Morris Minor Owners Club

Help
I have just started re-assembling my 1964 Covertible after a complete rebuild. I When I removed the torsion bars I took the whole assembly apart and have just read in the Workshop Manual "on no account should the torsion bars be changed from left to rift once they have been first used"
Any suggestions??

Nothing you can do now ! 50/50 chance it will be as before. If not - it may settle lower quite quickly - nothing too serious will happen.......

The manual is right but it is sometimes possible to see which side is which by looking at the splines, and observing any indication as to the way in which they have been turned. Not always conclusive but better than not trying.

Before dismantling attaché a heavy duty RED cable tie towards the rear of the Left/Nearside/Port torsion bar; and a heavy duty GREEN cable tie towards the rear of the Right/Offside/Starboard torsion bar. Re-assemble the torsion bars with the cable ties in their respective rearward positions.

This may be a long shot but If you have not cleaned them and not removed the front arms after you removed them from the car, there may be less crud on the top of the torsion bar, this may indicate which side they belong too.

Good point. That helped me out once, someone had undersealed a car but the top of the rear lever arm was free of the stuff!

Thanks Guys. I havnt cleaned them yet so I will check on the crud idea and the splines. I do have a workshop so thought I might set them up on a rig and try to check how much they twist under a set load in opposite directions

The crud idea worked!
It was pretty obvious which was the top as the bars where cleaner and slightly rusty. Luckily the previous owner had sprayed the from wheel arches with black undersell which was oversprayed on to one side of the front section of each tie bar. Left and Right….well thats the theory anyway. Hope it works. Thanks again.

Great tip -well done !