Re: [T3] Purest Type 3 group? (lowering)

[BOB2TYPE3S@aol.com]

Jim wrote:
>Maybe it has to do with the fact that an accurate reading requires that you 
>apply enough torque to the  torsion bar to seat the splines all the way in 
the 
>loaded direction.

Well, I didn't put any kind of load on the trailing arm. By seating it, I 
mean that the trailing arm was installed all the way back on the torsion bar (in 
the grub screw location). It still had no load, as was essentially free 
standing, just like it was when I removed it. I used the machined flat that the 
washer and nut hold the ball joint to the trailing arm as my reference location. I 
used it because it was the only flat machined surface on the trailing arm 
(for consistancy).

>As they arrive from the factory, they're well seated, but when we change 
>the splines we have to make a judgment about whether enough torque 
>has been applied to seat the teeth. As the angle of the arm changes this 
>gets harder and harder to apply even the same amount of torque, since the 
>direction we can push is vertically upward, but this is only tangent to the 
arm 
>in the stock configuration.

Well, according to Bentley, it's possible to fine tune either side of the car 
by using both inner and outer spline changes. This kinda tells me that the 
factory didn't really preload the bar until they were ready to actually support 
the car. What I mean by that is you can just basically throw the bar in place, 
then set the lower trailing arm to whatever the required angle is supposed to 
be and go from there. Russ could chime in here and let us know how the 
factory measuring tool actually works. But my suspicion is that it (the tool) 
measures free standing angle (meaning no load). If this is correct, then my 
measurements might actually be semi close for what I was seeing. But if it measures 
the angle with the car on the ground, then I don't know if the degrees of 
movement really matter, since you would only be interested in the final result. Does 
this make sense?

>I'm just speculating, however.

I understand where you're coming from, and the original designers of the car 
knew a heck of a lot more than I do, but I'm just trying to understand their 
thinking. I think I'm on the right track though, but I'm still not sure. Am I 
getting close?

Bob 65 Notch S w/ Sunroof
       71 Square, Now a 2 seat Roadster, pics can be seen at; 
http://volksrods.com or http://photo.starblvd.net/bobnotch

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