Bending a sway bar
you can bend 'em a bit. i wouldn't put any heat in it though.
I think realistically a small amount of bending isn’t going to make a dramatic, noticeable change or make the bar unsafe or anything like that. That would be more true for a solid factory bar too, rather than say a large diameter, hollow, aftermarket sway bar like the Hellwig. Bending a smaller diameter, solid factory bar would have smaller changes and repercussions
Heating on the other hand could make a BIG difference. And if you heat it enough to make it easy to bend you will have changed the heat treatment, and it’s a pretty narrow window to create that dramatic increase in strength without also changing how brittle the material is. Doesn't matter if it's the right shape if it cracks. It's certainly not impossible to re-heat treat the bar or maintain it's heat treatment, but that's not something most of us are going to be able to do accurately or reliably at home with basic equipment.
That's why I brought it up. I've read of it being done, but wanted some good input on the idea. Yeah, it's only 1" per side, but I will be changing it's original design.
I would wager that 1" would be enough that you would be changing the effective rate of the bar. Again, a factory bar is going to be more forgiving and I think 1" per side is probably in a range where you're not going to cause outright
damage to the bar. But there will be some changes in its effectiveness. Obviously you have the E-body bar, but why not sell that and source the correct one?
Yeah, why let the facts get in the way of a good story? Heaven forbid someone actually provides good, relevant information based on facts and science instead of just making crap up or saying "well back in the day I remember that..." like every other old timer at the gas station telling me about the 387 small block hemi in their '69 Dodge Duster that's just like mine.
Sway bar is not a torsion bar. Sway bars are optional equipment. Torsion bars are not.
Their being optional equipment certainly doesn't change the physics of how they work or how a heat treatment effects their strength. You're still talking about torsional loads on a round bar.
