I started the rear suspension rebuild and wanted to share my experience with the spring plate removal part.
I worked on this on/off for 4 days and tried many of the suggested methods to get the torsion bar out of the spring plate end of my car.
Tried heat, drilled a hole in the cap for PB Blaster type stuff, marvel mystery oil over those 4 days, couldn't budge it. Broke one punch, bent another and then I found a post where someone tapped the hole in the cap and used a bolt to push it out. That resulted in the cap coming off but no movement on the torsion bar.
Finally got a cheap air hammer and it pushed right out in about 6 seconds. 4 days of struggle solved with a $30 tool.
Now onto a bunch of cleaning, some rust removal/treatment and reinstall. Hope this helps the next guy struggling with this task.
Some of hte tools required for this job.
Success...
