Sway-a-way adjustable spring plate questions for install

[SpeedracerIndy]

I have a set of sway-a-way adjustable spring plates that I'm ready to install as soon as I get one stuck torsion bar out of the car .

I have a few questions on them as I'm looking at the install process:

1. The inner bushing (red bushings that came with the plates) don't quite fit into the torsion bar tube on the car. I may be able to force them it with quite a bit of pounding, but shouldn't they slide in with just a bit of resistance? I started sanding one of them to see if I could make it fit, but decided to stop while I seek advice.

2. One of the inner bushings isn't sitting flush on the plate. It looks like there is a blob from one of the welds that is keeping it from sitting flush. Pictures below. Is this a problem, or will it conform to the weld when I bolt everything together?

[Showdown]

Make sure the torsion tube recesses for the fitting is free of debris and rust. Also, try coating the bushing in soap- they need to be extremely tight. You can use the spring plate cover and 4 extra long bolts to snug everything tight incrementally and then replace the long bolts with shorter ones.

Having just gone through adjusting my spring plates after I did so two years ago I’m seriously considering the Rebel racing setup as I never want to deal with rubber bushings again.

Good luck, it’s a crummy and difficult job.

[PeteKz]

The bushings fit with some interference, so you have to force them in. Hammering may or may not work. Another method is to use longer bolts to draw the outer cover into the inner mounts, using plenty of grease and tapping along the way.

I seem to recall that I had poly bushings that were beveled on the inner edge to make space for the weld, and maybe on the outer edge to help get it into the cup and cover. Easy enough to bevel it yourself by grinding or carving some off.

[ADDvanced]

Harder, daddy! Just jam them in, I wouldn't clearance anything. It'll deform if it needs to. Like other suggested, use longer bolts and slowly draw it in. Your cover plate will probably distort a bit too.

[SpeedracerIndy]

Thanks for the responses. A few responses to the comments above:

Torsion tube is clean. I cleaned it with a wire brush pretty well. And I’ve seen the advice for long bolts to draw the bushings in, so will be using that. Good advice on the soap. But I thought the bushing was supposed to NOT bind with the car. I thought it was supposed to bind with the spring plate and slide against the torsion tube in the car.

Yes, the red poly bushings are beveled, but that weld blob is still pushing the busing up a bit. Wondering if I should clean up the weld so it sits flush but I don’t want to remove the anti-corrosion plating on the spring plate.

LOL, thanks for the laugh ADD.

So the bushings are supposed to be tight against the torsion tube? I thought they were supposed to “bond” to the spring plate and able to slide against the body of the car in the torsion tube. And I thought I was supposed to coat the bushings with silicone grease on they will move agains the torsion tube in the car.

[ADDvanced]

Mine were so tight my plate got all bent, and I lubed them where they were supposed to be lubed. They'll rotate even if compressed, the spring plate is a big lever with a lot of weight on it. Just try to get them installed and put the car on the ground, you'll see.

[SpeedracerIndy]

Getting these things installed bit by bit in my free time and have another question.

I have the plates on and t-bars in and indexed. Now I’m ready to install the spring plate covers. I’m wondering what the spacers are for that came with the spring plates. They came with 8 bolts and 8, ~1/2” spacers. What the heck are those for?

[Showdown]

On the stock spring plate covers there is a spacer on the lower rear bolt between the car body and the inside of the spring plate cover but that’s it as far as I know.

[almostordinary]

Here's how I got mine installed, and yes only one spacer on the bottom left, if you're looking directly at the spring plate cover. Wondering if that hardware is longer than stock?

Found My 87 Coupe - So It Begins

[SpeedracerIndy]

Thanks all. I have the spacer for stock set up that I'll use in the bottom right space. As for the spacers included from sway-a-way I'll leave those out and see what happens. The bolts that they included are the same length as the stock bolts, so it's not for those. Documentation on sway-a-way's website for these things is... sparse at best.

[Showdown]

The length of the bolts is irrelevant as the receiving threaded part of the car is hollow behind. It's just a pain to unthread really long bolts later on but there's no reason that you can't just keep the longer bolts that you use to snug the plate into place...

[ADDvanced]

^extra weight :P

[montauk]

I'm thinking about adjust spring plates. The rennlines are a bit more expensive than the sway aways. I see that the rennlines have a locking bolt and an adjustment bolt.

On the sway aways, I see an adjustment bolt but no locking bolt. What locks the sway away?
thanks

[PeteKz]

Same issue with the Rebel Racing and Tarrett spring plates. I use a little blue locktite to keep them from rattling out. However, the spring plate position is held by the big nut and bolt nearest the torsion tube. You loosen that inner nut/bolt, adjust the height, then lock that sucker back down. After that, the adjuster bolt doesn't do anything.

Re the Sway Aways: They use a slightly larger inner tube than OE and the others. So, you must use their urethane bushings too.

[montauk]

Originally Posted by PeteKz

Same issue with the Rebel Racing and Tarrett spring plates. I use a little blue locktite to keep them from rattling out. However, the spring plate position is held by the big nut and bolt nearest the torsion tube. You loosen that inner nut/bolt, adjust the height, then lock that sucker back down. After that, the adjuster bolt doesn't do anything.

Re the Sway Aways: They use a slightly larger inner tube than OE and the others. So, you must use their urethane bushings too.

Thanks Pete, makes sense now but I was stumped.
Dave

[Old H2S]

My secret was electrical wire pulling lube.. makes Astrolube look like sand paper.

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/wire-pulling-lubricants/penetrating-lubricants-for-wire-rope-and-cable-pulling/

[PeteKz]

Montauk: I have a set of Sway Away adjustable spring plates like above. Since I ended up buying the RSR to go with their bushings I have those for sale, if you’re interested. They are new, never installed, with the original box and parts, just taken out of the box to see what they look like. I haven’t put them on the “for sale” thread yet. I’ll take $100 less than our sponsor sells them for, including shipping.