As we travel around this country and others, we find all kinds of
"speed bumps" from abrupt narrow things that feel like riding over
the pyramids of Egypt to low wide styles such as Philippe describes
that are like an ocean swell. All depends on the slow-down task at
hand, the engineer's specs, and the laborer's devotion to meeting
that design.
Al Toews is correct that the reaction of the bar is to lift the car
and therefore release the torque put on it at the adjuster. This is
why there is no torque specification for the adjustment bolts. The
only spec given by Chrysler in the shop manuals is ride height as
measured off the bottom of the lower control arm to the ground.
With undersize diameter tires, such as Philippe has on the Imperial,
that shop manual dimension could still be achieved with the torsion
bar adjustment, without changing ride quality or endangering the
bar, however it will place the center of the wheel further away from
the fender well opening and create visible air space above the tire.
It will look rather strange. And then there is still the matter of
how to raise the rear end so that the car will ride level. Extended
spring shackles? They would be visible too. Air shocks? In
raising a car, they become very hard riding.
Really, the best answer, in my opinion, is to replace the tires to
acquire more diameter. The closest thing available in a radial that
I am aware of is the brand new current release by Coker of a 9.00 x
14 equivalent that was specially requested by a lengthy list of
Chrysler 300 owners and club members. Yes, a company like Coker
will respond to hobby needs if sufficient market is demonstrated.
These tires were mentioned in the last couple of days by Tony
Rinaldi in a post to us all. Offhand I don't know the exact
diameter of the new Cokers and I'm not sure that Philippe is correct
about the 31" diameter of his originals as that sounds very very
tall. Coker's NON-radial (bias ply) B.F. Goodrich 9.50 x 14 is
cataloged as having a 29.5" diameter and is made as a 2-1/2"
whitewall. Yet another option would be to change to 15" wheels AND
larger tires, but then there is the problem of being unable to
install the correct 1958 14" hubcaps.
Perhaps everyone would agree with me that Chrysler was only
following market trends when they dropped down from 15" wheels/tires
in '56 to the 14's they installed from 1957 through 1960. Another
effort to make them look longer and lower, but a compromise in
longevity and safety. The '61 Chrysler 300 went back to 15" tires
and looks much more "proud and capable".
Wayne
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