sway bar finish

[Denis]

does anyone know for sure what the correct finish is for the sway bar on a norwood-built 67 camaro z28 (suspension equivalent to f41)? my tinnell-restored yenko's is gray (not natural, but gray like the menu background in Windows), another 67 i have is chassis black, and i've found three other references -- natural, manganese phosphate, and semi-gloss black.

[William]

We did a very late production 67 Z/28 restoration and I recall the bar was painted semi-gloss black. I have pictures of it prior to restoration somewhere.

[Denis]

Thanks William. That confirms what I've concluded too.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Denis;
You referenced 'suspension equivalent to f41', so does this mean you have a rear sway bar on the car? I picked up an NOS rear sway bar setup for a camaro at a local swap meet, and the horizontal bar was semi-gloss black with the shorter vertical bars natural steel.
M

[Denis]

No rear sway bar. I meant to say the stock Z28 suspension is equivalent in every way to the F41 heavy-duty suspension.

If you found a factory rear sway bar for a 67 Camaro, that would be very rare indeed. It's estimated there were only ten or so produced. By the time they became available, the 68 model was in production and the staggered shock assembly largely did away with the problem the sway bar attempted to solve. The front sway bar has a diameter of 11/16" (.688) in comparison to the rear unit which uses a 5/8" (.625) diameter bar, so that's a quick way to check what you got.

[JoeC]

Were any first gen Camaros built from the factory with a rear sway bar? I don't remember hearing of any. Was the rear bar you mention a service part?

[Denis]

Joe:

The part was listed until 74 but, as early as the 68 model year, dealer word was "you can't have it regardless of what the book says". However, a few units may have gone out the back door of product performance group, and possibly a few sold over the Chev parts counters. The over-the-counter cost was $150 in 1968, which is a lot.

(Everything here is from the Camaro Untold Secrets book)

[JoeC]

I think Chevy put it on the books to make it legal for Trans Am racing along with the 2x4 Cross Ram, 4 wheel disks, headers. cowl induction, etc. but Mark Donohue's testing showed that it was better without it. Mark talked about it in his book "the unfair advantage". I was wondering if Chevy put it on any Z/28's from the factory.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Here is pic of rear sway bar colors.
M




[Edited by YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY (06-20-2001 at 03:47 PM).]

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Denis/JoeC;
I misled you, the NOS sway bar setup I found turned out to be for a '70 Camaro, and I grabbed it because I thought it was for a '70 Nova! (plus it was only $35 with all of the bushings/brackets!!) The width is obviously different, but so was the bar's diameter.

I referenced this find only because of the colors found on the bars, which was the opposite of what we had thought regarding our '70 Nova colors. (I painted mine to match this NOS setup, and am now the odd owner out, most other owners feel the replacement stuff was painted different than the original stuff).

Will try to add a pic later this afternoon.
M

[Edited by YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY (06-20-2001 at 03:48 PM).]