torsion bars - educate me.

[millarg]

I'm planning on doing a suspension refresh on my 78sc, reusing as much as humanly possible & replacing what I must - this is the anti "while you are in there project"!

Planning on doing bearings and bushings and buttoning it up. My car sees no track use and I barely get the chance to go over 60.

My question is torsion bars, I believe these to be original, I know they can break, but do they "fade" as they get older?

Also is it immediately obvious if you have a broken bar? Will there be an obvious sag? Presume the car would get squirly?

Things in my back end are getting a little noisy and I can see that the spring plate bushings are shot from the off-center position on the t-bar end cap.

The car handles OK all things considered, if the torsion bars "look" OK do they pass?

Thanks in advance, just getting into this.

Regards, Glen

[darrin]

I'll leave this for others that know better, but as I understand it, the torsion bars have a surface coating that, if damaged, will affect their integrity. So, deep scratches, etc. can be Bad

Darrin

[newms]

They do not fade. If they break you will know as the car will be on the ground. Don't forget shocks.

[steely]

Speaking from extremely limited experience, TB failures appears to be catastrophic (your car will have sagged and the TB will be in pieces) or potentially imminent if they exhibit rust at splines on underneath the visibly separating paint jacket, or if the bushings were shot so bad the TB was scarred by rubbing against a part of the control arm thus weakening their integrity.

There a quite a few threads on this, and I read a bunch and asked some questions, and wound up purchasing a used TB that appeared to be in good shape, no scratches or rust - to replace one of my front 19mm TB's that was scored due to bushing neglect/age. They are available used, and I did walk away from one that looked generally bad. There are pics in some threads that really look bad (so search images), so you will know.

My understanding is that if the paint is scratched, but the TB itself is not, it can be re-painted and reused.

[steely]

some pics from here:
No


courtesy frankc - shows rust



mine, which I replaced



Yes

[millarg]

Thanks guys, hoping to find bars are good, but suspect I will find scored since bushings are toast, at least now I have an idea what to look for.
Car has been mostly unused for several years, but has now been pressed into daily service due to other vehicle issues and deficiencies are becoming very clear.
Steely, did you attach photos of torsion bars? Didn't notice them )

[steely]

Glen - I have to mention that the TB I bought was used, not new from a fellow pelican, and it has served me well.
and, yeah, I couldn't resist that last pic. :-)

[euro911sc]

I think I have a set of really nice bars from my SC laying around if you need new used ones. The rears I pulled out looked factory fresh if I remember right. For your driving situation I don't think you will find you need to replace them. Just bushings and shocks should do it.

[E Sully]

I found my rear 40 year old rear torsion bars looked like new. On the other hand, the fronts had a bit of rust.
Corner ballance and allignment will be needed.