Anyone running a welt front sway bar?
09-15-2010, 12:44 AM
#1
Three Wheelin'
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Anyone running a welt front sway bar?
I picked one up second hand the other day. Just wondering if anyone had an installed picture, I wanna make sure he gave me everything I need before I dig in. I've got the welt rear bar already installed hopefully this evens the car out a bit. Do you guys like it?
09-15-2010, 03:01 AM
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I installed the rear and was surprised at how much better the car felt, will be installing the front soon, if you do a search and look through a couple threads someone posted up the instruction manual with pics on how to install and what parts it came with.
09-15-2010, 03:02 AM
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09-15-2010, 08:46 AM
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Thanks guys. I really liked the rear as well, I have a M030 bar on the front right now. I had soften the rear bar a bit to balance the car out. I hope with this one I can stiffen them up some.
09-15-2010, 08:55 AM
#5
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I have the front installed, I will see if I can dig up some of my pics for you.
Check out http://www.tonygarcia.org/944V8/, he has some pretty good pics on there.
This the only one I could find, hope it helps.
The bar defenitely makes a huge difference. Are you running a heavier front spring?
Check out http://www.tonygarcia.org/944V8/, he has some pretty good pics on there.
This the only one I could find, hope it helps.
The bar defenitely makes a huge difference. Are you running a heavier front spring?
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09-15-2010, 05:23 PM
#8
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For those using the weltmeister front bars - do you do a lot of heavy track driving? Any problems with them these days?
Years ago, the front welt bars used to break the drop links pretty commonly. They ended up offering what they called "competition" drop links as an additional upgrade. They were made from heavier rod.
The aluminum bushings on the drop link mount also caused some problems on the alum control arms. Especially the 85.5 and 86 cars that had thinner arms - they would crack the arms at the swaybar mount.
When the 30mm 968 bars became readily avaiable in the early 90's, most of the track rats moved away from the welt bars for the above reasons.
I am hoping that weltmeister has since made changes to their design to reduce these problems on track cars (?).
Years ago, the front welt bars used to break the drop links pretty commonly. They ended up offering what they called "competition" drop links as an additional upgrade. They were made from heavier rod.
The aluminum bushings on the drop link mount also caused some problems on the alum control arms. Especially the 85.5 and 86 cars that had thinner arms - they would crack the arms at the swaybar mount.
When the 30mm 968 bars became readily avaiable in the early 90's, most of the track rats moved away from the welt bars for the above reasons.
I am hoping that weltmeister has since made changes to their design to reduce these problems on track cars (?).
09-16-2010, 11:46 AM
#9
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For those using the weltmeister front bars - do you do a lot of heavy track driving? Any problems with them these days?
Years ago, the front welt bars used to break the drop links pretty commonly. They ended up offering what they called "competition" drop links as an additional upgrade. They were made from heavier rod.
The aluminum bushings on the drop link mount also caused some problems on the alum control arms. Especially the 85.5 and 86 cars that had thinner arms - they would crack the arms at the swaybar mount.
When the 30mm 968 bars became readily avaiable in the early 90's, most of the track rats moved away from the welt bars for the above reasons.
I am hoping that weltmeister has since made changes to their design to reduce these problems on track cars (?).
Years ago, the front welt bars used to break the drop links pretty commonly. They ended up offering what they called "competition" drop links as an additional upgrade. They were made from heavier rod.
The aluminum bushings on the drop link mount also caused some problems on the alum control arms. Especially the 85.5 and 86 cars that had thinner arms - they would crack the arms at the swaybar mount.
When the 30mm 968 bars became readily avaiable in the early 90's, most of the track rats moved away from the welt bars for the above reasons.
I am hoping that weltmeister has since made changes to their design to reduce these problems on track cars (?).
I have been running my welt bar since 2002 in my 944 spec. Never a problem with it except for damaging the threads on the slider clamp. I think I got dirt in there and damaged it one day trying to loosen the adjuster. I just got a new
one.
I have yet to see any 944 spec break a welt sway bar or mounting attachment. I run the standard links.
09-16-2010, 01:22 PM
#10
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I saw two cars bust the drop links on track, both were '86 Turbos (not that MY should matter, other than alum or steel arms as the mounts are different), first one was in '92 and the second one was a couple years later. Discussion at the time was that it was not uncommon, had been seen and heard of elsewhere. Developed a bad reputation, at least in some PCA regions.
Broke at the connections as marked below. Welt. came out with a beefier drop link, which implied some acknowledgement of a possible weak point.
http://www.weltmeister.com/ProductDe...?productID=359
Also there were some tech questions/answers in Pano that disccused aluminum arms breaking at the swaybar mount, again early '90s.
Couple things - possible that weltmeister modified their design, either material specs, weld quality, or attachment angles since then. Also possible that the loads were extreme on some of the cars that experienced failure. Back then, most were running either stock suspension, M030 suspension, or maybe single adj. konis w/ 200 or 250 lb/in springs max - nothing else readily available then. And of course the cars were stock weight. So relatively heavy cars with soft springs and heavy sway bars would put a lot of load on the swaybar mounts.
Good to hear that it is not a chronic problem anymore.
Broke at the connections as marked below. Welt. came out with a beefier drop link, which implied some acknowledgement of a possible weak point.
http://www.weltmeister.com/ProductDe...?productID=359
Also there were some tech questions/answers in Pano that disccused aluminum arms breaking at the swaybar mount, again early '90s.
Couple things - possible that weltmeister modified their design, either material specs, weld quality, or attachment angles since then. Also possible that the loads were extreme on some of the cars that experienced failure. Back then, most were running either stock suspension, M030 suspension, or maybe single adj. konis w/ 200 or 250 lb/in springs max - nothing else readily available then. And of course the cars were stock weight. So relatively heavy cars with soft springs and heavy sway bars would put a lot of load on the swaybar mounts.
Good to hear that it is not a chronic problem anymore.
09-16-2010, 01:29 PM
#11
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And for what its worth - the factory swaybars will eventually push the intermediate mounting brackets up through the bottom of the frame rails. Have had to weld reinforcement plates onto the rails to fix this. I think some of the aftermarket stiffening brakets also help prevent the failure. The factory figured this one out, as the Cups had plates welded onto the rails to begin with.
09-16-2010, 01:49 PM
#12
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I have been running the welt sway bars for years now, after switching from the M030 bars. IMHO it is a huge upgrade over the 968 bars which didn't seem to do much to be honest, though they were a slight improvement over the stock turbo bars. No broken drop links yet, though if you track a car long enough, you are likely to break a drop link at some point.
