3rd Gen Camaro front sway bar?

[sbca96]

If I remember correctly the 3rd Gen uses the same lower control arm. If that
is right, I should be able to run a 3rd Gen front sway bar as a bolt on upgrade.
I currently have a 30 mm Impala SS front sway bar, but the "arms" are longer
on the Impala bar so it will be "softer" than an F-body 30 mm bar. I bought a
7/8 rear bar for the rear, but havent taken it out of the box yet. I found an
option code G92 RPO front bar for sale, its a 36 mm. I will have to return the
7/8 bar and get a 1 inch (25 mm) which should be close to the 24 mm bar the
36 mm was matched with on the 1992 Camaro Z28 its from.

Anyone running bars this big? 36 mm front and 25 mm rear? I dont want it to
ride too stiff, but I fear the Impala SS 30 mm will be too small for the 22 mm
(7/8) bar I bought for the rear .....

Tom

 

[Gary S]

I found an
option code G92 RPO front bar for sale, its a 36 mm. I will have to return the
7/8 bar and get a 1 inch (25 mm) which should be close to the 24 mm bar the
36 mm was matched with on the 1992 Camaro Z28 its from.

The 3rd gen has a totally different rear suspension, so it uses a totally different rear swaybar. That means you can't compare the front/rear swaybar size between a Second Gen and a Third Gen. Unless the 3rd Gen rear bar has exactly the same arm length, and the same mounting points, it won't behave the same.
Look at the rear bar on an Impala. It bolts to the lower control arms, so the control arm becomes a long extension of the swaybar. On a Second Gen Camaro, there is nothing there to "extend" the rear bar, so it needs a much smaller bar to give the same control.
I'm not familiar with the 3rd Gen rear suspension, but you need to take a long look at it and see how the rear bar mounts and where it applies its force. That determines how much bar you need.

I'm running a 1 1/4 (31.75mm) front bar on my Camaro with a 3/4 rear bar, and the car can't use anymore rear bar than the 3/4.

 

[frankz]

When evaluating sway bars the arm length and bar diameter will directly affect wheel rates. An important thing to keep in mind is solid bars and hollow bars have dramatically different rates.Do the math so that you get a balanced package.

 

[sbca96]

I have a 1986 IROC in the driveway, and a 1995 Impala SS in the street. I got
the extra front sway bar in a lot of parts I bought years ago. I know that the
arms are longer than the 2nd Gen F-body. The 3rd/4th Gen rear suspension is
still a live axle, it uses trailing arms and coil springs, I dont think that it would
really behave that much different than leaf springs, except the position within
the car is better controled. The rear sway bar is held differently though, on a
2nd Gen the crossbar is held to the frame and the arms go to the axle center.
On the 3rd/4th Gens the crossbar is on the axle centerline, and the arms go to
the body forward of the axle. I am not sure how this change would effect the
way it behaves between the two. A 3rd Gen IS a lighter car though......

Tom

 

[my24ktrat]

...The distance between the frame mounts are narrower on the 3rd gen compared to the 2nd gen[ which is wider ] . I have both sway bars in my shed [ iroc, monte ss ]and the 3rd gen shares the same mounts as a 3rd gen monte ,cutlass , etc. The 1995 impala shares the same front bar as a 2nd gen camaro , monte carlo , cutlass , etc.The rear bar interchanges with those cars mentioned and others except the camaro ,herb adams bars were a perfect upgrade to the ss's , Hope that helps and makes sense, DC

 

[sbca96]

...The distance between the frame mounts are narrower on the 3rd gen compared to the 2nd gen[ which is wider

Guess I will crawl under the IROC with a tape measure and confirm. I had found
a good deal on a 36 mm 3rd Gen bar .. thats why the sudden interest.

Tom

 

[81Z4ME]

Just for info, the IROC Z28 bars and the Trans Am bars are different. My 86 IROCs have solid front bars while the 88 GTA (WS6 suspension) has a hollow front bar (larger in OD than the IROC bars). But then the IROCs also had the wonderbar between the frame rails over the front bar and the GTA did not. I don't know if that was the reason for the difference or not.

I'm pretty sure there are differences in were they rear bars mount to the axle on the 3rd generation camaros. I don't remember which is which off hand but it seems like my 83 Z28 and my 86 IROC mount up the same place on the ends but differently on the axle. One of them runs under the axle and aggravates me every time I have to jack it up and the other one runs behind the axle (making it easy to put the jack on the axle.

Good luck with your search (and testing).

 

[Randy 81]

The 3rd gen bar won't fit, tried it myself after finding one at pull-a-part. The arms of the bar hit the subframe if I remember right.

Now the front sway bar from a 64-72 GM A-body fits our cars as well, but the stock ones were all pretty small. Usually the A-body guys take the sway bars off our cars. Late 2nd gen Trans Ams have big front bars and are a bargain if you can find them in the pull-a-part.

 

[sbca96]

The Impala bar comes close to the subframe also, and the arms are longer so
it puts the links off center of the holes. The 2nd Gen big bar is an upgrade to
the Impala guys, which is why I knew the Impala bar would fit the Camaro. It
is a base model, no rear bar and a tiny front - so this was an upgrade. I was
not planning on using the 3rd Gen rear bar, I have a couple 4th Gen bars and
it looked like attaching the forward links would be a pain. I thought if the bar
from the 3rd Gen fit the front, I could order a matching rear.

I think I will just keep the 7/8 rear bar and eventually get a matching 2nd Gen
front bar to replace the Impala SS bar when I have the cash.

Tom

 

[sbca96]

I scored at the local salvage yard, they had a 1979 Trans Am sitting in the dirt
and the 1-1/4 front sway bar was still there! That is the 32 mm bar I needed.
It should work well with the 7/8 rear.

Tom