The trouble with the FF Torsion bars...

[LSM360]

Dang Dariusz sorry you're having a problem! I know it's frustrating. I had no problems (out of the ordinary, unexpected) installing my FF bars. I think FF will make it right and fairly quickly if you decide on getting a new bar from them.

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

Guys!

Thanks for the feedback. So far no email response from Frank, but it's only been a couple of business days and hard to expect something over the weekend.

So for now I'll give him a couple more days, but ideally I'd like to have a plan by the time I'm heading into this weekend.

I agree that it is worthwhile to at least take down the coating. My idea literally was to replicate a final crank-polish procedure here, as in: get some rough emery cloth and wrap it around the bar, and off I go turning that thing with a rope until I start seeing some material being removed.

Most likely I'd start with something rougher and leave myself at most a couple 0.001" to finish up with a fine cloth to really smooth the larger scratch marks from the rougher paper.

That's about the extent of DIY that I can imagine here.

In fact I'd be happy to just give it a "go", but would prefer to have FF's feedback first and at least a tacit approval to try this. Otherwise, heck, I need them to take the bar for a re-do, or pay someone locally to give me a machine version of what I described above.

 

[Camtron]

Had a thought; what about a paint thickness magnet/meter? Would be a quick way to see if it is just a thick build of powder coat on the one bar compared to the other.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

Yeah I'd gauge it before trying to remove it. It could be a huge waste of time trying to sand it or melt it off only to find the bar is machined wrong.

Edit: or just knick it with a razor blade and see how thick it seems

 

[Duke5A]

Seriously, it's not going to hurt it.

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

Gents!

Alright...I got a call back from Dick which I actually missed when it came in, but he wasn't shy leaving an extended vm.

The short of it is: after discussing and tossing ideas around at the shop they think this may be a buildup of powdercoating on the bar and advised me to simply sand it down.

Further on, he stated that there should be no heat-treat concerns here because at that section the bar is nearly fully heat-treated through, on the account of the fact that the flattened section of the bar make for a smaller depth the treating would have to penetrate.

Sooo....alright...out come out the abbrasive tools and I'll report back with some (hopefully) good news over the next couple of days!

 

[LSM360]

Hurry up, I don't feel like waiting!!!!

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

Hurry up, I don't feel like waiting!!!!

Larry!

I wish I had better news...but NOPE...that paint coating was at best 0.005"...so yeah, the t-bar is pooched!!!

Tried two things:

1) a DIY belt-sander kind of a thing, but my God...even with a strip of 150 grit paper barely anything is coming off

2) I put a tootsie roll inside the end-brackets hoping that I could maybe clearance a little bit here, a little bit there...nah...barely anything getting taken off, that was a 120 grit wheel

I'm very very angry...I have to be honest...! (thanks for letting me vent guys)

 

[AMC Diplomat]

Larry!

I wish I had better news...but NOPE...that paint coating was at best 0.005"...so yeah, the t-bar is pooched!!!

Tried two things:

1) a DIY belt-sander kind of a thing, but my God...even with a strip of 150 grit paper barely anything is coming off

2) I put a tootsie roll inside the end-brackets hoping that I could maybe clearance a little bit here, a little bit there...nah...barely anything getting taken off, that was a 120 grit wheel

I'm very very angry...I have to be honest...! (thanks for letting me vent guys)

Yeah the idea of a powder coating suddenly increasing in thickness in one area many times beyond normal was a little ludicrous.

A machine shop can mill the end round within spec. The rounder you leave it the easier you'll make it for them

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

Alright, so good news after all. My trusty shop was able to put this bar on their belt-sander and remove the high sides.

Take a look at the attached pics, these show the differences after I had spent a couple of hours trying to manually sand the high spots down. After this, the bar went on the belt-sander.

 

[LSM360]

Glad you were able to remove the high sides! Grrrrr, cars and their frustrations sometimes!

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

...Grrrrr, cars and their frustrations sometimes!

LOL...you'd think I would have known this by heart at this point in time, eh?!

Anyways...I'll give the paint a couple of days to cure, tossed 3 primer and 3 top finish coats...not that I'm looking to completely take up any clearance between the bar and the end-bushing, but I'd rather have these two parts tight as opposed to loose in this particular application.

After this all I have to figure out is which bar goes where...they are different after all, so I'm thinking a quick trial fit will answer that question...

 

[Duke5A]

LOL...you'd think I would have known this by heart at this point in time, eh?!

Anyways...I'll give the paint a couple of days to cure, tossed 3 primer and 3 top finish coats...not that I'm looking to completely take up any clearance between the bar and the end-bushing, but I'd rather have these two parts tight as opposed to loose in this particular application.

After this all I have to figure out is which bar goes where...they are different after all, so I'm thinking a quick trial fit will answer that question...

I remember mine being stamped L and R. I could be wrong though.

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

I remember mine being stamped L and R. I could be wrong though.

Mark,

I've got 527L and 526R on the factory bars, but the FF stuff only has their logo and a square imprint.

Having a closer look at what their website shows, it would appear that in that 'square' there should be either a R or L to indicate which side.

LOL...I swear I feel like I ended up with the pre-pre-pre production set of bars!!!!

 

[Ark]

Man that is a lot of, uh, "thick powder coat" to remove. Pretty disappointing to have a part so out of spec when it's priced like it's made out of solid gold now.

Another thing I wish I'd bought a decade ago for half the price...

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

Alright...great news: the t-bars are IN!!!

yey....

I will have some pics later on, I got done with these late last night, but this is all standard stuff, so other than being 'pretty & clean' not much else here...haven't gone through the whole ride-height setup yet, need to clean-up my rims and probably give 'em a little "spit & polish" first.

Overall though, I am curious as to the feel this change brings to the car.

What was a little strange is that the pass side bar had a bit of a problem going in, meaning: per the FSM, I had brought up the LCA to the ride height and there was no way to get the frame anchor into the spot while starting with the bar bushing being located in the LCA. Took a little pushing here and there and the bar got seated, but I had to drop the LCA low, as low as it would go first.

I did think that maybe I had my frame anchor in the wrong spot (clocked incorrectly), but double and triple checking it showed it being right.

In the end I toss this up to "old car, stuff has shifted, heck, maybe it is starting to shift on me again???" (yeah, I know, it shouldn't...but here we are)

 

[DCAspen]

Great news you were able to get it fixed

 

[Duke5A]

Those bars clock in 60 degree increments. It's physically impossible to clock them wrong on assembly. Don't worry. I was worried about the same thing when I installed mine and tried different positions. Just wouldn't go together.

 

[Aspen500]

Those bars clock in 60 degree increments. It's physically impossible to clock them wrong on assembly. Don't worry. I was worried about the same thing when I installed mine and tried different positions. Just wouldn't go together.

Ditto. I have one original bar, and one new Mopar bar. It was pretty much the same deal going together as I recall. Move everything around until it all lined up, trying not to scratch anything at the same time.

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

OK, so final report on my part (oh wait, pics...yup, one more after this one lol).

I set the ride height, the coupe does have a bit of a rake to it b/c the fronts are 235/60-15 while the rears are 275/60-15s and I aim for approximately the same amount of 'space between the tire and fender lip'. So this means per factory specs, as opposed to being at 2-7/8", I have 3.5".

So here is the thing...this took quite a bit of trial & error cycles, basically I inched up on this so as not to overshoot the goal. That meant each time I would make an adjustment I would give it a nice jounce...and that's really what my last remark is about: the jounce resistance doesn't really seem all that steep, or perhaps that much stiffer as compared to the OEM bars.

These FF bars are supposed to be nearly 2x the rate though, I think 330lbs vs 160-180???

For those of you who did this move: is that what you found as well, but the actual ride was much different?

I'm just a little suprised by this, that's all...