Brooks, it's my understanding that PST offers TWO clock position for those bars, so you need to make SURE which bars you have. I think they offer stock clock position and a lowered clock position.
@72bluNblu where are you? Can you confirm this is right or wrong? I thought that's what I read. Hep us out. lol
The PST 1.03’s were originally a “zero offset” bar, ie, they would lay on the floor “flat to flat” and had no hex offset.
Too many people complained that they couldn’t get their cars to factory ride height with that arrangement, which makes sense because 1.03” is only around 230 lb/in. So at ride height the bars still twist a decent amount and you need some hex offset to put the car at a higher ride height.
PST updated the bars, quite a few years ago now, to have more hex offset. I don’t recall the amount used, but much closer to the stock 20° hex offset.
But unless the bars were bought used or have been sitting around awhile they’re likely the new version. PST doesn’t sell the zero offset version anymore, just the updated version as far as I know.
This intrigues me. What could possibly be different if the numbers are up, down or sideways? Or for that matter, the bar turned around and shoved into the lower control arm in any clocking position? I just removed some aftermarket approximately 1" in diameter bars from my '72 Dart because they rode like a truck. Installed 2 stock bars, the numbers and L R are at the rear, greased well, but just knocked in. Never even thought about it otherwise. Will give the FSM a quick look. Haven't driven it yet.
The “numbers up” or sideways or upside down wouldn’t matter, that doesn’t have any effect on the hex offset of the torsion bar. Left and right does, as long as the hex offset is non-zero. Zero offset bars can go on either side, but should be kept on whatever side they’re installed on once they’ve been run in that position.
The second part you’re wrong about. The LCA position DOES matter. The adjusting lever in the LCA, and its position relative to the hex flats in the torsion bar socket on the LCA is what sets your range for the ride height adjustment. The adjusting lever and adjusting bolt only work in a certain range, ie, from where you run out of threads on the bolt on either end. That amounts to your range of ride height adjustment.
If you install the LCA a hex flat off, well, you may find your suspension maxed out in one direction with no ability to either lower the car further or raise the car further. That’s why with larger torsion bars the hex offset is reduced, and on really large bars there’s no offset at all.
Also, if your car “rode like a truck” with 1” bars, there was a different issue. 1” bars are only around 200 lb/in, and still give a very compliant ride if adjusted properly so the suspension isn’t bottoming. I ran them on my Duster for while, and found them so soft I added another 100 lb/in of rate by installing 1.12” bars with a 300 lb/in rate. Still doesn’t ride like any of my trucks, but you need better shocks.
Just looked at the FSM, section 2 , page 5, no mention at all about clocking a torsion bar, just left and right.
Yeah, the torsion bars can’t be clocked. But as I described above, the LCA’s can.
That’s why the FSM instructs you to let the LCA hang all the way down on install. With the factory torsion bars and their hex offset that puts the socket in the right position. Although, with the factory hex offset and stock LCA’s it’s pretty hard to clock the LCA a hex flat off. However, if you run aftermarket bars with a non-factory offset, or use tubular LCA’s which don’t hit the K-member (and will hang straight down) you can’t follow that advice. A zero offset torsion bar typically requires the angle of the LCA to be pretty close to what it is at ride height, because the larger bars that have a zero offset don’t twist very much with the weight of the car.
