&D Fabricators sent me some literature on their Sonoma rear end that's modified to go under an MG & use same bolt pattern...however, Glenn Towry says 'yes' & he's running an MGB rear end with his 4.2 V8......so, the answer is: we'll see!

Oh, the front suspension is unique...built by Hawke's Engineering in the UK...distributed by Doug Jackson in the US!
hawkes3.jpg


[ 08-08-2003: Message edited by: tony barnhill ]</p>
 
Back
Top