air bagging a torsion bar front

i have a 66 dodge polara. i want to airbag the front i recently put shockwaves in the rear but as far as the front goes does anyone have any good ideas?
pics would help
thanks

 

Yep - don't.

 

why not

 

The torsion bars are the springs.

 

Couldn’t you just remove the torsion bars and install the bags instead

 

Absolutely not. The MoPar torsion bars are an integral part of the pivot point for the lower control arm.

The only idea I have for this, and it's not really a good idea, is to lower the car by loosening the torsion bars and then using shock wave type shocks for the adjustability of raising it back up.

Again, I don't think it's a GOOD idea but, mechanically it would work. I don't know if it would introduce any evil handling traits. It would for sure wear out front tires very fast if the car was driven much at a height different from the height the camber was set at.

 

Why do you NEED bags on the front anyways? You have the easiest front end suspension to lower in the world, just by adjusting the torsion bars.

Just set the bars to a nice, low-but-still-driveable height and then throw the bags in the back.

That said, I'm a firm believer that if you NEED to have bags on your car to make it drivable, then it's set too low to actually look good. There's alot to be said for subtlety, even if there are bragging rights that come with "laying frame"...

 

Check some of the minitruck sites... they've been bagging minis with torsion bars for years.

 

BTW, the 66 Polara is a *****in' car. Yours got a big block, or small block in it?

 

How are those minitruck torsion bars set up? Parallel to the frame? Or are they transverse and run side to side across the truck?

 

I had bought an AirLift-kit some time back to try and install in on my '62 wagon.
After looking it over for quite some time I just gave up and sold the kit again.
IMO it's not possible to install airride on a torsionbarred Mopar without hacking up the front suspension and framerails considerably.

DRD might have a point here but the shock-'tube' on a Mopar-ch***is is fairly tight so I doubth a Shockwave-shock will fit in there at all.

 

Not on this year mopar. On the later cars, mid 70s, they got goofy and did some really dumb things like use the torsion bars for other things.

There is no cheap or easy solution to the idea of bagging this car. Front clipping it might, in fact, be the best way to go.

 

Uh you are wrong! On all Chrysler torsion bar equipped cars from 1957 up. The torsion bar enters into the back of the lower control arm and helps position it. true there is a stub shaft from the front of the control arm going into the K frame that has the pressed in rubber bushing, but no way in hell I'd trust a pressed on bushing that is only supporting the front side of the lower control arm to support the front of the car. The torsion bar when installed in the rear side of the lower control arm adds another support to this area.


as to the original poster, I know that back in the day, NASCAR teams cheated by making the rear mount for the torsion bar adjustable, and gave the driver a wrench, after tech, the driver wouls lower the front of the car during the pace laps by adjusting the bolts that came through the floor. NASCAR caught on to this and started checking the cars after the race. Some teams ***Cough Petty Cough *** put small pneumatic cylinders in the torsion bar cross member, with small CO2 cartridges that had enough uumph to lift the car once after the race, and before tech. I'd look into doing the same with a small electric screw jack or gear motor on the crossmember if you really want to be able to adjust it. This is also what Packard used in the late 50's.

 

Upto '64 the torsionbar-adjusters where in fact located at the transmission-crossmember.
From '65 and up the adjusters found their place in the lower control arms.

With the weight of the car on the torsionbars it takes a considerable amount of force to turn the adjusters. There should be quite a gear-reduction if you want to be able to turn the adjusters with an electric motor.




I've lowered my '60 NewYorker 3" all around and I'm fairly happy with the stance. An inch or 2 more would be cooler, but the rearaxle already hits the bumpstops at times so this is where it will stay.

 

big block

 

I don't know what the Mopar suspension looks like, but I get a lot of torsion bar trucks coming into my shop for air bags. The torsion bar is attached to the bolt that hold the LCA in place by a splined bracket, but when removed the control arm can still be bolted to the frame. I either modify the stock arms, or build my own control arms, and weld some brackets to the side of the frame to bolt the bag to.

 

I have seen some pictures of air bag kits on mini trucks and on them they replaced were the adjusting bolt is with two brackets that sandwiched a air bag. It would seem that it would have to go into the floor so it would not hang down. I also dont know if they are replacing the tortion bar with a peice of rod.
I have 68 Plymouth wagon that I drove every day but I got sick of replacing exaust hangers every outher month and the exaust every year. Because of the ride height. It would be nicer to have it baged. I would like to see what you guys come up with. Scott

 

DING DING DING...We have a winner!! This looks like a great way to bag the front...nice looking work!