pshawww......

it was supposed to be my vacation week, but i decided to get sick. after i started feeling better this afternoon, i couldn't lay around and do nothing. i HAD to start working on reindexing the torsion bars like i've been planning on.

after less than 2 hours i had the passenger side torsion bar completely out. and this was working slow, taking my time and doing lots of thinking. i used this procedure by Chuck Moreland, plus an impact wrench helps speed things up.

now i just need the weltmeister bushings and i'll be ready to reindex and reinstall.

a couple pics:

 

Lol. Taking it off the FIRST time isnt the hard part. Its the frustration involved with taking them apart several times to get the perfect ride hide, which really makes you go nuts.

 

yea, we'll see how easy i think it is after i've tried three times to get the ride height just right. but i did mark the angle of the spring plate, hoping that will allow me to line it up correctly when reinstalling the bars.

 

Youre only lowering the car, not getting bigger torsion bars, right?

 

i'm lowering AND reindexing to accomodate the rear KLA coilovers i've been using. i figure it needs to come down about 1 1/2" to be about right.

i'll probably be eating my words in about 3 days.........

EDIT - I'm using paragon's ride height measurement to calculate my reindex. if i read this correctly, i should move the spring plate 1 spline CLOCKWISE relative to the passenger side torsion bar, and the torsion bar 1 spline COUNTERCLOCKWISE on the passenger side to equal 0.8 degrees of lowering, or about 1/4" of lowering. does this sound correct?

 

Oh, if you follow the procedure everything will go well. Im pretty sure people have to redo it only when they actually CHANGE torsion bars.

Good luck! That S is really starting to come along. Me likey.

 

Joseph, I agree this job is not as tough as it is reputed to be. Most experienced DIYers can knock this out by following this thread

But it is a fairly big job that you sure wouldn't want to repeat in the near future. My advise is to do it once, and do it right - use the best replacement parts available and you won't have regrets. You are likely to find the Weltmeister bushings dissappoint. They are well known to squeak and create a harsh ride quality.

This is truly one of those jobs that the cost is in the labor, so going cheap on the replacement bushings is penny-wise pound-foolish.

 

Chuck,
as much as i would love to have spherical bushings, it's not in the budget. especially for a part street/part track car. i feel this is doing it right the first time. the weltmeister bushings are cheaper than delrin and will be a nice upgrade compared to the original stock bushings. i'm not too concerned about ride quality, and since i'm doing the labor it's free

 

I would strongly recommend against the weltmeister poly bushings. They are a very poor product and I would keep the original rubber spring plate bushing before installing the weltmeister replacements.

The problem I had with the set I purchased, they had to much slop and did not fit tight within the torsion bar tube, within the end carriers, or over the spring plate end caps. So once installed, there was more movement in the suspension than with the original rubber. I threw them out and put in Delrin.

As mentioned above, dont wast your time on this job. Do it right the first time.

 

Just got my 28mm tbars delivered last week along with all the front strut replacements and springs. I will be doing the new install over the next few months. I was going to go for the Welts but went with the Delrins.

Chuck, your link doesn't work.

 

I have welt ploy bushings in my race car. They work find except they squeak like hell!.

, but in race car I really don't care.

 

Okay, stupid question time.
Did you find the bushings needed replacement? How could you tell?...
I am planning to have the torsion bars out on my car in the not-too-distant future, and I wonder if I should pre-order the delrin bushings to replace them with?
How do the original stock rubber bushings hold up? Maybe I should replace with those.

 

oddjob - thanks for the tip but the bushings are already on their way. i'll see how bad it is when i actually install them this week.

M758 - does it help to have bushing grease to keep them from squeeking?

Zero10 - i thought seriously about leaving the original bushings and just reinstalling the bars. but then i thought they may be torn up, and since i was doing this job and only want to do it once, why not just go ahead and replace the bushings while i'm at it. they're cheap and should make the car handle a bit better. apparently a lot of people don't like them (see above) so we'll see what my experience is once they go on.

 

Just an FYI, I installed these bushings in a *really* light car (track 914 ~1900lbs) and probably would not do it again no matter what car. First they required a lot of modifying/sanding to fit properly. I also greased them thoroughly but did not add a grease fitting (probably would have helped). After a few track days they started squeaking horribly and I thought "Oh well, it's a track car." Problem was, my car was so light that eventually the "stiction" from the bushings was greater than the car's weight! That means the bushing would actually bind the suspension until you pushed down on the fender or hit a bump, and then with a sudden POP it would free up again!

Just my .0914 cents

 

Joseph, there are no spherical bearings available for the spring plate.

There are 3 products on the market;

- Polyurethane bushings, these fit poorly, squeak like hell, cause poor ride quality and high friction in the suspension
- Delrin bushings, they are made from a different polymer but are essentially the same as polyurethane bushings. Slightly less inclined to squeak but the fundamental problems remain.
- Polybronze bearings, a rigid bearing wrapped in a polyurethane jacket. Silent operation, smooth movement, excellent ride quality.

The fundemental problem with polyurethane, delrin or any plastic bushings starts with the car. The springs plates, covers and torsion tubes are all built to loose tolerances. That means that a plastic bushings, no matter how well made is guaranteed to fit poorly on most cars. Too tight and the suspension binds, too loose and you have slop.

Worse yet, any irregularities in the car parts will deform plastic bushings forcing them to be out of round. The torsion tubes in particular are subject to bits of welding spatter and buildup of hard rubber deposits from the OEM bushings creating irregularities. The result is pinching and binding.

The only way to deal with these plastic bushing issues is to manufacture the bushings too tight, then have the installer remove material to acheive a custom fit. Unfortunately, this isn't easily done and most well-intentioned installers do more harm than good.

Polybronze takes a different approach using a rigid core that is a precisely machined bearing. The bearing is mated to the loose tolerances of the car parts using a polyurethane jacket and shims. The rigid bearing at the core is not affected by size variations or surface irregularities of the car parts.

I fixed the link in my post above to the spring plate/torsion bar replacement thread.

As far as DIY labor being free.... well I guess I never see it that way. You may not be out-of-pocket for cash, but the time you spend repeating this job could be spent making some other improvements to your car. Or doing some other fun or worthwhile thing. But hey, it's your time