7/8" Front Anti-Sway Bar

[collins_dan]

I've had good luck with my 7/8" front anti-roll bar. No issues with understeer, and certainly no issues with oversteer. Just right. No rear roll bar. It's as low as it can go, and TTR fast road front and rear. I like it for everyday and autocross. Only adjustment I make is to crank up the front dampers all the way and rear about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way. You will need to make new drop links. Dan

[Davidb]

Who supplied your 7/8" way bar Dan?

[nomad]

5/8 to 7/8 is a big jump but the length of the lever from the pivot to the suspention is pretty long so my idea of what would work best may not be correct. I've experienced stiff ARB's on sprite's and midget's and am very well aware of what Steve is talking about. I think I would like a little stiffer bar but not as stiff as a 7/8 so I will be waiting to see if the corner roll with stock is tolerable. Might go with a 3/4" if Addco would do that at the same time!

Kurt.

[rgh0]

Selecting a front bar is dependent on many other factors when trying to tune a road or track car

e.g.
driver preference
nature of roads or track you drive on and how hard you drive
tyres (size, profile and rubber compound)
front and rear spring rates and damper rates
rear bar or not and what size
presence of original rear rubber springs
ride height settings
car weight
toe in front and rear and camber and caster


For a road going Elan its a lot simpler assuming the car is otherwise close to standard

i.e.
If you are using an other wise standard suspension and I mean truely standard which most are not but using modern radial tyres rather than the original 4.20 rock hard cross plys the suspension was originally design for then a 7/8th inch bar is desirable IMHO

Yes it will introduce a bit more under steer but that is desirable to control the tail happy nature of an Elan on modern radials

This understeer will be more pronounced especially in slow speed corners when you turn in quickly as in a typical US SCCA cone course in a car park.

Overall the car will handle better in most road situations.and I would recommend it.

However .........

Most Elans do not have a true standard suspension setup and this invalidates all I have said above. If you have played with your suspension or the DPO did without understanding what was the effect then fitting a 7/8th inch bar may make it better or worse.

You need to take an holistic view of suspension... you cant just change items independently as they all intereact

One day I will will write a book - Zen and the art of Elan suspension tuning

cheers
Rohan

[frearther]

Well said, Rohan. I was running stiffer rear springs and a rear bar on my car when I originally used the 7/8" bar, and the balance was good, but then I decided to change back to something closer to a suspension setup for the road. The rear bar came off, and the understeer was quite pronounced with stiffer front bar only, so I reverted to the stock bar.

Art

[collins_dan]

Rohan, I would buy your book Dan
PS. The 7/8 roll bar was already on the car when I purchased it 12 years ago. I have driven other elans with the standard setup and prefer my setup. Upgrading to the TTR fast road springs made a big difference, probably for the reasons that Rohan states, the roll bar was done by the PO in relative isolation.