How much of an improvement will replacing my current factory sway bars with 200 series turbo sway bars? Will this be as signifigant an improvement if I were to purchase aftermarket sway bars from IPD?

Thank You

Peter Jackson

1990 245, 5 speed, VX Cam, 200 turbo wheels

What a coincidence. Just had my 90' 244 DL sway bars swapped out with the ones from a Turbo that was sitting behind my mechanics garage. It was an afterthought as I was in having my much needed struts & shocks replaced with KYB's. My advice is "just do it". It will not be a radical change but a very, very nice suttle change. Mine definetly corners flatter and goes where you point it more directly. I have nothing but turns and switch-back driving around here and must say this is probably the best upgrade i've had done yet. As info, my mechanic took them off his car & put on mine for one hundred beans. Definetly worth it to me even though I see the post for eight beans for the bars at salvage yard & I believe it (i just don't have the time or tools).

Do It!

C. Tim

As it turned out I only got the front bar. I forgot how hard the rear bar is to remove "in the field" when you don't have a juck available to compress each spring to unbind the shock bolt. (The yard used its huch Komatsu fork lift to raise the rear end up onto a stand. The rear end was chest high....)

Well, I'm paying something like $8 a bar for turbo swaybard from the junkyard.

Makes a huge difference to me.......

Save up for the ipd bars. They are phenominal(sp?).

I got some turbo bars off of E BAY.

I think they were a great improvment.. Totally worth it.

Front and back bars were under$170 bucks.

Replace your bushings

Turbo bars from a 2 or 4 door turbo will make a very noticable difference (245T's will have a smaller rear bar). I've seen 23mm/21mm turbo bars sell on ebay for $75-150, but you can probably get them for $50 or less if you can find a 240T in a salvage yard. The IPD bars (25mm/22mm) will be better, and they will be a huge increase over your current sway bars, especially since you have a wagon which has a very small rear bar. I bought my IPD bars during one of their big sales last summer, and they were only $226 delivered. It's the best upgrade I've done so far, and well worth the money.

I think torsional strength goes with the diameter squared. So, for front bars (using mm's for diameter)

IPD bars are 25mm x 25 mm =625 arbitrary units

turbo bars are 23 X 23=529

standard 19.5 x 19.5=380

This is why I say turbo bars are about halfway between standard and IPD bars. There is nothing as good as the IPD bars but of course you have to pay more to get the best.

(Even better, when IPD special ordered the IRS 700/900 bars and sold them at the special price, I am happy I got in on them at any price. Thanks IPD!).

Not as significant, but still significant - and probably much, much cheaper. ipd bars are 25mm/25mm or 25mm/23mm depending on which setup you choose. Turbo bars are 23mm/21mm, and your stock bars (assuming you have a sedan) are 21mm/19mm.

I got a set of Turbo sways for $65.00, compared to over $200.00 for ipd bars. Not that ipd bars are overpriced - they're well worth it - but the enthusiast on a budget has another option...

Nice dash picture. Too bad there is no need for a boost guage.

Blaine England, Volvos galore incl: 1956 TP21, 1958pv 444, 1959 pv445 , 122 estate.(also 245's, but these seem more like appliances)1981 242GLT

What's the gauge in the #2 position?

Looks like fuel level. What happened to the usual one?

Jonathan's right. That's the rare(?) Volvo Fuel Economy Gauge. It simply measures vacuum. Keep it out of the red for best MPG. I just like to watch it peg when I punch the throttle! :)

I think its a fuel economy gauge. Measures vaccum.