Front Sway Bar Attachment

E-Type
1

69 Coupe.

Good day to all. Things going pretty well on my re-assembly of my 69 FHC.
The car rear wheels are sitting about 16" off the ground on home made wooden stands. No front wheel on at this time. All suspension and drive train in; along with wiring, starter, brakes and torsion bars are set at proper setting etc etc. While waiting for some parts, I messed with the front sway bar today. The right front sway bar end is “slightly lower than the left”. Maybe 3/8". As I said, all suspension is in and “hanging” but upper ball joints are in and loosely tightened. The sway bar is properly attached with all hardware, spacers, brake line holder, etc.

My problem is in order to attach the link to the sway bar end, I have to pull forward (to front of car) very hard on the link to barely get the bolt in and the ends don’t really line up properly. Also, the lower link bushing is torqued upwards since the link is not vertical; but pulled forward.

The question is… When tires are on the car and it is on the ground with the torsion bar loaded, is it likely that the links will fit better or is there something amiss?? I don’t have 2 more wheels right now and any attempt to jack from beneath the lower ball joint obviously lifts the front end off the jack stands!!
All the pictures I have seen appear to show the link and sway bar meeting reasonably perpendicular.

All parts, suspension, sway bar etc are original to the car. *All new bushings in everything

Mark
Murrieta, Ca.

2

Mark, I believe the offset , or canted bushing is normal. At least that’s how it was on my car 69 coupe. As far as one end lower?? Not sure I know how that could be. Only thought is, you may have one of your torsion bars a click tighter than the other.

3

When it is laden everything lines up pretty well. The trick to installation is to put a jack under the bottom of the suspension upright and lift it until the drop link lines up nice and square. Then the bolts just slip through. When the suspension is drooping, everything is severely canted.

4

Thank you both! I will just wait until I can get it on the ground. The engine is in, but no manifolds, carbs, radiator, bonnet etc, so I am low on weight working against the suspension.

I will say that I got the reaction plate and both torsion bars in and properly set in less that 2 hours yesterday. having the splines and teardrops previously marked helped a lot I was 28 the last time I did it; that was 45 years ago. I’m pretty sure I beat my first time, but I was a heck of a lot sorer this morning!

Mark.

5

Good idea as with rubber bushes its best to have them in the laden position before final tightening so that the rubber is in a neutral state and not being twisted.