Torsion bar upgrade question
 

Hey all,
I am in the process of rebuilding/upgrading my front suspension after a minor fender bender left me with a bent strut. I'm replacing the a-arm bushings with Elephant polybronze units and low friction mounts, new Bilstein HD's, new ball joints, new wheel bearings, brakes, tie-rods, etc.

I've started on the damaged right side and upon removing the t-bar, I noticed the paint or coating had come off on the front of the bar and there was some surface rust on the bar which i cleaned up with some light sanding. Assuming the left side is in similar shape, I have two questions:

1. Should I replace these bars or is it safe to continue using them?
2. If I do replace them (which I am leaning toward) and I go with 21mm, as the stock 19mm seem to be NLA, can I do so without upgrading the rears simultaneously? Will this make the car more prone to oversteering?

I'm enjoying this project so far and am eager to get my baby rolling again.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jordan

p.s. I'll try to post pics of the bar later today if that would help.

21/26 - do front and back at the same time. 26mm is also the rear torsion size for all Turbo Carreras before the 3.3, IIRC.

So you're bound to pick up a pair used if you look hard enough.

well, i had planned to refresh the rear suspension at a later time.
My budget precludes me from doing it now.
So, will the car be driveable if i put 21's in the front and leave the rears stock for a while?

Depends on what your idea of "driveable" is. It might push like crazy with 21s in front.

Here's what I'd do: leave the fronts stock, sell the 21s, get a pair of 26s, and there you have as good a suspension as a Turbo Carrera. I had this set up once - it worked really well at the track and on the street.

The fronts are easy to change so I'd do those when you decide to do the rears. If you do fronts without the rears it will induce more understeer than it already has.

If your torsion bar splines are clean and undamaged and you've removed the "surface rust" apply some primer and paint and you should be good to go until you do the rears. A couple of years easy.