A while ago we located an original Herb Adams rear sway bar, added it to the rear suspension of my turbo 87 and enjoyed a marked increase in handling. Coming off this good experience I thought that it would be a good idea if we added a rear sway bay to my 87 3800SC Fiero. There were no more Herb Adams bars to be found so we ordered an ADDCO sway bay. The rear bar installed easily but when the car was road tested, it felt nothing like the handling that we got with the Herb Adams bar. The Herb Adams bar gave improved handling and a "neutral" feel to the steering while the ADDCO bar gave noticable oversteer.
I was wondering why this was so but a dicussion on this forum had brought out the fact that the Adams and ADDCO bars are tuned differently. The ADDCO bars needed to be installed in pairs so a front ADDCO sway bar was ordered and installed today. I don't know how many forum members tried to install this ADDCO front bar but the hole spacing on the bar bushing brackets is WAY off. They had to be slotted with a die grinder and compressed around the bushing for the bolt holes to line up and then the brackets barely bolted up using zllot of elbow grease. . After the bar brackets were finally freitted and bolted up, the end links bolted up easily . The front ADDOC bar installation ended up being a fabrication /fitting job. I am posting this to remind anyone considering using this product, that 1. The ADDCO bars must obviously be used in pairs and 2. The front sway bar brackets fit like sh*t. Tomorrow we will road test and hope that the neutral steer returns.
Next time we will try the Fiero Store rear sway bar. This design looks similar to the Adams bar and hopefully it works with the stock front Fiero sway bar.

------------------
87GT - 3800SC Series III engine, 3.4" Pulley, N* TB, LS1 MAF, Flotech Exhaust Autolite 104's Custom CAI 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
87GT - 3.4L Turbocharged engine, modified TH125H
" I'M ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

I have the Fiero Store bars front and rear and like the way the car handles.

I think the mount spacing issue is due to the added diameter and bushing thickness of the front bar. It's been 3 years since the rebuild, though, so maybe that's not the case. I just welded up one of the holes and drilled a new one to fit the wider bracket spacing.

I thought the Fiero Store bars were Addco???

Joe

I believe the Fiero Store's front bar is Addco. But the rear one definitely is not. I think it's an in-house design.

I'd also like to add that my '87 Fiero has the stock front bar with an Addco 7/8" rear bar, and the handling is almost perfectly neutral. In a hard turn, I can steer the car with the gas pedal... let off for understeer and step on it for oversteer. If your car is experiencing massive oversteer after installing an Addco rear bar, then there's probably something up with your suspension. It's also possible that the bar wasn't installed correctly.

[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 12-06-2008).]

My 86 3800 SC Finale has the stock front bar and the Fiero Store rear bar. My car also is very neutral and even kind of "tossable" on the road.

FS rear bar is not as big as the ADCO rear bar.

As far as your mounting goes, Dennis, I also had an Adco bar and it came without any front mounts (bought it at Ed Park's swap meet). I got some of the universal Energy Suspension from AutoZone and they didn't line up either. I ended up using the stock metal mounts and then turning down some plastic bushings that I made in two pieces. They ended up pretty thin, but worked.

I think Adco puts in some basically universal mounts and leaves it up to you to make it fit.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by jstricker: FS rear bar is not as big as the ADCO rear bar. As far as your mounting goes, Dennis, I also had an Adco bar and it came without any front mounts (bought it at Ed Park's swap meet). I got some of the universal Energy Suspension from AutoZone and they didn't line up either. I ended up using the stock metal mounts and then turning down some plastic bushings that I made in two pieces. They ended up pretty thin, but worked. I think Adco puts in some basically universal mounts and leaves it up to you to make it fit. John Stricker

At least it makes me feel better that I'm not alone. The days when you could buy ready fit "bolt on" performance parts are behind us. Now its just send them a part and let them do the rest. It looks like ADDCO expects the installer to be a fabricator! Yes the Energy Suspension brackets bolt right up but as you indicated they make bushings only for the std size bar. We ended up getting them to fit but it wasn't easy.

------------------
87GT - 3800SC Series III engine, 3.4" Pulley, N* TB, LS1 MAF, Flotech Exhaust Autolite 104's Custom CAI 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
87GT - 3.4L Turbocharged engine, modified TH125H
" I'M ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

Generally I think you're right, HOWEVER....................

We now run a set of Paul Hosler's bars, front and rear, and they fit right and work right with excellent instructions right out of the box. I recommend them highly. They're expensive compared to the FS products, but if you're going to get serious and need adjustability, they can't be beat.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by Dennis LaGrua: At least it makes me feel better that I'm not alone. The days when you could buy ready fit "bolt on" performance parts are behind us. Now its just send them a part and let them do the rest. It looks like ADDCO expects the installer to be a fabricator! Yes the Energy Suspension brackets bolt right up but as you indicated they make bushings only for the std size bar. We ended up getting them to fit but it wasn't easy.

quote Originally posted by Dennis LaGrua: At least it makes me feel better that I'm not alone. The days when you could buy ready fit "bolt on" performance parts are behind us. Now its just send them a part and let them do the rest. It looks like ADDCO expects the installer to be a fabricator! Yes the Energy Suspension brackets bolt right up but as you indicated they make bushings only for the std size bar. We ended up getting them to fit but it wasn't easy.

Back in '96 or '97 I bought a set of Addco bars for my '88GT. They were listed in a catalog but took a long time to reach me. I was told that they were just developed and that I got some of the first ones made. They were very difficult to install and the front one fit very poorly. My front wheels would hit the bar when turning lock to lock. I tried to grind the bar for clearence but too much material needed to be removed for correct fit and eventually I ended up removing it and reinstalling the stock front bar with poly bushings. On the rear I had to mod the bushing backets like you did. Also on my '88 with both Addco bars installed the car understeered just like stock. With the rear Addco bar and stock front bar handling is neutral on my car.