Re: [DMCForum] Door Torsion Bar Torque Value

["Walter Coe" <Whalt@xxxxxxx>]

Scott,

I'm not surprised that twinengine Rick came up with a torque
for this.  :-)  It would be useful to know for engineering
purposes, but I doubt it would be of any benefit for
adjusting the door.

When I adjust a door, I often find that it only needs to be
moved one spline.  And this is often too much.  Adding a
torque wrench to the adjustment process would only make it
more precarious.

In the situation where I am trying to find the proper
torsion from scratch, I always use a felt tip pen to draw a
line across the end of the bar & retaining plate BEFORE
taking it apart.  This gives me a point of reference.  If I
didn't have these marks, I still wouldn't use a torque
wrench.  Instead, I would have someone hold the door open
(and push it down slightly) while I put the retaining plate
on & bolt it down.

On many cars, there are already lines drawn on there from
previous adjustments.  This helps give a reference for what
had been done in the past.

My preference is to adjust the torsion bar with the door
fully open.  Otherwise it requires a lot more effort from
the poor sucker who has to hold it in place.  From
experience, I've learned to always keep some extra bolts
handy.  Often they come out stripped from the previous
mechanic who didn't do things properly.

And before you adjust any torsion bar, make sure that the
subpanel hasn't come unglued from the fiberglass underbody.
If it isn't already screwed or riveted down, chances are
that it should be.  Even if you do see that it is repaired,
inspect to be sure that it was done properly.  I fixed one
car that had the plate riveted down, but it was still 1/4"
too high!  Some people!

Walt

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