Triumph Repair: When to torque suspension, sway bar link, spitfire 1500

Question
QUESTION: Howard,

Another quick one for you regarding the Spitfire 1500.  

I recall, some time back, reading, the nut on each side of the sway bar was to be torqued, ONLY, after the car was off of the jacks and on the ground. I even left a tag on those points to remind me.

Is this practice something of which you are familiar?  And, are there any other points on any point of the suspension system requiring the same caution?

This car is now finished with it's 'exploratory' and ready for stitching up.  I'll maintain the anesthesia until after the paint job. The color, you ask? It will wake up in the same ethnic group as when it went under. BRG

Chuckles,
George

ANSWER: Hi George,
You will have to be more explicit as to which bolts you want to torque. The manual quotes the torque on almost every bolt on the car. Generally mechanics only torque certain bolts. A mechanic would go broke if he torqued every bolt on a car. After working on cars for years most mechanics learn which bolts must be torqued and which ones it is not necessary.

It sounds like you are talking about the "anti roll bar link assembly" (7/16" fine thread) which torques at 45 ft. lbs. The only reason they tell you to "torque it on the ground" is so that when you let it down it is not then under a strain if you had tightened it while the wheel was hanging.

Howard

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Howard,

The bar to which I was referring is referred to in Victoria British, Spitfire, 62-80, as a 'Sway bar."  The 'Sway bar link and it's respective nut is the one I mentioned.

My only other question was, to your knowledge, are there any other suspension bolts that you would wait to tighten until after putting the car back on it's wheels?

Additionally, owning a Spitfire, not only would would one having to torque all bolts on the car, (re: resulting time to do so), cause them to go broke.... Just owning a Spitfire can drain your account faster than oil leaking from a British car.

George Mertz

Answer
Generally any bolt or nut that might try to lock what ever you are tightening in place and when let down it might try to move to a different position.

As for torquing nuts and bolts, most service manuals have a section in the front of the book that give "General" torque specs on bolts as per their size and grade.

Most mechanics after working for years learn by feel how tight to pull a bolt. (As they at times would break off a few) However, no matter how good you get at the "feel" of tightening a bolt, ALL mechanics should torque rods, mains, flywheel, head bolts, rocker or cam bolts, Rear axle nuts, all bolts inside a differential and lug nuts. Some brands of cars have special nuts or bolts that require torque also.

A common place to learn how the "Feel" of a certain torque is, was the spark plug. Champion plug company once quoted 25 ft lbs of torque on a 14mm long reach plug and since I was changing this size plug all day every day for years I did this test. I used a little "never seize" on the threads and torqued it to 25 and removed it and found it took about 25 to loosen it too so I tightened it by hand and then would measure the torque until I could by hand match 25 ft lbs. If you change the length of the handle of the wrench you use to match what the torque should be you can come close to what is correct. If you put a one foot long pull handle on a socket that you are tightening a 1/4 inch grade 5 bolt you will quickly see why not to do that. If you use the correct length wrench for the size and grade bolt you can stay out of trouble.

Most body and mounting bolts on cars are grade 5 indicated by three lines on the head of the bolt and grade 8 bolts (a much harder bolt) have 6 lines on the head. The threads also need to be looked at as NC (course threads) bolts are used to thread into aluminum and cast iron and NF (fine thread) thread into steel. Metrics are a another story.
Howard