Re: Torsion Bars reversed? / Extra strong struts

[Jan van de Wouw <jvdwouw@xxxx>]

[Moderator's note: Obviously Jan has a point, I did feel the thread should have ended but a couple of late posts looked like they could make interesting discussion. I will end it now with the exception of allowing Toby one last response if he elects to do that.] 



Obiously the moderator has changed his mind and this thread isn't closed,
it has to be since Tobys' response did get through...
In that case I think this message should go through too...

Toby wrote;

> Sorry guys, but I don't agree. If you swap the bars end-for-end at
> the same time you swap sides, the actuation direction would be
> correct. 
[snip]
> not suggesting that this is practical, but it is possible.

Toby,

I hate to get personal, but it REALLY ISN'T POSSIBLE!
Lets make a comparison with bolts since you obiously DO understand those.

If you take a normally threaded bolt (right-turning, or whatever the correct
English term is) you have to turn the nut clockwise to tighten it.
If you flip this over you het the head of your bolt at the end where you put
your wrench. Do you have to turn the other way to tighten it?
NO, you're still going to have to turn it clockwise and there is NO way to
alter this without re-threading the bolt AND nut to become left-turning.

Now, I am no mechanic or engineer or something like that, but to me it is
really clear thet there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to reverse the Torsion Bars
WHILE keeping the retention bracket at the rear of the door...
The ONLY way to get a RH bar to work on the LH door is to reverse the
COMPLETE setup; the front RH hinge would become the rear LH hinge and the
retention bracket would be above the windshield.

If anyone can PROVE me wrong, I'll gladly take this back,
but I'm 99,99% sure no one can anyway.

An even simpler conclusion can be made by the fact that we actually DO have
a LH and RH Torsion Bar. Don't you think it would have been a LOT cheaper to
have only ONE sort of this item instead of two?
If it had been possible to do so, I'm convinced they would have designed the
system so that you could use the bar on either side of the car; it would
just have splines on either end and the hinges and retention brackets would
all have the same splines in them too...

Now lets PLEASE close the Torsion Bar Reversal Thread...

I would like to make one last comment on the idea of stronger or double
struts; you'd have to exert MUCH more force on the door to get it up and
opening since there simply isn't enough leverage for the strut to push up
the door in the initial travel.
They didn't put in a Torsion Bar AND a strut for nothing; they both have
their own section of the doors' travel in which they are active.

Torqueing the bars so they completely open without the struts just puts more
stress on both the bars and the doors, hinges and body, especially with the
doors closed.

As I said; I'm no expert, but that doesn't mean I can't know what I'm
talking about. Nether does being an expert mean that you're allways right.

Now let's please talk about something else...

JAN van de Wouw
Thinking Different... Using a Mac...
Living the Dream... Driving a DeLorean...

#05141 "Dagger" since Sept. 2000

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