Torsion bar adjustments

Hi Gents,
In order to adjust the torsion bars, the Hayes manual suggests to remove wheel, disconnect tie rod, upper ball joint, lower wishbone, anti roll bar, etc.
Is all this really necessary?
I can see the roll bar and damper needs to be removed/loosend.
Any comments will much appreciated.
Regards
Chris

Yes.
bjs;AWBFijkwo;gbiwke;oā€™eigk

1 Like

Hi Chrisā€¦for a S1 or S2ā€¦there isnt an actual adjuster so the torsian bar has to be removed and repositionedā€¦a setting link has to be positioned in place of the damper to give the correct height dependant on you car modelā€¦the procedure in the Jaguar service manual if followed is correctā€¦i think the Haynes is a copy of thisā€¦dont be tempted to use a hammer at any point ā€¦it shouldnt be neededā€¦read the procedure carefully before you startā€¦there is a lot of tension to be released so proceed with cautionā€¦ Steve

Thanks Gents,
Much appreciated.
I have done it once before on my first E Type.
Regards
Chris
Cape Town

Just curious, is the S3 adjustable? Iā€™ve never been under one.

Hi Benā€¦there is a cam adjuster on each front lower wishboneā€¦Steve

Interesting. Never having seen them, I wonder if anyone has attempted to adapt them to the earlier cars?

Ford added a fair amount of adjustability to the ā€˜67-ā€˜68 Mustangā€™s front suspension, and a bit of clever adaptation makes most of it also useable on the ā€˜65-ā€˜66 cars.

OEMs donā€™t usually throw the baby out with the bath water, so their ā€œupgradesā€ are often backward compatible.

Ben,

The XKs (120, 140, 150) all had adjustable torsion bars. The Series 1 E-Type broke the mould. Not sure why, but maybe there just wasnā€™t the space to do it (the XKs all had chassis frames). Then they found a way to do it on the Series 3 E-Types.

ā€œā€¦The XKs (120, 140, 150) all had adjustable torsion bars. The Series 1 E-Type broke the mould. Not sure why, but maybe there just wasnā€™t the space to do it (the XKs all had chassis frames)ā€¦ā€

I think thatā€™s the real reason. The reaction plate serves as a kind of remote chassis member. As far as earlier cars having adjustable TB devices, my 1954 Riley RME had an adjustable device and it worked damned well too, but it also had a full chassis.

Iā€™d love to see an engineering treatise on the E-Typeā€™s torsion bar system. The cross-bar at the trans has got to be under a lot of pressure/torque while holding the front of the car up.

Evolution:
Top Mk V+XK120-150
Middle E S1+S2
Bottom E S3


Torsion%20bars%20S1_S2
Torsion%20bars%20S3

XKā€™s has an adjustable torsion bar reaction plate. Has anyone installed one and can comment on how well it works?
xks.com/i-6917232-jaguar-e-type-adjustable-torsion-reaction-plate-17-1524.html?ref=search:ht

Mark,

Quite a few accounts of various adjustable reaction plate options (including XKs) in the archives.