Factory rear sway bar set-up, 1967

[Jon Mello]

Oops. That's a '67 subframe and it's using the stock 5/16" bolt size for that year. The plate is not a GM piece on this particular frame but made to replicate its function. The bolt holes could pretty easily be opened up to accommodate a 3/8" bolt, if desired.

[OG69Z]

Found in the trunk of the State's Camaro is an unused factory rear sway bar set. Still covered in years of dust, but the parts tags remain.



Here is a comparison of the correct 5/8" diameter rear bar vs. a 11/16" front bar:



The contours are somewhat different.
Robert

[OG69Z]

The support or tapping plate was earlier listed. It can be used on the front of the Camaro with the factory 1 1/16" bar.  The tapping plate is a heavy piece machined from 1/2" stock and relieved as Jon has pointed out for the indent of the subframe. It is threaded for 7/16"-14 threads, on 2.5 inch centers.
The State's Camaro has longer 3/8 tapping plates up front. Each plate has three holes, two for the bar attachment and one 1/4" for plate retainment.
Robert

[JoeC]

you can get a peek of a 1st gen rear sway bar under the prototype street ZL1 shown at the 1970 Chevy press preview

[Jon Mello]

Robert, many thanks for posting those detailed photos. What an awesome find. That Tom States A/Sedan '68 Camaro you bought was quite a score. I look forward to seeing more on it in the future.


Joe, thanks for posting that ZL-1 photo. It appears that the rear sway bar used on that car is more closely related to the '70 Z or SS Nova set-up than to the '67 version shown in this thread.

[88SC]

Hopefully not wandering too far off-topic on my first post, but...

Didn't X-bodies get a rear sway bar, starting in 1968, when the F41 suspension option was ordered? I know that this was true in 1970, in fact, the rear bar installation on the ZL-1 shown above strongly resembles the Nova F41 configuration.

I have long wondered how the lowly Nova got this option before the Camaro.   

[JoeC]

 there is some different info on it but from what I can tell the 1970 Nova had an RPO F41 that came out about March 1970,
 used a 13/16 front bar and a 5/8 rear bar, and can be ordered on SS and non SS Novas

[Iluv69s]

So did first gen firebird ever have a factory rear sway bar?

[Jon Mello]

So did first gen firebird ever have a factory rear sway bar?

     No, they did not. Not until the 2nd-gen cars.

[Iluv69s]

Thanks Jon. The reason I ask is that I removed a rear bar from a firebird years ago in a junkyard. If I  remember it was a blue 68 HO350 car. I remember it had the stripe down the side.  The thing is, the upper mounting brackets were attached with a small u-type bolt that extended the two threaded ends out thru the frame rails. I removed the bar, etc. and then removed the back seat to get the two u-bolts out. They were under the floor boards and apparently installed thru the frame rails prior to the floor boards being welded to the rails. I had a chisel so I made some ugly holes in the floors and pulled out the u-bolts.   I ended up installing the bar on my 60 Camaro which I sold a few years later. I used a hole saw and used bolts to re-install the bar.  I always wonder about that darn sway bar..and that car also.  I may be crazy, but I'm convinced that was a factory installed sway bar.   Or I wish I knew where my old 69 Camaro was so I could go check out that bar...probably still on there

Thanks again for theis great T/A racing  info.

[Jon Mello]

Max, that sounds like an aftermarket sway bar like an Addco, etc. You are supposed to snake the u-bolt through one drilled hole in the subframe and out through the other. It is not a rounded u-bolt, it has squared corners so it will lay flat against the inside of the frame rail. Here's an example... http://www.classicperform.com/Instructions/Addco/CP671U.pdf

[Iluv69s]

Jon.....  that is exactly the sway bar and u-bolts... they were flattened along the horizontal part !!!!!!  I actually searched for them last night in some of my old bolt drawers, because I think I still have them somewhere. I used regular bolts when I re-installed the bar on my 69 camaro as I used a hole saw because I did not want to cut such a big hole in the floor under the seat !!    When I removed the bar from the firebird,  I remember grabbing the one threaded end of the u-bolt and wiggling it and realizing it was all one piece. I never even thought it could possibly be removedand/or installed thru the existing holes !!



 Thank God I am not crazy after all. maybe just a bit misguided !!!  haha... but I came to the right place !!!!    Thanks Jon... you are the man as far as the T/A info !!! 


        I'd love to get a hold of one of those setups again if you know anyone that has one for sale !!!   Thanks again !!

[Iluv69s]

I just realized that the link you posted has them for sale !!!   I'll check it out....    amazing they are still selling the same bar...I sold my 69 Camaro prior to 1990, so it was definitely a few years earlier in the late 80's when I removed it.

Thanx !!

[Jon Mello]

Max, here's some photos of an old Addco sway bar from the Robert Lodewyk collection. He says he also has a couple more old ones with different style ends and other details. I'll see if he can find some time to take some pictures of those as well.

[Iluv69s]

Awesome Jon.... Thanks !! Always learning !!