Torsion bars through the body?

[RobW]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm installing my suspension this week and have been toying with the idea of putting a hole in the body to pull and index the torsion bars more easily both now and in the future. Just wondering if anyone had any tricks/tips that might help me in my adventure.

 

Here's the process as I understand it (and as Tim Comeau was nice enough to walk me through over the phone last night)

 

1) Drill an adequately sized hole in bodywork (I was going to use a holesaw. Thought a dremel might work too. Any recomendations?)

2) Cut off the top of the torsion bar cap about 1/8" in. (Sawzall was mentioned but I was thinking angle grinder + cutoff wheel. seems like it might be more clean/straight)

3) Drill a hole in the torsion bar, tap, and insert appropriate bolt

4) Use bolt with slide hammer to remove bars.

 

Now I'm putting in 31mm hollow bars.. I was thinking I would just tap out the existing 'hollow' in the center and put a big ol' bolt on that if/when I need to remove the bars to re-index. Should I have reservations doing that? Any other ideas?

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Cross posting this on rennlist for fun.

[Chuck T.]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm installing my suspension this week and have been toying with the idea of putting a hole in the body to pull and index the torsion bars more easily both now and in the future. Just wondering if anyone had any tricks/tips that might help me in my adventure.

 

Here's the process as I understand it (and as Tim Comeau was nice enough to walk me through over the phone last night)

 

1) Drill an adequately sized hole in bodywork (I was going to use a holesaw. Thought a dremel might work too. Any recomendations?)

2) Cut off the top of the torsion bar cap about 1/8" in. (Sawzall was mentioned but I was thinking angle grinder + cutoff wheel. seems like it might be more clean/straight)

3) Drill a hole in the torsion bar, tap, and insert appropriate bolt

4) Use bolt with slide hammer to remove bars.

 

Now I'm putting in 31mm hollow bars.. I was thinking I would just tap out the existing 'hollow' in the center and put a big ol' bolt on that if/when I need to remove the bars to re-index. Should I have reservations doing that? Any other ideas?

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Cross posting this on rennlist for fun.

 

1) thats fine but after you install the bars the first time you never need to remove them from the car ... with the torsion bar housing installed you can remove the bar enough without going through the body work.

 

2) no no no ... after you remove the swing arm just knock the end out of the swing arm I use a 1/2" extension and one tap of a hammer the end car pops right off. or are you saying you never need to drop the housing out of the car if you cut the ends off?

 

3) that will work . i get a little tab welded on the end of the bars.

 

4) if you wiggle the rear wheel up and down you can pull the bar out by finger tip. (this worked on all but one car , the bad one took a screw driver then a good pull)