Installing a Sway-a-Way adjustable rear torsion bar center , Any Tips ?

[CaliforniaMilleGhia]

Hi

We are working on an early Ghia to use for the street and a road car for some of the short street rallies , the California Mille would be a nice dream but a one day race would be good enough ! or a Winery to winery run !

Anyway we want to weld in the adjustable rear torsion bar center , and wondering if there are any tips on doing it and more important what NOT to do , It is going to be straight axle ,

Does the shift linkage get in the way ?

Sway a Way makes them , but there are also some from China , are they any good ?

We would like to keep it as "invisible" as possible if any of the Tech guys do not like it as its not "stock"

Thanks for your advise

VW rear torsion bar adjuster.jpg

[vwo60]

Have you considered adjustable spring plates, a lot simpler, I have used the swayaway spring plates but not the center adjusters, the adjusters face forward and will require the removal of the center section of the torsion bar housing, are you a good welder, you will have to also remove the flat section ahead of the housing , don't buy the Chinese version, instead invest in the swayaway item. https://swayaway.com/product/spring-pla ... 14-collar/ they offer adjustment of 1.5 inches, just make sure you replace the adjuster grub screws with socket head cap screws as they are far more robust as the ones i had split when loaded up.

[CaliforniaMilleGhia]

Hi
YES , I thought about the adjustable spring plates , but I am trying to make it as stealth as possible ,

We have all the tools to do it and a certified welder. its just better to ask questions before cutting

[Ian Godfrey]

I installed the sway away centre adjuster rather than adjustable spring plates, it's stealth, adjustable spring plates are heavy, and with wide wheels I was worried about clearance to the adjusting mechanism on the adjustable spring plates. I put the 'fingers' facing forward, I cut out the centre of the torsion and a fair bit of the bottom plate, but i put the bottom plate back on with 2 holes (about an inch in diameter for a tube wrench to loosen the lock nuts) with blanking grommets in them so at a glance under the car you see nothing but I can pop the grommets to adjust. You will also need to remove the sheet metal where the gearbox nose pokes through, and the gearbox mount and refit them as well.. It doesn't get in the way of the nose of the gearbox or the shifter mechanism, but is is very close, mock up with your mounts etc. I can adjust the ride hight and corner weights very easily (weight off the wheels).
you need to get a fair bit of heat into the adjuster and torsion tube to weld it back together and when I had finished the ends of the adjuster had shrunk a little and I had to linish the fingers so they moved freely. I would definitely do it again, low cost, but lots of labour. I'm sorry I have no pictures