27 replies to this topic

[badxmaru]

hey everyone
because my b16 is much heavier than the d16 it seems my front end is really squishy now, and on bumps i'm bottoming out, and scraping the floor.
on turns, my front driver side tow eyelet on the frame seems to be scraping the ground.
I'm going to order a set of torsion bars, and was wondering if anyone could explain the install process.
i've checked out websites and they talk about having to "key" them
also a time estimate would be great, and a list of needed tools.

danke

[cbstdscott]

The FAQ file has all this info in it.

Scott

[crxnick]

I think that I have a link to a web site that has a write-up on this. I am at school and will try to find it for you when I get home.

Nick

[squareback]

If the bars have never been removed, then "swearwords" should be at the top of your tool list.

Mike

[Maine_Honda_Racer]

Thats the case, that and some muscle rub for your shoulders after from using that hammer up over your head for so long. Holy criminilities, I've never done such a stubborn miserable job in my life.

[RexKrazy]

make sure you understand how the safty clips work before you pound away on the bar....don't wanna throw out ur shoulder and still have soft bars...

[crxnick]

I found that link.

http://www.mullinato.../tech_tbar.html

Hope that helps.

[shadowboy]

If the bars have never been removed, then "swearwords" should be at the top of your tool list.

Mike

mine actually came out quite easily. the hardest part, really, is taking off the end cap.

[shadowboy]

I found that link.

http://www.mullinato.../tech_tbar.html

Hope that helps.

i did a few things differently. i never had to remove the strut from the knuckle, for example.

i have found it is MUCH easier if you remove the torque tube ANYWAY.

i DEFINITELY do not recommend removing the index keyway from the torque tube. it turns spline alignment into trial and error, and that is FAR more time-consuming than spending the extra time aligning the keyways once.

oh, and mark the keyways at the end of the torsion bar and torque tube. this makes things MUCH easier.

after having the bar out, i made 100% sure the splines at the rear of the bar slid back and forth at the rear of the torque tube quite easily.

after that I slid the torsion bar in, until it just caught the splines at the lever at front. i took note of where the index mark on the rear was. then i slid the torque tube onto the bar, noting where the keyway was and made it close. i then turned it one-notch at a time (while someone was holding the front in), until it engaged at the torque tube.

then i tapped the torque tube backwards until the splines on the torsion bar were well engaged, but not necessarily fully.

tap the torque tube/torsion bar both forward until the torsion bar pops out from the front of the torsion lever arm (the reasoning will become evident in a second). note where the height adjustment lever is on the torque tube when both splines are engaged. once the front of the torsion bar is clear of the splines, rotate the torque tube so that the height adjustment arm clears the height adjusting bolt, push it in, and rotate it back until it is around the same position it was before (either 3:00 or 9:00, depending on side). then rotate the torque tube (this should rotate the front) by one notch at a time until the fronts line up again. it helps if someone else noting at the front here. once it catches you are golden, put the clip on, tap it backwards, put the snap ring on, and re-install the end cap.

i never touched the strut. in fact, i didn't even take the wheel off on one of them.

[rpr]

Now that I've done it ten times or so, I can re- and re- them by myself in under 45 minutes. I've never taken the strut off to do it, and I don't take the wheels off either. I don't use the clips on either end, no need really. The best tool to remove them is an old tbar with the splines ground off the thinner end. It makes the perfect punch:



Here is the indexing for the rear:



As you can tell, I have it rotated 1 spline to lower it more.

Here is the index for the front:



As you can see, I paint the index on the end of the bar and the tubes to make it easy to line up.

This is the mushroom effect of banging on the end of the bar:

[RexKrazy]

I like my spring clips. Thank you very much.
i don't much like the idea of open track w/o them....tho it'd probably be ok.
are those 27.5 mm lightspeed bars? got a set...and they had no indexing.

also, why would you re-index both sides of the bar?
or maybe you disn't and ground the spline offa the car insteada the bar.
i cut a spline off the front side of the bar, and split the indexer on the tube, this way, the bar is always in the same spot in the front, so there's no guesswork in the back. (tho finding the slot is a bit difficult....)

[shadowboy]

Now that I've done it ten times or so, I can re- and re- them by myself in under 45 minutes. I've never taken the strut off to do it, and I don't take the wheels off either. I don't use the clips on either end, no need really. The best tool to remove them is an old tbar with the splines ground off the thinner end. It makes the perfect punch:

yup. i can do it in 40-60 minutes per side myself (depending on how quickly i find and engage the splines).

in fact, i did the driver's side twice, and the passenger side once on tuesday. all in the span of about 2 and a half hours.



in terms of what i use to tap the torsion bar

1: i use a rubber mallet, not a hammer.

2: to tap the torsion bar through the torque tube, i tap a 17mm deep well socket with said rubber mallet.

Edited by shadowboy, 04 February 2004 - 02:57 PM.

[shadowboy]

I like my spring clips. Thank you very much.
i don't much like the idea of open track w/o them....tho it'd probably be ok.
are those 27.5 mm lightspeed bars?  got a set...and they had no indexing.

also, why would you re-index both sides of the bar?
or maybe you disn't and ground the spline offa the car insteada the bar.
i cut a spline off the front side of the bar, and split the indexer on the tube, this way, the bar is always in the same spot in the front, so there's no guesswork in the back. (tho finding the slot is a bit difficult....)

i wouldn't reindex both ends. i got my torsion bars from tom, already re-indexed at the rear.

the reason why i don't recommend removing the keyway in the torque tube in the rear, is because one side may be one or more splines off from the other side, and then getting them adjusted evenly becomes a process of taking the bar out and putting it in over and over until you get it right. no way, not for me. i'd rather spend the extra time and make sure they are RIGHT the first time and do all the ride-height balancing with the height adjusting nuts. that is what they are there for.


all you CRX people should be GLAD the CRX is set up like it is, and not like it is on a porsche 924 or an alfa romeo GTV. my gf's dad was telling me this week about how the GTV is. its a BITCH because you have to drop the entire suspension & crossmember (there are 2 of them actually) to. be able to remove the bars. and the height is adjusted by aligning the splines (there is no keyway, and no height adjusting nut.) if you have one side off by a key, you have to do it ALL over again.

i was working on the second time by the time he would have had the suspension removed.

[rpr]

I daily drove and autocrossed and tracked the car all last summer, and the bars didn't move a mm in the tubes without the clips. It's not like they are just going to slide out...

I didn't re-index the front, I just mark it with paint so it's easier to find the index key. It might look off from the picture, but it was definitely on the index on the front.

I did find something curious, my CRX had the index keyed into the tube, but on my Civic there is no index keyway, just a dot punched into the ends of the tubes. If you want to lower it a spline, all you have to do is take the bar out, rotate it one spline and put it back in. No grinding of the bar. In the first picture, I think that is a 24mm bar.

Oh, I forgot to mention the other 'secrets to t-bar removal'. Instead of removing the tube completely, use a jack under the control arm and jack it up slightly to remove the tension on the bar. Helps immensely. And when I said 45 minutes, I meant BOTH sides in 45 minutes total, from jacking up the car to dropping it down.

[shadowboy]

Oh, I forgot to mention the other 'secrets to t-bar removal'. Instead of removing the tube completely, use a jack under the control arm and jack it up slightly to remove the tension on the bar. Helps immensely. And when I said 45 minutes, I meant BOTH sides in 45 minutes total, from jacking up the car to dropping it down.

i've done the whole process only 5 times thus far. i am not quite as experienced. and every time i ran into some problem that took time (usually aligning the splines).

taking them out was easy. i can each side out in 10 minutes or so.