[Ryan]

Anybody get the 9magazine online? Article shows guy carving a 3" hole in the side of a 944 in order to access the torsion bar cover without dropping the whole rear end. I could not see hacking my car up to do this easy method, but then I realized that under the rocker covers of the 968, the area that needs to be removed...is already gone.



This really would make changing or reindexing much much easier



   

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[flash]

lol- i was just telling somebody about that earlier today



glad somebody is reading the magazine

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[PorscheDude]

Not a bad way to save hours upon hours of renidexing.

Just be sure to put some kind primer or rust prevention on the exposed metal, after the cut.

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[flash]

by the way - the magazine is a free download

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[Ryan]

since you have a threaded hole in the end of the bar, you could screw on a cap to keep out the moisture I quess.

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[flash]

rubber cap should do the trick - home depot

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[wjk_glynn]

Just an FYI that Chuck Moreland (Elephant Racing) has been able to reindex torsion bars on a 944 without dropping the entire assembly.

See http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/show...ad.php?t=147541 for more details.

Karl.

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[Cloud9...68]

For us dummies out here, could somebody in a few sentences please explain what torsion bar indexing means, when it needs to be done, what it accomplishes, etc.? Thanks!

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[flash]

yeah - it can be done - i've done it myself - however, by doing it the way they did it in the magazine, if you were, for example, only changing torsion bars for the purpose of increasing spring rate, and not changing ride height (as we will be doing on the supercharged car soon) you could do it without affecting the rear alignment

doing it the way chuck did it, you are off to the alignment shop for sure - no chance of marking it and resetting it and getting it right either - it takes very little to throw it off - in fact, the rear on mine is very hard to get right, and the slightest movement throws it off

both ways work - i guess it depends on what you want in the end and what you are willing to do to get it

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[Ryan]

First of all a torsion bar is a spring in rod form instead of a coil or leaf. The rod has a different number of indexing splines on each end. By using the different splines or a combination of each side, the ride height can be adjusted in small degrees.

If a 968 is to change spring rate, we need to purchase new torsion bars or add helper springs. The helpers add ride height, so a reindexing would be in order. The addition of new bars require it as well.

Over time the torsion bars can sag. If the sag goes beyound the amount of adjustment built into the cars suspension, you must reindex or replace the bars.

Hope this helps.

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[flash]

yup - it's not dependent on mileage either - there is a VERY low mileage car back east that has its ass practically dragging on the ground - it can happen to all of them

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[Cloud9...68]

<!--quoteo(post=71757:date=May 11 2009, 08:34 AM:name=Ryan)-->QUOTE (Ryan @ May 11 2009, 08:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->First of all a torsion bar is a spring in rod form instead of a coil or leaf. The rod has a different number of indexing splines on each end. By using the different splines or a combination of each side, the ride height can be adjusted in small degrees.

If a 968 is to change spring rate, we need to purchase new torsion bars or add helper springs. The helpers add ride height, so a reindexing would be in order. The addition of new bars require it as well.

Over time the torsion bars can sag. If the sag goes beyound the amount of adjustment built into the cars suspension, you must reindex or replace the bars.

Hope this helps.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thanks, but I'm still not sure I get it. So, it sounds like indexing involves somehow "pre-twisting"(?) the bar in such a way as to get the splines on the bar to line up with a particular set of splines in whatever it is they go into (sorry, I've never seen a torsion bar assembly taken apart, so I'm having some trouble forming a mental picture [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif[/img] ), in order to achieve a desired ride height. But it sounds like the person doing the indexing, or some machine, would have to exert quite a bit of force (torque, actually) to twist the bar to the desired position. Or is the twist generated after the bar is set into its desired splines on both of its ends, and the car is let back down onto the ground?

It sounds like the bottom line is that the torsion bars need to achieve a specific amount of preload for the ride height, and all other elements of the suspension set-up, to be correct. Is this close? And what is it about the job that makes it so difficult? Thanks; sorry for the utter cluelessness...

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[flash]

the latter

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[Cloud9...68]

So what is it that makes the job so time-consuming? The fact that you have to remove the whole rear suspension (unless you cut the holes in the body as is suggested in this thread), or is there a lot of trial and error involved in getting the right setting? Or both?

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[Ryan]

Cloud...there is trial and error involved because you do not see the end results till you lower your car to the ground and measure. If you do not have access to the end of the carrier tube, you have to drop the rear susension every time you make a change in the indexing.

If you look at the magazine article you will see they cut a hole in the 944 body in order to access the end of the carrier tube while it is in the car. When you remove the side cladding on a 968, the hole is already there. Still trial and error involved, but waay less labor and time.

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[Cloud9...68]

Thanks for all the replies to my question - it's starting to make sense to me now. It sounds like there's no downside to cutting the hole to allow access to the end of the carrier tube - sounds like a great idea.

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