After having resolved my charging issue I felt I needed bigger challenges
The car was sitting way too low and the pipes scraping the road at the slightest bump.
Started on the RH side, everything went quite well. Adjusted one tooth at the front. So far so good.
LH side turned out to be a nightmare. With all my power I wasnât able to drive it back home all the way. Either the bar is bent or the front and back holes do not align properly. When the bar is inserted in the rear it needs to pushed towards the outside to go into the front hole.
Any ideas/recommendations on how to tackle this problem?
Adrian this really isnât the way to adjust these, just rotating by a tooth. Itâs completely random. Have you read the manual page on this job? Itâs quite a bit more deterministic. There is a standard setting span of 17 13/16. That may be correct for your car and bars or may not be but itâs a starting point. If after trying it there you find itâs too high/low or imbalanced, then you open it back up again and you increase or decrease the span that is high or low and then reset it from there.
If you poke with the rear part and the holes donât line up perfectly at the new span, then you gently pull the front splines out and you rotate the bar in the direction the end piece needs to travel to make the holes align perfectly. If the holes were way out, maybe rotate 3 splines to save time. If they go in but are badly canted to the side, rotate two splines. If theyâre just a hair out rotate just one spline.
The main complication to this otherwise straightforward process is that with the control arm hanging all the way down at the point where the span is supposed to be set, itâs almost impossible to get the bar in or out because the front and rear holes are completely out of alignment. This is further complicated by the fact that the bars bend and twist over years.
So the trick is to do your measuring with the arm hanging down and the insertion/removal with the control arm pointed straight out to the side so the holes are in perfect alignment. In this position the bar pretty much just slips in. It doesnât have to go all the way in while youâre in the process of trying to align the rear holes. Youâll be pulling it in and out and jacking the arm several times trying to make it perfect so just engage the spines lightly. Once you know the final position then tap it in fully.
Done right this job doesnât require a BFH, just a little 1 pounder. Maybe not even that.
I have never had any trouble sliding the bar into front and rear holes but I have always had the ball joint disconnected allowing me to rotate the raise/lower the lower wishbone to whatever position is required to make the holes align properly and then slide the bar in place. I hope that makes sense?
The front hole, in the lower wishbone, travels in an arc as the wishbone moves up and down. I have found that the lower wishbone needs to be roughly horizontal in order for the two holes to line up.
HTH
Craig
Oops! I just saw Ericaâs much more comprehensive reply.
Well, I have to admit I donât have the manual. But I have read on this forum that other have adjusted their ride height by just adding one tooth. And yes, I read as well that that might end up beeing too high and they had to adjust one tooth in the back. Which unfortunately is the case here too with the car sitting too high now. But I thought I might give it a try.
So thatâs why I was looking for some education before going through the whole ordeal again.
I see the point of the front and rear holes being out of alignment vertically with a swinging wishbone. But to me it looks like mine is not aligned horizontally.
With the control arm horizontal the holes are as aligned as theyâre going to get unfortunately and they are quite close to perfectly aligned unless the bar is severely bent.
Thanks for your hints. Doing it the right way wasnât too bad actuallyâŚ
Car sits at the correct height again so no more worries about speed bumps or steep driveways.
Looks to me as if you just need to adjust the existing torsion bars. New bars in and of themselves will not level the car. Itâs all up to the adjustment of whatever bars you are using.
Just new rubber. I received the car from a ârestorationâ in 2006 which I found to be lacking in some areas. One was little to no oil in the gear box!! The other was itâs âstanceâ which was brought to my attention by a gent who offered to buy the car right after I picked it up in the summer of 2006.
I have since unearthed some pictures that indicate the IRS had previously been out of the car, but unknown if rubber bushings were replaced. Right after my first (and only so far) Oil Leak tour is when I decided to refresh the IRS. No new springs, just dampers and bushings. A few other early picsâŚ
And I agree that all I need to do is adjust the existing torsion bars, however I decided to replace them because all indicators point to their originality and I donât want to get it all taken apart only to find that they are somewhat out of shape. I will also be putting new rubber bushings up front on control arms etc etcâŚand be ready to rip around with you guys on a fresh suspension!
so no more worries about speed bumps or steep driveways.
