[DML] Re: Roof support repair, was Torsion bars removed.

["twinenginedmc12" <twinenginedmc12@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Wilhelm.

Yup, I think working on the car is fun too.  I know how you feel 
about the rusty screws and the rusty edge on the roof support.  I'm 
glad all my rusty fasteners are replaced, and that I repaired the 
roof support.

To remove the roof support, the headliner on the inside of the car 
needs to be removed, as well as the doors.  If you have a good 
headliner, and don't want to replace it, that might be a factor in 
deciding to remove the roof support.

If you decide to remove the roof support, I can offer the following 
experience.  It takes a few days.
The doors are heavy.  They weigh about 60kg.  It takes two people to 
install them, but if you are strong, you can remove them alone, 
though two people is better.

David Teitelbaum's warnings are all good ones.  I won't repeat them, 
but I feel they should be followed.  I would add this warning:  If a 
badly supported door fell closed, and your arm was in the way, I 
think it would break.  If a finger was in the way in a bad place, I 
think it would be cut off.  I made a conscious effort to keep my body 
parts out of the way.


To remove a door, assuming your t panel is off and the torsion bars 
are removed:

Remove the brackets attached to the roof support (the wiring 
harnesses for the doors go through them)
Remove the cover of the hole in the roof support.
Disconnect the connectors.
With the door open, and supported safely, pull the unconnected door 
wiring out of the roof support. 

Before unbolting the hinges, decide where you want to put the doors, 
so you can move them immediately from the car to the storage 
location, to minimize the risk of damage.

Unbolt the hinges, saving the easiest to remove nut on each hinge for 
last. Figure out which nut is easiest as you go.  Before removing the 
last nut on each hinge, lower the door as far as you can so it has 
less far to fall if you lose control of it.  It's helpful to have a 
helper hold the door at this stage.  If your helper is holding onto 
the heavy part of the door while you remove the last hinge nuts, it 
should go smoothly.  If you lose control of the door, remember it's 
only a car door.  Don't do anything risky to catch it.  You can buy a 
new one.  

The hinges may have spacers under them, which set the height of the 
doors when installed.  Keep track of which ones were where.  They 
have to go back there later.  Mine were rusty, and needed to be 
cleaned.  

After the doors are removed and stored away, you can remove the roof 
support.

Inside the car are six 10mm bolts that go through the fiberglass 
underbody into the bottom of the roof support.  Remove them.  There 
may be some pther small screws holding the roof support onto the 
fiberglass underbody, if I remember correctly.  At this point, I 
believe the only thing holding the roof support to the fiberglass 
will be the any parts in the way, sealant, and the wiring.  It should 
be clear how to remove it at this point.  

After I removed my roof support, I took it and the hinges to a 
friend, who sandblasted them to get rid of all the rust.  Then I 
carefully cleaned and repainted them to protect them.  I intend to 
never drive my car in the rain, having seen what it can do.  I feel 
very good about the job I did.  It's a shame no one ever gets to see 
it because it's hidden.



Installation is the reverse of removal.  While I installed each piece 
of the roof support, I put a lot of sealer underneath, between, 
everywhere I thought it might help keep out water.  

When you install the doors, don't tighten all of the nuts just yet.  
Leave them loose enough to move the door around to adjust the fit.  
Are the spacers under the hinges back where they came from?

There is one subtle thing when installing and aligning the doors.  
You may have noticed that the doors have a slightly different shape 
with the torsion bars and struts removed.  That's because the doors 
are so heavy, their weight bends the door a little bit when they are 
held up by the torsion bars.  If you can't seem to get the doors 
perfectly aligned without the torsion bars, this might be why.

Try to align the door as well as you can before installing the 
torsion bars, but remember that you might have to have the torsion 
bars installed to align the doors the last little bit.  I had to do 
this.  Be careful not to smack the torsion bars with tools if you do.
Aligning the doors took me several hours.


About the dents in your torsion bars.  A very smart metallurgist 
recommended to me that I sand down the the dents in my torsion bars.  
The dents concentrate stress, and make it more likely the torsion bar 
will break.  I sanded my torsion bars down just enough to remove my 
dents, which were about .1mm deep.  I made sure to sand a wide area, 
to spread the stress over a longer section of the torsion bar.  Then 
I polished the whole surface with 1600 grit wet sand paper.  I 
figured out that the surface stress on the torsion bars is 96000 psi, 
which is a lot.  It's remarkable to me they even work, let alone work 
over and over again.


Have fun.

Rick Gendreau. 11472





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