From what I understand the domestic guys take off or dosconnect the front sway bar while drag racing. It is also my understanding that the Toyota Supra guys have had luck with this improving 60's.

I am drag racing a turbo MR2, hitting fairly consistent 1.7-1.8 in the 60s.
I am looking to squeeze that first 60' even more.

Anyone know if it is worthwhile to disconnect the front sway bars on a mid-engine rear wheel drive car?

It should help a little bit, but your 60ft times are not all that bad right now.

There are two reasons why people yank the sway bar.
-One, its heavier, and will reduce race weight by removing.
-Two, it helps transfer weight to the rear of the car for better traction.

I say give it a shot, anything that can help lower your 60ft times is worth it. Just be careful on sharp corners, you'll notice more roll and dive.

ive heard, on maxima.org, that if you have a stiff suspension we can remove them totallly even for road use. its supposed to help out our cars with the understeering problem

i never did get why people disconnect there front sway bars to dragrace :screwy: . the sway bars tie your frame together to help prevent body roll and weitght transfer from side to side. swaybars have nothig to do with weight transfer from front to back. everyone that i know that races has no 60' difference with them connected and all the people i know race buick Grand Nationals that are 3,600 lbs or more with soft suspension (compared to the import crowd) so they are affected by weight transfer alot.


Andy

swaybars have nothig to do with weight transfer from front to back.
I wouldn't be so sure... what you say is directly true, but consider the physics of it this way:

When you "launch" and the weight of the car is thrown backward, there will be some imbalance there... notice you rarely see some one pop a wheelie and both wheels are the same height off of the ground. That being said, if you have enough energy to pull one side of the car up more than the other... with a sway bar in place, it is going to want to pull that wheel back down.

Am I making any sense here? :)

i never did get why people disconnect there front sway bars to dragrace :screwy: . the sway bars tie your frame together to help prevent body roll and weitght transfer from side to side. swaybars have nothig to do with weight transfer from front to back. everyone that i know that races has no 60' difference with them connected and all the people i know race buick Grand Nationals that are 3,600 lbs or more with soft suspension (compared to the import crowd) so they are affected by weight transfer alot.


Andy
-Removing the sway bar reduces race weight, they can get heavy and any weight off the car will help.
-And yes it does help with weight transfer, when removed. The sway bar is attached to the A-arms, which does affect side to side movement. But it also keep the front of the car from rising up during acceleration. So in turn removing the sway bar with help transfer weight by allowing the car to "pop up" when the car is acceleration rapidly. Allowing the rear times to be planted firmer (for better traction=better 60 ft times), by having less weight on the front of the car.
I hope this helps explain things for you. This is really only helpful with rear wheel drive cars.

-Removing the sway bar reduces race weight, they can get heavy and any weight off the car will help.
-And yes it does help with weight transfer, when removed. The sway bar is attached to the A-arms, which does affect side to side movement. But it also keep the front of the car from rising up during acceleration. So in turn removing the sway bar with help transfer weight by allowing the car to "pop up" when the car is acceleration rapidly. Allowing the rear times to be planted firmer (for better traction=better 60 ft times), by having less weight on the front of the car.
I hope this helps explain things for you. This is really only helpful with rear wheel drive cars.

If that is the case then why is it that it takes the same ammount of force to take all the travel out of your front suspension ( lifting your car on a jackstand ) with the front sway bar attached then with it off. (we did an experment at my uncles speedshop he has a jack with with a gauge on it that measures force.) also the suspension travel is the same with the sway bar attached as with it off. with all that data being the same i don't see how they can affect weith transfer if it takes the same ammount of force to unload the front suspension.

If that is the case then why is it that it takes the same ammount of force to take all the travel out of your front suspension ( lifting your car on a jackstand ) with the front sway bar attached then with it off.
Try your experiment again with lifting only one front wheel... not both of them. If you lift the whole front, you are just lifting the weight of the front of the car.... if you lift one side, you are lifting the weight of that side AND fighting the resistance of the sway bar wanting to bring that wheel back down.

yea but lifting one side is measureing frame twist and not weight transfer. that does not simulate a drag race stye launch that is making the frame twist ( that is what a sway bar is suppost to prevent.) the reason your lift one wheel in the ground is because your motor twists the car. besides you don't want your car to "twist" thats why there are adj. upper and lower controll arms and ladder bars and such. thats why fullblown dragcars lift both wheels up.

the reason your lift one wheel in the ground is because your motor twists the car.
The depends on your set up... in my MR2, the oreintation of my motor and tranny.... actually "twists" or "torques" the car front-to-back... not side-to-side.

At any rate, there are many reasons you will pull one wheel up instead of both.... weight distribution, lack of LSD, slight differences in grab of one tire over another (track surface or tire surface).

oh. well ive never really dealt with rear engine rear drive cars. by the way is your car streetable? thoes are pretty quick times for a car like that the fastest ones around here run like mabye high 13's nice job. :bigthumb:

oh. well ive never really dealt with rear engine rear drive cars. by the way is your car streetable?
Yeah, Hyde is inspected and on the street... I usually run low boost on the street (15 psi ~ 258 RWHP ~ 12.8-12.9 range). The track is leaded race gas and 20 psi of boost... should be 11s on my next visit :)

Thanks ;)

Yes, torque will twist the chassis and lift one tire off before the other. Take my motor for instance, that spins clockwise looking at it from the front. So in an all out launch the motor's torque twists the chassis pulling the front right tire off the ground before the left tire. Though one tire may only come off the ground in this case, the front struts are still having the ability to unload properly, thus transferring weight to the rear. Removing the sway bar helps untie the front end. When you see drag cars pull both front tires off, it's cause they have highly tuned suspensions that allows for better weight transfer.

Just measuring weight at your "uncles" shop with a jack will not do a damn thing! There is no lateral force being applied to the whole car, you are just lifting the car under its pressure points, not simulating a drag launch. If you were to do your test, you would have noticed that lifting the car without the sway bar will allow the front struts to unload easier because the A-arms are not being tied together by the sway bar to the frame. There is no weight transfer happening when the car is stationary, so this test you have done in null and not accurate.