celt69

Noticed today while chasing a small water leak that the passenger front was sitting a little low compared to the driver's side. I made a snap decision to crank up the torsion bar (clockwise) and seems to have levelled things out but hard to tell in my small garage (go for a drive tomorrow). I measured as per service manual and the passenger side indeed now sits higher than the driver yet measuring from bottom of fender to floor through the centre of the wheel says the passenger front still sits approx. 1/2 inch lower than the driver side. Never had a torsion bar car before so I understand I may have impacted alignment (not too worried as tires need to be replaced - 14" for 15" to do a front disc conversion this winter).

Thoughts on why I may still have some sag here, worn out torsion bar? Thanks in advance for my daily dose of advise! Seems I drive the car an hour and then spend a day repairing all the gremlins that reveal themselves...still looking for the water drip

moe7404

what you have is the heater valve leeking rusting out the torsion bar support. it will bang the ground soon. the fix is remove the heater valve and get an aftermarket one OUTSIDE the intereir. and fix the frame.

celt69

No rust on the frame or torsion bar support at all Moe, car has probably not had a heater in it for 30 plus years. No rust underneath the car at all (re-purposed ex-drag car).

moe7404

sounds like you are ok like that. it may be that the torsion bar gets weak.

Drag Pak

celt69

Get someone of similar weight to you to sit in the drivers seat and then measure ride height to the fender well lip through the center of the rim.

Iowan

Center of wheel to ground will affect this also, tire size, are presser etc. must be the same. I'd be checking the rest of the front suspension and the rear springs as well.

Archer

celt -

With cars that old you can use the service manual specs for a door stop. Metal fatigue, distortion, blown bushings, and possible previous damage all take a toll. You're going to have set the torsion bar height by eye, then get an alignment and deal with it.

Archer

celt69

I will try that, should provide some useful information. I have my battery trunk mounted, maybe contributing somewhat?

celt69

kind of what I was thinking too Archer