Firm Feel rear sway bar mounts

[Camtron]

Just got done installing my rear sway bar onto my car. Used Firm Feel mounts and end links with a factory sway bar. Well, correction, I used the FF end link mounts that weld onto the shock plate. The frame mounts however where not made correctly. They were about .25” short of being able to mount onto the frame rail in the correct location, so I ended up using factory AHB frame mounts and they installed beautifully into the factory location.
Currently awaiting a response from Firm Feel to see what they can do to correct things since their parts aren’t exactly cheap.
Just wanted to make others aware incase they’re thinking about ordering a set for themselves.
I’m sure other people have installed them in the past onto cars without issue, but this set was made to order and just not up to par this time around.

Not the greatest photo but you can see the difference in their hight and tab/flange length.

 

[Duke5A]

My upper control arms from them needed to be modified to fit as well. This was years ago though and they said it has since been fixed.

How does it handle with the rear bar? Get the cop front bar installed?

 

[Camtron]

Handles great with the rear bar on the car; Night and day difference.
Still have to get around to swapping in the front cop bar, but with the civilian bar, solid K-frame mounts and tubular upper control arms it handles nice and stiff...Will get the front cop bar on sooner than later though.
Next up on the list going to be getting a new @BORGESON box. That’s the missing piece to really dial in the steering now.

 

[Camtron]

Now that I’ve put a few miles on the car, it’s a huge improvement.
The rear sway bar got rid of so much of the wet noodle feel while cornering and driving like a Jackass in Chicago traffic. The rear end feels attached to the car and actually moves with the rest of the car instead of feeling like a small trailer whipping around trying to keep up. Body roll, non existent.
Very pleased with the results and encourage anyone putting regular miles on these old uni bodies to make the investment in a rear sway bar.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

I havent put my cop sway bars on yet, I plan on putting the brackets on first since it's winter now and then do a befor and after drive.

On the Fords the difference between police and normal Crown Vic is a big one. Between the suspension and speed rated tires you can be on an onramp and up past highway speeds in bad weather and not even know it.

 

[Aspen500]

A rear bar may be just what my car needs. I looked at the FF bar and am curious. How do the links mount to the spring plates? The photo on the site doesn't make it obvious.

 

[Camtron]

The spring plate mount has three “prongs” that come off the bottom of the mount and essentially grab onto the trailing side of the spring plate ( like three fingers ) and get welded into place, centered to the spring plate and perch.
the two outer prongs butt up perpendicular to the outer trailing side/edge of the spring plate. While the middle prong runs parallel to the trailing edge of the spring plate and gets welded to the topside of the spring plate, between the perch and trailing edge of the spring plate.

I’ll snap a picture next time I go out by the car.

Took me and my buddy about 45 min total working in tandem with a cheap Harbor Freight welder. Anyone with access to a welder and familiar with turning wrenches can probably knock everything out in about 2 - 2.5 hours working alone; not counting any additional finishing/painting; beyond enamel spray paint anyway.

 

[80mirada]

There are pics of the brackets and the installation in my build thread

 

[Camtron]

a few pics I pulled off, @80mirada build thread. It’s about 9 degrees outside, don’t much feel like going out to the garage and laying on cold concrete, lol.

 

[Duke5A]

Old photo, but Firm Feel used to sell plates with the link end cast into it instead of those tabs you need to weld on. This was probably 13 years ago I took this photo, but I'm still using those plates. Don't see them on FF's site anymore.

 

[80mirada]

The plates Duke has are E-body style plates and work for when you swap to the earlier style shock plates. Firm Feel still has them and they are an option in their rear sway bar kit, last I knew

 

[Camtron]

They still have them for E body’s, like, Duke has. $525.
They don’t show them as an option when looking at their FMJ part section, incase anyone wants to order a weld free option while swapping to B-body shock plates.

If I had know or realized those where an option, I would have spent the extra $80.

 

[Camtron]

Wow, those sway bar plates and B body plates are what they offer for A/B/C/E bodies when looking at rear sway bars and ISO delete kits, but not what they list for FMJ bodies...the more you know; be warned everyone.

 

[Aspen500]

It appears the sway bar will only work if the iso-spring has been deleted? If so, don't know if I want to go into it that far,,,,,,,,,,right now anyways. On the other hand, sounds like the rear bar does wonders. Decisions, decisions.........

 

[Duke5A]

Wow, those sway bar plates and B body plates are what they offer for A/B/C/E bodies when looking at rear sway bars and ISO delete kits, but not what they list for FMJ bodies...the more you know; be warned everyone.

It must have something to do with the locating pin diameter in the leaf pack. On F/M/J cars it's a different size. I think I changed mine out. Been a long time.

 

[Camtron]

Firm Feel is also saying that their frame mounts aren’t meant to line up with the factory holes for the frame mount and Self tapping bolts should have been supplied to secure them to the frame...sounds fishy as all hell to me to cover poor product manufacturing.

 

[Aspen500]

That's kind of what I meant about not wanting to go into it that far. The locating holes in my axle plates are 1", or whatever they are for iso-spring. Besides, I know what would happen if I did a delete. The project would snowball and get out of control. "Might as well", "while I'm at it", etc and I'd have the car in a thousand parts before I knew it. Happens every single time on anything, whether it's the Aspen, Dakota or Mustang (or house, yard..............). Maybe I'll leave well enough alone for now, lol.

 

[Camtron]

It appears the sway bar will only work if the iso-spring has been deleted? If so, don't know if I want to go into it that far,,,,,,,,,,right now anyways. On the other hand, sounds like the rear bar does wonders. Decisions, decisions........

That's kind of what I meant about not wanting to go into it that far. The locating holes in my axle plates are 1", or whatever they are for iso-spring. Besides, I know what would happen if I did a delete. The project would snowball and get out of control. "Might as well", "while I'm at it", etc and I'd have the car in a thousand parts before I knew it. Happens every single time on anything, whether it's the Aspen, Dakota or Mustang (or house, yard..............). Maybe I'll leave well enough alone for now, lol.

Oh, it would install with your ISO set up just fine. Doesn’t have anything to do with that particularly.
The back frame rails on my car had pilot holes already in place from factory for the sway bar frame mounts (not the shock plate mount), however Firm Feels frame mounts don’t line up with those factory holes (apparently on purpose) and you’re supposed to Swiss cheese your frame rails and use self tapping bolts to get them installed.
For the price they charge for their parts, they should fit correctly in the correct factory location...and also include that information on their website and parts description.

 

[Aspen500]

I think they all have the sway bar pivot bracket holes as original. I'm sure it wouldn't be close but, I have an e-body rear bar set up in the attic. Think it's from a '73 Challenger Rallye IIRC. Have had it since the early '80's. What the heck, maybe I'll drag it out and see. You never know until you try, yes? If it did, all I'd need is to fab some brackets for the end links. Got a pretty good feeling I won't be fabbing any brackets though, lol.

 

[Camtron]

Never know, the brackets FF sells is a “one size fits all” option that they use for A/B/C/E/F/M/J...maybe you’ll get lucky and the factory Challenger mount will fit like a glove.