Deep scratch in torsion bar - I agree completely, it will eventually start a crack. Scratch in outer coating (ie, powder coat / paint) - unless there is corrosion underneath, it doesn't matter. Your prior post referred to scratches in the coating ... I just wanted to clarify.

If the coating is metallic - zinc coating for galvanized torsion bar for instance - this does not apply. The zinc will crack first (material properties suck relative to spring steel), and this crack can propagate into the bar.

To clarify the coating damage. The passenger side black powder coat? was scuffed through with some light scratches on the metal itself. On the drivers side the coating was just scuffed and not worn through to the bar. I reassemble it all last night and took it for a drive to settle the suspension. It still rides harsh but I will do the rear bushings and adjust my height prior to evaluating the need for shocks. I going to adjust the height to the specs found in Bentley unless Pelican gurus suggest otherwise. Thanks and I really appreciate the suggestions and debate.

any scratch in the coating that exposes metal will corrode - then the stress risers will start

just coat over the whole bar

I finally changed my rear spring plate bushings with ER rubbers. For better or for worse I did not glue them to the torsion tube (I figure for 70 bucks and about 6 hours work its not a big deal to change them later if I decide to bond them). Anyways the car rides much better. Bumps and cracks are still there but not as "harsh" as they were. I should note that I set the spring plate angle to 32 deg. and that gave me about a 25 inch ride height at the rear wheels. My fronts are around 26 inch so the cars is probably high by most readers standards. I'll have to set the alignment, etc. but for now the ride is much better than it was. Once again thanks for all the suggestions.

I felt the same "every crack in the road" thing with my 87 930 that has 60K on it, I did the rear shocks and got a small improvement in ride and noise. I did the shocks first hoping that it would cure the problem but it looks like I need a bushing swap as well after reading these posts. Thanks to all.

I just wanted to post a final note on my suspension bushing refurbishment. I completed a home alighnment ( found the car to be quite senstive to toe-in) and it's behaving better than ever. In fact it seems that now that I'm driving it on a regular basis even the engine is running better. So much so that I was bored and went out and bought an old engine for my '59 MGA so that I'll have something to work on. Thanks to every one that helped with the bushing suggestions.

Thank you very much for closing the circle on your project. I am in the midst of a suspension re-fresh which included new ER rubber bushings everywhere. I won't be able to sample the results until the spring, but it is good to know that the springplate bushings have made a noticeable difference in the harshness. That was my main suspension "complaint" before I started, and my spring plate bushings were definitely in a bad way. like you, I was very close to metal-to-metal contact on the bushing covers.

Congratulations on getting the car working so well! It's nice to have at least one "fun" car in good driving shape while you play on other projects!