2nd gen swaybar swap?

I was talking with a second gen guru the other week. He was telling me that the front of the 70 to 81 sub frames differ. In part due to different bumper designs GM had to use for differnt year cars.

After talking to him I checked out a hollander mnuial which lists the sub frames as interchanging. So take this info with a grain of salt. Charles

Be careful about some of the Hollander interchange information----it might be "conditional"

"123A fits 123B as a complete unit, or if bumper and brackets are swapped over". They are usually PRETTY good, but I've seen a few "WTF???" over the years. Nonetheless, the yards use it and it works very well.

Joe--ASE Certified Parts Specialist & 10th Ann.Club Tech Director '80 Carousel Red Turbo T/A, 26k orig. '79 "Y89" 400/4 speed 10th Ann. T/A, 57k orig '84 Olds 88 Royale Bgm 2 dr, 307 "Rocket" (lol), 141k and still going.... '80 T/A project car...

True enough. At times the listings can be a bit confusing. Yet with out them it would be a seasame street world. You know "if it looks the same it must be the same". Which is far less accurate. Charles

Actually, some of their information is DRIVEN by the yards telling them what fits what.

For instance, GM would show two different parking lamps for a 1982 full size RWD Caddy (amber) and a 1983 full size RWD caddy (clear). Of course, the parts are the same, just color differences. Hollander would say they are interchangeable, but note the color difference as a reference.

It's common knowledge that an A body steering column from a Malibu might fit a Cutlass but the steering wheel is different so they will say, "Difference is in steering wheel style". Most times they are pretty good about what has to be swapped to make it OEM again as it was originally.

All in all, they have very good information. Joe--ASE Certified Parts Specialist & 10th Ann.Club Tech Director '80 Carousel Red Turbo T/A, 26k orig. '79 "Y89" 400/4 speed 10th Ann. T/A, 57k orig '84 Olds 88 Royale Bgm 2 dr, 307 "Rocket" (lol), 141k and still going.... '80 T/A project car...

Oh beleave me, I was not down playing their value. I own a few different books, like my 64th edition Chassis II book. In valueable when it comes to springs, it even goes as far as to list different leaf spring cargo capasities for the same models.

At all three salavge yards I worked at the hollanders were the most used business tool. If you sell very many used parts, they are very handy to have. I even know of other mechanics and body men who buy older ones to know what interchanges.

In a way Mr&Mrs Hollander took an industry from the stone ages to the mordern ages. And yes they do include forms to submit interchanges that are unknown to them in every new book set.

Charles Take My G/F, but touch my interchange books with grease hands n Ill slay you with a dull butter knife.

Charles Bendig spilled my beer when they jumped on the table and proclaimed in

LOL @ your sig

NOI

Well, we got the SOB on there after a lot of cussin and fussin. :) The measurements sure look the same between the subframes - but 1/4" tolerance is all I need and with the dirt car I can't say for 100% sure if it's been smashed/rebuilt/swapped etc... the car is more steel tubing now than Camaro so... I was just curious if reinstalling a front bar is usually this much of a pain or if I missed the secret step 13 in the manual....

Ray