-----Original Message----- From: jtrealtywebspannet [mailto:jtrealty@xxxx] Sent: 06 December 2001 15:05 To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [DML] Re: Torsion Bars NEVER try to switch side to side. As the moderater points out even though they physically can fit either side they are NOT interchangeable. I have not seen enough broken torsion bars to say with certainty but I suspect there are two main reasons that the bars break. The first is from people adjusting them without enough experience. The second is because the bar passes so close to the rear hinge it can scratch it. Whenever I adjust torsion bars I place a scrap of an old inner tube (rubber) between the bar and the rear hinge. On my car I have pieces glued in so the torsion bar cannot touch the hinge. Especially when adjusting the bars they can move around and touch the hinge. This is how one broke on me. Fortunatly the door was closed at the time and it was a right side bar. Never go near the torsion bar with anything metallic except at the end to adjust it. A very good idea would be to cover the torsion bar with a heat-shrink tube and put a nice warning label on it saying part under extreme stress and not to touch it without taking proper precautions. If the supply of torsion bars is depleted and cannot be resourced it might be possible to go to a two strut system with stronger struts. Or maybe something like the Bricklin? David Teitelbaum vin 10757 --- In dmcnews@xxxx, "Walter" <Whalt@xxxx> wrote: > > [moderators note: > The bars are made to twist in one direction based on which side of the car they're designed for. That's the reason they use a different configuration for each side's retaining bracket. They were imersed in liquid nitrogen and then when they reached a specfic temperature they were given a specific number of twists in a direction dependent on which side of the car they were to be for. This lined the molocules up in a manner that allowed the exteme twisting that they do. Unique equipment was used to do this and if this equipment has been scrapped then this will become a very expensive project to replace them.] > > > I have never compared a RH & LH torsion bar side by side, but aren't they > pretty much identical except for the front end where they fit into the > hinges? If this is so, then couldn't a RH torsion bar be used on the left > side if a custom hinge were made to take it? This would be cheaper than > having new torsion bars custom made. Though if it worked, then it would > deplete the supply of RH torsion bars and then we would be forced to have To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderator@xxxx To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/