UMI Performance 78-88 GM G-Body Solid Front & Rear Sway Bar Kit - Red

Matched Front and Rear Solid Sway Bar Kit for the 1978-1988 GM G-Body, Bright Red

This is the bright red version of UMI's two-bar G-Body package, and colour is the reason to choose it: a red 1.250 inch front bar and a red 1 inch rear bar read clearly under a car that gets shown as often as it gets driven. Underneath the powder coat it is the same engineering as the black kit, with a front bar UMI rates at 428 lb/in and a rear bar that keeps the car level and straight on a hard launch.

Both bars are one-piece 4140 chrome moly, but they are formed by different processes for different reasons. Cold CNC bending keeps the front bar's 44 11/16 inch geometry consistent from bar to bar, while the rear bar is hot formed after heat treatment for memory retention and strength. Ordering the pair together also guarantees both ends match in shade, which two separately bought bars do not.

Key Features

• Front and rear bars supplied together in matching bright red powder coat.
• 1.250 inch solid front bar rated at 428 lb/in with a published 44 11/16 inch centre to centre dimension.
• 1 inch solid rear bar, heat treated and hot formed for memory retention and strength.
• 4140 chrome moly throughout, formed as single pieces rather than fabricated from sections.
• Greaseable front bushings with zinc plated clamshells and new high quality front end links.
• New Grade 8 M10 rear hardware with a published 45 ft-lbs torque specification.
• Rear bar helps keep the car level and straight under hard acceleration as well as in corners.
• Non-adjustable design at both ends for a fixed, matched balance.

Fitment

These eight vehicles are the application UMI publishes on its own 303534 page, which makes the fitment manufacturer-confirmed rather than something inferred from a supplier feed.

Check the rear axle before ordering. The rear bar in this kit mounts to the axle housing, and UMI states it does not fit a Ford 9 inch rear, adding on its Stage 3 package page that its axle mounted rear bars suit factory housings only and that aftermarket rear ends need a chassis mounted bar. A car with a swapped housing simply is not a candidate for this part number, which is a question of what fits rather than of what is covered.

Read the kit page's hardware included and modifications none attributes narrowly. They describe the rear bar's Grade 8 fasteners. The front bar still uses the car's own small diameter GM clamshell bolts, which UMI requires to be reused.

UMI publishes year, make and model only for this part number, with no submodel, trim, engine or drivetrain breakdown, so the fitment tags on this listing stop at model rather than inventing a trim.

Specifications

What's Included

• One 1.250 inch solid front bar.
• Two front sway bar bushings with clamshells.
• Two front end link assemblies.
• One 1 inch solid rear bar.
• Rear bar hardware: four M10 bolts, eight M10 washers and four M10 locknuts.

UMI documents this part number as its 3035 front bar plus its 3034 rear bar, and the list above is drawn from the box contents on those two installation sheets. There is no kit-level contents table, so nothing beyond the documented items is claimed.

Front bar mounting bolts are not in the box by design. UMI requires the factory clamshell bolts to be reused because they are GM specific and small in diameter, so keep them when the old bar comes off.

About UMI Performance

UMI Performance builds chassis and suspension parts at 509 Hemlock Street in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, from North American raw material supplied by leading USA steel suppliers, with machine-guided precision bent DOM tubing, precision laser cut components, Tiger Dry Lac powder coat and welds laid by skilled and robotic welders. The 303534 kit is UMI's own pairing of its 3035 front bar and 3034 rear bar, and the red kit is finished in the same bright red used across UMI's G-Body range.

Related Parts

• UMI 3068 front sway bar mount spacer, offered by UMI as an add-on for this kit
• UMI 3008 Super Lube synthetic grease for the greaseable front bushings

FAQ

Yes, and UMI says so on its own page, which carries a kit items block naming the 3035 front bar and the 3034 rear bar. There is no third component and no different construction. What you gain by buying the part number rather than the pair is a lower price and a guarantee that both bars arrive in the same shade of red.

Not the rear half of it. UMI's rear bar mounts to the axle housing and is designed for factory housings only, and UMI states plainly that it does not fit a Ford 9 inch rear, pointing owners of swapped cars to a chassis mounted rear bar instead. This is about physical fit, not about warranty. The front bar on its own is unaffected.

45 ft-lbs on the M10 fasteners. UMI describes that as moderately tight with hand tools and asks for the final pass to be made with the suspension sitting at its operating position. Keep that number with the rear bar: there is no published equivalent for the front bar, so do not borrow it.

No, and that is deliberate. The rear bar arrives with its own M10 Grade 8 set, while the front bar clamps down on the car's original GM bolts, which UMI insists on because they are small in diameter and specific to the clamshell design. The hardware included attribute on the kit page describes the rear bar.

No. The front bar is CNC bent cold and formed as one piece, which is what keeps its span consistent from unit to unit. The rear bar is heat treated and formed hot, which UMI credits with holding its memory longer and with roughly twice the tensile and yield strength of a cold bent bar. Both are single-piece 4140 chrome moly, but the processes are not interchangeable.

Because of that hot forming step. UMI flags in advance that the rear bar is expected to show some surface texture as a consequence of the process, alongside the strength it buys. It is not a powder coat defect and it is not a reason to reject the bar.

Bow downward, so it passes clear of the differential, with the mounting bolts run from the outside of the car inward. Both instructions come from the 3034 sheet that covers the rear half of this kit.

Yes. They are separate installations with separate procedures, so there is nothing stopping you doing the front on one weekend and the rear on the next. Just remember that in between the car is running a front-biased balance that will understeer more at the limit than the finished pair does.

UMI publishes no clearance dimension for the rear bar and makes no exhaust compatibility claim for this kit, so nothing is promised here. The published geometry is the front bar's 44 11/16 inch span and the rear bar's downward bow. On a car with custom pipework or a fabricated loop, check physically at the trial fit.

Yes. The colour choice applies to the part number as a whole, so the front and rear bars leave the factory in the same bright red rather than in two slightly different reds.

Both are offered by UMI on this kit's own page rather than being invented cross-sells. The 0.600 inch mount spacer exists for cars where the front bar needs to sit further from the frame, and the synthetic grease is a real consumable for the greaseable front bushings.

UMI publishes a two year warranty from the original date of purchase against defects in materials and workmanship, to the original purchaser only, and it is not transferable. The same policy excludes misuse, use beyond the design limits of the part, improper installation, acts of God, shipping damage, any product that has been altered, adjusted or tampered with, components not made by UMI, incidental costs such as towing and labour, and normal wear items including bearings and bushings. UMI also states it cannot guarantee compatibility with other manufacturers' components. The printed sheet in the box still carries an older disclaimer that predates the current two year term, and the live policy page is the document that governs. Neither is a Black Ops Auto Works warranty.

Installation Instructions

1. Work from both component sheets. UMI covers this kit with its 3035 front bar document and its 3034 rear bar document rather than with a single kit sheet.
2. Front: support the car under the crossmember with stands behind the front tyres on the frame, then free the old end links, which may take an impact wrench or need cutting off.
3. Front: start the new end links finger tight one side at a time, hang the bar from both of them, then bring the clamshells up to the factory holes on the factory bolts.
4. Front: centre the bar so side to side clearance matches, set the car down so its weight loads the bar, then run the end links up with a 9/16 inch wrench until the bushings just begin to bulge, washers cupping toward the bushings, no grease.
5. Rear: present the bar with its bow pointing down so it clears the differential.
6. Rear: pass the mounting bolts from the outside inward as UMI specifies.
7. Rear: torque the M10 fasteners to 45 ft-lbs, doing the final pass with the suspension at operating position.
8. Sweep the steering lock to lock and check clearance at the brake lines, tie rods, control arms, exhaust and driveshaft before the car goes back on the road.

The single published number for this kit is 45 ft-lbs and it belongs to the rear bar's M10 fasteners. Nothing equivalent exists for the front bar, so take the front clamshell figure from factory service information for your year and model rather than reusing the rear one.