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76 wagon swaybar

jimc

New member
Joined
Sep 19, 2013
Location
northport NY
Getting around to suspension issues. I have been reading threads here regarding sway size recommendations. Kind of confusing. I just want a stable ride that's a little more agile than factory. The car currently has a front that measures 18.5 mm and it turns out that there is no sway bar in the rear. That can't be legit? Shouldn't it have a bar mounted to the rear arms like on my 86? IPD doesn't list sways for my 76 wagon front or rear, so I'm not really sure what's up here or what my direction is
 
If you're sticking to stock sized [185] tires I'd recommend a 240 turbo front bar, and a stock rear bar just as the 245 turbos came from the factory.
 
Yeah, the early 1975-1977 245's had a stiffer spring up front than the later 245's so they used a small swaybar as a result. No rear swaybar on them.

My '77 245 came as setup as your '76 with that cute little dinky bar. As Ken said, a 23mm up front gives a great improvement, and even just a stock late model (19mm) rear swaybar will do wonders the same. That's how I have my '77 setup now.

Getting around to suspension issues. I have been reading threads here regarding sway size recommendations. Kind of confusing. I just want a stable ride that's a little more agile than factory. The car currently has a front that measures 18.5 mm and it turns out that there is no sway bar in the rear. That can't be legit? Shouldn't it have a bar mounted to the rear arms like on my 86? IPD doesn't list sways for my 76 wagon front or rear, so I'm not really sure what's up here or what my direction is
 
If you're sticking to stock sized [185] tires I'd recommend a 240 turbo front bar, and a stock rear bar just as the 245 turbos came from the factory.

23/21 came up upon basic search. Are there any compatibility issues with my earlier application? Mounting pos and such?
My search also turned up that some early models had no rear sway. It's pretty sloppy all around so I'm hoping to start with sways and then continue with the bushings
 
23/21 came up upon basic search. Are there any compatibility issues with my earlier application? Mounting pos and such?
My search also turned up that some early models had no rear sway. It's pretty sloppy all around so I'm hoping to start with sways and then continue with the bushings

That was the sedan set up, the wagons came with a small rear bar.

The extra weight of the wagon way out over the rear axle requires a smaller rear bar to carve the cones effectively.

I'm running 28/23 on my wagon.
 
Yeah, the early 1975-1977 245's had a stiffer spring up front than the later 245's so they used a small swaybar as a result. No rear swaybar on them.

My '77 245 came as setup as your '76 with that cute little dinky bar. As Ken said, a 23mm up front gives a great improvement, and even just a stock late model (19mm) rear swaybar will do wonders the same. That's how I have my '77 setup now.

I just want to make sure I don't have fitment issues. So far I have ended up with plenty of parts that were supposed to be the same fitment, but, well, weren't
 
Interesting..based on my BMW E30 setup (HUGE front bar, no rear bar) for the track, I was thinking the current IPD bars on the wagon might be a little off. 25mm front and rear. I'm thinking maybe I should re-install the smaller factory bar on the 940 wagon based on the comments.
 
Oh man...I haven't monkeyed with a 240 in a long time. I don't know for sure, but looking at IPD they have two kits, one for the 240, and one for the 700/900. I would think you could make it fit, but it probably needs modification. I know on the 940, there are the holes in the trailing arm, then a removable bracket towards the back of the car for the rear bolts. Someone more knowledgeable than my may be able to chime in on fitment.
 
Any 240 series sway bar will fit directly up front. Rear bar you need an additional bracket that goes on the rear main bushing (the big bushing on the diff). Then you can bolt up the swaybar. There is caveat though on the early 245's - if you have the original over axle exhaust system on it the 1978-up rear sway bars will not work. If it has a replacement under axle exhaust any 1978-up swaybar will work just fine with no fitment issues.
 
Any 240 series sway bar will fit directly up front. Rear bar you need an additional bracket that goes on the rear main bushing (the big bushing on the diff). Then you can bolt up the swaybar. There is caveat though on the early 245's - if you have the original over axle exhaust system on it the 1978-up rear sway bars will not work. If it has a replacement under axle exhaust any 1978-up swaybar will work just fine with no fitment issues.

thanks for the specifics Andy. I've got a friend w a muffler shop so I'll fit the sway and let him deal w exhaust
 
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