Gotta replace torsion bars

[wdfifteen]

This winter's projects include replacing the control arm bushings on my 1988 Carrera with Elephant racing OEM type bushings. I had no reason to do it other than it seemed like a good idea. I was both hoping I wouldn’t find anything wrong and hoping I wasn't taking the front end apart for nothing.




While removing the left front control arm mounting bracket two of these “shims” fell out. I didn’t see where they came from, but I thought “No problem, I’ll keep an eye out for them on the right side.” But there were NO shims on the right side.





On page 401-2 Bentley shows a shim that looks like one of these things (#16) and it appears to go between #17 and the body. It looks like there should be one under the front bolt of each Control Arm Front Mounting – correct?




After removing the control arms this is what I found. This is on a 22 year old car, 87,000 miles. The bushings are so distorted they are allowing the torsion bar to rub the control arm. I suspect the distorted rubber is a function of age. Does anyone know what the useful life of the original bushings is? 10 years? 15? Obviously 20 years is too old.
The bad news is I'll need to replace the T-bars.
The good news is, I didn't take the car apart for nothing.

[burgermeister]

Used tbars are cheap - buy a L & R set. Bushing is likely fine, just deformed. New is better, but if you're lazy or cheap you can rotate just the rubber 180 degrees and drive a few more years.
Front LCA Rubber Bushing - Pelican Parts Technical BBS

[bkreigsr]

Porsche put spacers lke those on the early turbos (maybe other models) to alter the geometry on the t bars, supposedly to help anti-dive charastics.
They go between the bracket and body, and my 77 930 has 2 on each side
Bill K

[Flieger]

Betcha the car pulled under braking with the anti-dive spacers on only one side.

[James Brown]

I don't see why you need to replace the torsion bars. Is it due to the rubbing on the control arms? Can't see in the picture but are the t-bars cracked? Everything looks like normal wear to me.
In 5 years, the new stuff will look like the old stuff. Was there a handling issue or just age? I'm sure my 81 will look like this but it still handles great (for a few more years).
Show us the installation procedure for the Elephant OEM bushings.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by bkreigsr

Porsche put spacers lke those on the early turbos (maybe other models) to alter the geometry on the t bars, supposedly to help anti-dive charastics.
They go between the bracket and body, and my 77 930 has 2 on each side
Bill K

Thanks.
Which of the bolts to they fit under?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Flieger

Betcha the car pulled under braking with the anti-dive spacers on only one side.

At the DE events I drove it in the braking was very balanced, with no preference for either side in wet or dry conditions.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by James Brown

I don't see why you need to replace the torsion bars. Is it due to the rubbing on the control arms? Can't see in the picture but are the t-bars cracked? Everything looks like normal wear to me.
In 5 years, the new stuff will look like the old stuff. Was there a handling issue or just age? I'm sure my 81 will look like this but it still handles great (for a few more years).
Show us the installation procedure for the Elephant OEM bushings.

The folks at Elephant made a video of the replacement procedure. YouTube - Rubber control arm bushing replacement installation
I'll post a comparison of my experience vs the video in 10 days or so. Gotta go on the road this weekend.

The bars aren't cracked. The car would have been sagging badly if they had gotten that bad.
"Normal wear" on torsion bars - the bar should never touch anything except through it's mounting splines. The bars are under a tremendous amount of pressure and any flaw can result in failure. A sharp cut is obviously the worst damage as it can lead to fatigue failure. Just rubbing a smooth spot as on mine isn't so bad. They might get by, but I don't want to waste a DE weekend if one should let go.