Chris:
Heat treating isn't all that complicated. I remember it was part of the
standard curriculum in my 7th grade metal shop class. We made, and then
heat treated screw drivers and cold chisels. It involved heating the metal
red hot, and then as it cooled down, we used a wire brush to stroke the
metal (brushing off carbon) and watch for color changes. At the appropriate
instant (when the working end was a nice blue/purple, as I recall) we doused
the metal into cold water. The color would stay and the teacher could check
to see that it had been done correctly. If so, we'd then polish off the
color and carbon with emery paper -- heat treated steel! If you really
wanted to make your own sway bar for your truck I'll bet a local industrial
arts teacher or community college could help. The steel stock would be
pretty cheap, but you'd need to be able to bend it to the correct size and
shape before heat treating it as well. I'm going to try to find a used one!
Alan
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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