Change torsion bar

[AndHovel]

Hello
Is it nessecery to take down the rear chassi to change the torsion bars? And if, what bushings etc. make sense to change then?
Thanks.

[zooklm1]

Is this on a 924/944/968? For all practical purposes, yes. Clark’s Garage shop manual has a good write up. I am in the process of doing this on my 86 944 Turbo. I decided to take my axles completely off and take the rear control arms off as well to change the bushings on them. I went from stock 23.5 mm to 28 mm. Because of the age of my car, I decided to replace all bushings and went with Prekom from Sierra Madre Collection as I was able to find discount codes. As typical with most simple up grades, the amount expended as I have worked thru this torsion bar upgrade has greatly exceeded the actual cost of the bars. For instance, all the bushings for the rear was about $800. When cleaning my CV joints to put new boots on, I found that 2 had significant wear damage and the other 2 were showing some minor wear/initial failure indications. I ordered 2 new axles. If I include the torsion bars, I am into this totally around $1,500 with me doing all the labor.
There are also a couple other threads on Carpokes with respect to measuring the hang angle and new hang height depending on the size of the new bars.
Good luck with your change out.

[spacecad3t]

Is this on a 924/944/968? For all practical purposes, yes. Clark’s Garage shop manual has a good write up. I am in the process of doing this on my 86 944 Turbo. I decided to take my axles completely off and take the rear control arms off as well to change the bushings on them. I went from stock 23.5 mm to 28 mm. Because of the age of my car, I decided to replace all bushings and went with Prekom from Sierra Madre Collection as I was able to find discount codes. As typical with most simple up grades, the amount expended as I have worked thru this torsion bar upgrade has greatly exceeded the actual cost of the bars. For instance, all the bushings for the rear was about $800. When cleaning my CV joints to put new boots on, I found that 2 had significant wear damage and the other 2 were showing some minor wear/initial failure indications. I ordered 2 new axles. If I include the torsion bars, I am into this totally around $1,500 with me doing all the labor.
There are also a couple other threads on Carpokes with respect to measuring the hang angle and new hang height depending on the size of the new bars.
Good luck with your change out.

Not to hijack, but did you order complete axels? and which ones?

[zooklm1]

Yes, complete new axles, GKN 300676. They come with a factory 2 years, 100k mfg warranty. I found them at Rock Auto for a really attractive price.

[944m3]

Hello
Is it nessecery to take down the rear chassi to change the torsion bars? And if, what bushings etc. make sense to change then?
Thanks.

I believe Elephant Racing has instructions where you don’t have to. I think you lower one side at a time. But please check me on that.

I did job last summer and honestly it wasn’t that difficult. I ended up taking everything out. I was very hesitant to try it but just appears more daunting than it actually is. I did the job with the car on stands by myself. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not something I want to do again but it was doable.

The toughest part is getting the torsion bars indexed correctly for ride height, which I did not and used it as an excuse to try coilovers I had purchased a while back.

And yes replace everything you can. I took some parts to a local garage and paid to have some bushings pressed out and press in new ones. Also took the chance to replace the original brake lines with upgraded ones from ECS tuning.

Best way I can describe it is the rear suspension now feels alive and working.

[walfreyydo]

Spring Plate Bushing
Torsion Carrier Bushing
Rear Trailing Arm Bushing

*optional* rear sway bar bushing
*optional* Upper carrier bushing (banana arm)

There are multiple options for these, either rubber, monoball/solid, or poly. I went Powerflex poly as they offered an upgraded stiffness at a much lower price over Elephant racing options (polybronze, rubber and monoball). I would stay away from monoball/polybronze unless this is a dedicated track/autox car as they will introduce a lot of NHV and can wear quicker/require more maintenance than poly or rubber.

Dropping rear suspension is something I tackled over the winter, so I could take my time. It is required to do this to either re-index or install new t-bars. I had two jacks and and extra set of jackstands and lowered/raised both sides in tandem.

Torsions can be changed/indexed easier in the future with a hole cut in the running board and there are a few threads on that if you search:
https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-944 ... moval.html