I am about to drop the engine out of the chassis I am disassembling and I need to remove the tie plate between the ends of the torsion bars. After I get the engine out I will then want to finish disassembling the front frames from the back half of the chassis.
So I want to take the tension out of the torsion bars so I can easily remove the tie plate that sits between the engine oil pan and the bellhousing. What is the best way to loosen the tension out of the torsion bars? It’s been quite a few years since I dropped the engine out of a E-Type so my memory of how to do this is a little vague.
Remove the shock, unbolt the sway bar and split the control arms permit the lower arm to drop to the fully unsprung position. Place a jack under it and lift it about 1/16" just to take the weight of the suspension and brake caliper weight off it.
Now you can loosen the 2 bolts from the rear of the torsion bar and slip them out. The last thing to remove is the tiny lock bolt that passes through the front splines on the bar. Depending on the orientation of the bolt you may have to lift the arm so it clears the frame.
Now set the jack so the lower control arm points out 90 degrees to the side, and use a small drift to tap the bar back until it disengages from the arm and the rear bracket.
The procedure Erica described is much easier than trying to use the pins as described in the manual. I figured that out in PI (pre internet) days when I followed the manual the first time I removed the engine. When I eventually got around to rebuilding the front suspension I realized how much easier it was to just split the ball joints.