Inside vs Outside Sway Bar Mounting

[Eddymel1998]

So while looking around at the 3fe vs 4fe differences I understand that the sway bars were mounted outside the shocks\struts in the rear instead of inside, I also keep seeing that the outside mounting is "better" and I can understand the lever arm effect with longer distance from the pivot, but I am curious if any of you have some forum posts or articles you can link just exploring the subject.



Mainly just looking to understand why sometimes the manufacturer mount them one way or the other(on Camaro or just any car), some pros and cons for each one and so on. Usually I can find info on these sorts of things pretty easy but not sure if I am using wrong search words or what, but can't find much info besides the bare basics.

[CamaroCracka]

Have you tried searching fe3 vs fe4:camaro5 with Google/Bing?

The additional mechanical advantage was all I needed to know to do both my cars. IIRC, GM made the change for the ZL1 and decided to use on all Camaros because it was a superior design. For me, that was enough info to spend the time and money.

[olblue75]

I did the swap years ago a went with a 1LE rear bar an it was a night a day difference plus there’s more sway bar choices for that setup. I’ve since moved to a JPSS 32mm bar and DSE LCA’s.

[Eddymel1998]

Oh yea, I'm sold on the fe4 conversion, it's on the short list, will probably end up with BMR sway bars to compliment it, body roll is by far the biggest problem I have with this car, but just asking out of curiosity, like would moving it outwards limit suspension travel since for equivalent movement or the wheel you have a lot more movement further out, or is this something commonly addressed by the shape of the bar or lengths of the end links, or straight ignored because impact is negligible.

[CamaroCracka]

I don't believe the FE4 has any less travel than the FE3, but travel does not necessarily correlate with handling. The Z28, which is the best handling Gen5, has the least amount of suspension travel. That is due to the springs though.

[Eddymel1998]

Yeah I imagine suspension travel is not a huge issue for a car that spends most of the time on the road, also I drew a diagram just to show what I'm thinking, for same travel at the wheel the distance traveled at B will be longer then at A just by concept alone, looking at FE4 pictures it looks like maybe the mounting points is lower on the control arm to help reduce the chance of sway bar driving into something above it on a bump.



Also wonder if with increased travel of the sway bar ends the tortional stresses are increased on the sway bar or just more pull on end links, especially in scenario of a pothole where one wheel is dropped well beyond the other, or if there is a critical stress when one wheel just sits free floating that would be same across both designs. Or maybe I'm an idiot and forgetting about some other part of the independent suspension that makes all of this negligible.

[olblue75]

Id love to have a set of Z28 Springs and does anyone know the PN of Z28 Springs?

[CamaroCracka]

Originally Posted by olblue75

Id love to have a set of Z28 Springs and does anyone know the PN of Z28 Springs?

Front springs - 22905638
Rear springs - 22903663

https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=314522

[CamaroCracka]

Originally Posted by Eddymel1998

Yeah I imagine suspension travel is not a huge issue for a car that spends most of the time on the road, also I drew a diagram just to show what I'm thinking, for same travel at the wheel the distance traveled at B will be longer then at A just by concept alone, looking at FE4 pictures it looks like maybe the mounting points is lower on the control arm to help reduce the chance of sway bar driving into something above it on a bump.



Also wonder if with increased travel of the sway bar ends the tortional stresses are increased on the sway bar or just more pull on end links, especially in scenario of a pothole where one wheel is dropped well beyond the other, or if there is a critical stress when one wheel just sits free floating that would be same across both designs. Or maybe I'm an idiot and forgetting about some other part of the independent suspension that makes all of this negligible.

Yes, the FE4 rear end link mounts to a hole in the bottom of the LCA where the FE3 mounts to a tab on the top of the LCA. The FE4 link is also considerably longer than the FE3 and is made of plastic with rubber bushings on the end and a long bolt running through it. They seem to hold up well, especially for being made of plastic. They use the same set up on the Z28 and those corner pretty hard.

[Eddymel1998]

Originally Posted by CamaroCracka

Yes, the FE4 rear end link mounts to a hole in the bottom of the LCA where the FE3 mounts to a tab on the top of the LCA. The FE4 link is also considerably longer than the FE3 and is made of plastic with rubber bushings on the end and a long bolt running through it. They seem to hold up well, especially for being made of plastic. They use the same set up on the Z28 and those corner pretty hard.

That is interesting, I always assumed they were metal from the pictures, my best guess is that the bolt does most of the heavy lifting and plastic is just kind of like a shell for it?

[CamaroCracka]

The rubber bushings on the ends provide some give and I'm with you on the bolts. It seems they provide all the lateral strength.