I just got finished installing the new lastest and
greatest version of Progress Groups killer and long
awaited ajustable antisway bars for the classic.
As you may recall, the hot swaybars to use, used to be
the rare and near impossible to get Nu-Tech antisway
bars designed by Ken Nord. Well Ken got a job as an
engineer at Honda and got too busy to make them
anymore. Ken basicaly gave Progress permission to make
the bars and sell them under their own brand. What
Progress has done was to take Ken's design and improve
upon it to come out with clearly the best bar on the
market.
The bar has been tested and debuged with imput from me
and SCC's Dave Coleman with the early prototypes race
tested on Jared Holstiens SE-R cup car. They fit
perfectly and unlike the ST bars and even the original
Nu-Tech bars, they do not bind or contact any
suspension members in any part of the suspension
stroke. They are designed to run on lowered cars and
stock ride height cars without contact or bind, even
severly lowered IT or SE-R cup cars. ST bars bind
horribly on lowered cars and can cause weird handling
unless they are shimmed and set up very carefuly. ST
bars also have poor quality control and have fit and
preload issues due to innacurate bends. It takes a
bunch of skill and patience to get ST bars to work
right, not so with the Progress bars, they fit great.
The Progress bars replace the Urethane end link
bushings with sperical bearings to make the bars
instantaniously active and to eliminate any posible
bind that bushings can put on the suspension. Bind
can cause unpredictable handling and makes for poor
ride. The links are adjustable so you can get all the
preload out of the bar as well as get the most
effective angle from the links when placing them in
the adjustment holes.
Both the front and rear bars are 3-way adjustable.
The front bars is 1-3/16" in diameter with the rear
bar being 13/16". The bars, bushings and end links
pivot very freely with no bind or unusual noises and I
found the the car's ride has actualy improved.
Although Progress does not list it, the B13 front bar
fits perfectly on the B14, I have just confirmed that.
I have not done track testing yet so I don't know
about how the bars fair as far as termnal balance, etc
as my street Classic car is so extreme (R compound
tires, slightly detuned SE-R cup car suspension), it
is imposible to drive the car fast enough on the
street to safely test it for this. I can say with the
front bar full soft and the rear bar in the middle
position, it feels pretty neutral. We will have some
more experiance with the bar when we get to race test
it next month and Jared likes how the debugged bars
feel on his cup car.
I know that many of you have been waiting a long time
for these and Progess has them in stock and on the
shelf right now, they cost about $260 each and are well worth it.
Mike
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There can only be one Icy Hot Stunta, Don't Hate.
so you suggest getting the progress front sway bar and the stillen rear sway bar, and leave suspension techniques out of the picture, even if i have a 200sx se?
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Well, I totaled my B14, so now I have a Eclipse GT. I'm just longing to get back to Nissan...
Last edited by McLaren F1 2003 : Jan 22nd, 2003 at 12:59 PM.
Originally posted by McLaren F1 2003 so you suggest getting the progress front sway bar and the stillen rear sway bar, and leave suspension techniques out of the picture, even if i have a 200sx se?
I like the Stillen one because its adjustable and you don't have to drill holes in the trailing arms like you do with the ST bar. Its also bigger in diameter which should match the Progress bar better.
Mike
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There can only be one Icy Hot Stunta, Don't Hate.
For autocrossing specifically, would running the rear bar only be better? I have heard that using a thicker sway bar up front can cause lifting of the inside wheel in tight turns making it harder putting down power.
Originally posted by Mean For autocrossing specifically, would running the rear bar only be better? I have heard that using a thicker sway bar up front can cause lifting of the inside wheel in tight turns making it harder putting down power.
G
If your roll stiffness is not balanced, it can cause lifting.
Mike
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There can only be one Icy Hot Stunta, Don't Hate.
Originally posted by morepower2 If your roll stiffness is not balanced, it can cause lifting.
Mike
I am guessing that without a cross-weight balanced, coilover setup, you can never have balanced roll stiffness so it's probably a moot point for me at this time.
Originally posted by morepower2 If your roll stiffness is not balanced, it can cause lifting.
Mike
With R-tires I lift my rear wheel all the time. Spec V also lift them even with just GC springs 300f/375r. I have a Stillen Rear Bar set almost full stiff in the back and a oem front b14 bar. Lately I have been getting tons of push. I am really getting tired of it. I think it is the 30F weather and cold tires (ran street tires last time just for fun).
We were actually talking about front tire lifting. You always get unloading of weight requiring careful throttle inputs coming out of tight turns, but some have said that stiffer front sway bars can actually result in lifting making throttle inputs all but impossible.
In terms of rear lift, I noticed that it decreases with the addition of stiffer springs.
Originally posted by Mean We were actually talking about front tire lifting. You always get unloading of weight requiring careful throttle inputs coming out of tight turns, but some have said that stiffer front sway bars can actually result in lifting making throttle inputs all but impossible.
In terms of rear lift, I noticed that it decreases with the addition of stiffer springs.
G
Its almost imposible on a fwd car. I have seen it in rwd cars though
Mike
__________________
There can only be one Icy Hot Stunta, Don't Hate.