• 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

Rear anti roll bar - remove or not?

Share this page

Jake

Jake

Jedi Hopeful
Country flag
Offline
I have read that when lowering an MGB its is recommended to remove the anti roll bar found on late RB cars. Can anyone provide the reason that this is recommended? I pulled mine out when working on the exhaust pipe in preparation for the MGC axle swap, the RARB won't fit it. I drove the car for a bit without the RARB and the body rolls noticably (SP?) more but the ride is somewhat softer and it sticks corners better. I tried to punch it out of a left hand turn, whereas I normally can light up the tires from one residential street to the next, now it just grabbed the pavement and I took off like a rocket. Anyways, just looking for a reason, I'm lightly mulling it over, trying to figure it out, but haven't come up with anything substantial yet.
 
While not positive it could be the lenth of the links between the body and the swaybar being to long after lowering the rear suspension. You will want to switch to the chrome bumper limiting straps which will help greatly with the body roll.
 
I think the reasoning for removing the RARB is precisely what you've experienced so far. To allow you to accelorate harder out of/through turns. I would suspect that there might be a small amount of understeer introduced under hard cornering. I read in a post on these forums that the Spridget racers tend to favor a panhard rod at the rear (to keep the rear axle positively located) over a RARB, which would tend to introduce oversteer while accelorating hard out of/through turns.

I believe the RARB was introduced to the RB cars to reduce the amount of body roll in turns (thanks to its higher center of gravity) and to keep the car balanced. Once the car has been lowered the handling characteristics are changed to some degree. Possibly changed enough to not require the use of a RARB.

On a personal note, I think it really comes down to personal preference. If you like the way the car handles with the RARB, then keep it installed. If you like the way the car handles without the RARB, then leave it off. The only way to know for sure is to try driving the car both ways for an extended amount of time in various conditions to get a good feel for which handling characteristics you prefer more.

Another thing to think about is whether or not you plan on increasing the size of the front anti-roll bar. If you do that it'll increase your understeer, which in turn may make it a good idea to retain the RARB. Only driving the car in the different configurations available will tell you which setup you like most though.
 
Well I’ve never tried to run my 78B without the rear rollbar. When I wanted to convert to tube shocks I noticed that many require that you pull the rear anti roll bar but I retained mine intentionally. Anyway I still have it even after I lowered the B (2” front & 1.5” rear) and added polyurethane bushings all around. I must admit that it feels a bit harsh on rough roads and is extremely tight going in & out of turns with little body roll.

Bret
 
Back
Top