Crown Vic sway bar question

So I did a search on Summit Racing for a CV sway bar and found this:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/rnb-927-159/make/ford/model/crown-victoria/year/1995

Says it fits a 92-08. It's $44 brand new with end links and bushings. I can't afford to go to the junk yard and look for one at that price. Anyone know if this will work? It's only 15.3mm, but I'm not trying to do anything crazy. I really like the way my wagon rides (1996 Roadmaster Wagon), just looking to modernize just a little.

Other suspension mods to include bilsteins all around, new body mount, including the ones left out at the factory and Air Lift 60755 bags. Currently on factory rims with 235/70r15's, eventually 245/55r18's. I appriciate any giudance on the matter. Thank you.

I had my 96 RMW setup that way for quite a while after I got it. Stock suspension, those bags, Crown Vic bar from the Ford dealer for only a bit more than that cost. Air ride and compressor removed and first replaced with KYB gas adjust shocks, then the softer of the two Bilstein choices later.

It wasn't a bad setup, IMO, but it didn't take it all the way that I really wanted. I had been running 4 psi different front to rear, normally 32 front and 28 rears unless heavily loaded to reduce the understeer built into these cars. Adding the rear bar helped and it got less understeer and I could reduce the pressure stagger by 1-2 psi. Certainly much better than stock from a driving and stability standpoint but still had the slow return of the steering wheel after a turn and didn't feel just right in corners with a kind of jump in the feel as the wheels turned further. Most would probably be fine with it though, I think, as it was good ride.

Over the next few years I replaced all the front end parts including the springs and A arms and that didn't change much as the old parts weren't all that bad. I couldn't get more than about 2.5* positive caster and the progression on compression was positive which I wanted to change, so I cut up the upper control arms and moved the mounting points to get more caster and welded them back together. It helped once I got to 5.5* positive but still had a bit of a hiccup in the turns and slow returns. 17" wheels and touring tires were next in 235-60-17 size and it helped it hold better on center with more feel and returned a bit better. Next step was to put in tall upper ball joints to make the progression negative on compression but still be at stock height as that is where I wanted it for daily driving. I also moved the alignment to slight negative camber from slightly positive at rest so resting and compression didn't change from plus to minus camber on bumps. The glitch in middle of the corners went away completely and it felt much better while turning. When I had the engine out and was building it into a better version I decided to get rid of the very small and convoluted power steering hoses the I thought might be causing the slow return of the steering. I replaced them with -6 AN lines across in front of the engine so bigger and shorter with many fewer bends. I also got a Lee Power steering rebuild of my steering gear with 14 to one fixed ratio and a 32 inch pound torsion bar in it which much improved the feel and precision of the feel. I ditched the variable assist pump and put in standard one at the same time. Final thing was to replace the swaybars with hollow style Helwig bars which makes them nearly the same size and rate. That change pretty much finished off the understeer and I can run same pressures front and rear if I choose to. Steering corrections are very small now but not twitchy and very stable cornering. Does it hold corners like it would if it was lowered and on stiffer springs? No, but that would make the ride way too harsh the risk to the underbody parts too high for daily use and heavy loads. It did get slightly stiffer with the big swaybars and Bilsteins but not much at all. I also prefer the look of it sitting stock height better in the light colors like it is especially.

As it turns out, the RMW has taken over the day trip type uses that we used to do with our Class B RV (Express 3500 van based) and my wife's CRV. We routinely go on 300 mile plus day trips in complete comfort compared to other vehicles and it super easy to drive now. Of course, having the big 8 way Limited seats in it helps a bunch also. We do miss the kitchen and bathroom in the van though.

I think you take these big wagons to anyplace along the curve of handling improvements and depending on how you like cars to drive and ride, and how you use it, be very happy. I like to get my fun cars handling the best I can so tend to go further than most, and it has to be done a bit differently when the car weighs 5K pounds and needs to handle daily use and fun compared to a fun only car that weighs a ton less.

I think the only real compromise right now is that with handling brought to very close to neutral with big sway bars, plus having a TrueTrac limited slip differential I need to be aware that the rear might want to slide out on low traction surfaces. Avoiding that scenario is why most stock vehicles have so much understeer in them from the factory, I think.

I forgot where but I did find a place that sells aluminum lower trailing arms for our wagons that are designed to allow the impalla and sedan rear sway bars to mount up directly, and include all the hardware, then you don't have to drill for the endlinks.

only problem is that the sway bar ends up slightly more forward than a wagon specific sway bar would be.

That would make it a little less effective, but the shorter length could offset that. Depending on how much over/under steer you have, it may or may not improve the overall handling.

booster, thank you for that exceptionally informative response! Looks like the sway bar is a no-brainer. I'm still absolutely amazed with the RMW. When it's done I can't imagine wanting to trade it for anything under $35k. And what could possibly be more American than a 5000lb LT1 powered body on frame wagon!?!

goldwolfnhn wrote:

I forgot where but I did find a place that sells aluminum lower trailing arms for our wagons that are designed to allow the impalla and sedan rear sway bars to mount up directly, and include all the hardware, then you don't have to drill for the endlinks.

only problem is that the sway bar ends up slightly more forward than a wagon specific sway bar would be.

Helwig does make a wagon specific rear bar, which is what I got and it fit well. Their front bar is bigger diameter than the stock one, but may not be all much different rate so could work OK with big rear bar.

I chose not to get aluminum arms because I wanted to keep the rubber bushings for the isolation of noise, again based on it's intended use. I did box the stock arms and replaced the bushings while building into arm a stronger than stock bar to arm mount setup.