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Tue Jan 18, 2005 10:17 pm

I pulled the beam out of my oval tonight with the intention of installing avis type adjusters tomorrow.

I have read all of the posts regarding the adjusters and I felt very confident that this would be an easy project. When i got the beam out I noticed that the original 57 beam was very different than I expected...In all of the posts i've read there is a center piece in the beam that hold the torsions...the grub screw attaches to this coller and keeps the torsions in place.
All you need to do is knock this coller loose from it's spot welds and you are home free. With my beam the center grub screw is threaded into the beam and there is a dimple in the torsions that holds everything in place. As far as I can tell avis adjusters won't work in an original oval beam.

If anyone has any experience with an early beam I would love to hear from you!

Thanks!

John

Tue Jan 18, 2005 10:38 pm

John wrote: I pulled the beam out of my oval tonight with the intention of installing avis type adjusters tomorrow.

I have read all of the posts regarding the adjusters and I felt very confident that this would be an easy project. When i got the beam out I noticed that the original 57 beam was very different than I expected...In all of the posts i've read there is a center piece in the beam that hold the torsions...the grub screw attaches to this coller and keeps the torsions in place.
All you need to do is knock this coller loose from it's spot welds and you are home free. With my beam the center grub screw is threaded into the beam and there is a dimple in the torsions that holds everything in place. As far as I can tell avis adjusters won't work in an original oval beam.

If anyone has any experience with an early beam I would love to hear from you!

Thanks!

John

Somebody correct me if Im wrong but with Avis adjusters I think you have to slot that center grub screw hole up and down elongating it then weld the base of the avis adjuster onto the beam. This elongated slot will now allow the torsion bars to rotate up and down therefore raising and lowering your suspension.

Tue Jan 18, 2005 10:44 pm

Skim,

Thanks for your reply...From what I can tell you do slot the center hole and the grub screw threads into a coller inside the beam. The problem with my bean is that the center hole is threaded and there is no coller inside the beam.

I think I will just buy a norrowed beam with the adjusters already installed and leave this mystery for another day.

I'd still like to hear from someone with some experiece with this just to put this subject to bed.

Thanks
John

Tue Jan 18, 2005 10:54 pm

There is a collar inside. Look at your beam. There is a 2 elongated dents where the factory pressed the tubes to grab and secure that collar. Once you slot the outer tube skin like I said before, screw a long bolt in the grub screw threads to give you something to grab onto and work it up and down until the collar works itself loose.

Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:05 pm

Im gonna say this once because I know as soon as I do someone is gonna jump my shit and say it not true, but Avis Adjusters suck, they may be easier for the layman to install. But once you get them in, adjusting is a mother fucker. Save yourself the time and buy the other style and be done with it.

Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:17 pm

Skim wrote: There is a 2 elongated dents where the factory pressed the tubes to grab and secure that collar. Once you slot the outer tube skin like I said before, screw a long bolt in the grub screw threads to give you something to grab onto and work it up and down until the collar works itself loose.

You'll need to drill out those two factory "football-shaped" dimples before the center collar will move freely up or down

Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:22 pm

l227vw@yahoo.com wrote: Skim wrote: There is a 2 elongated dents where the factory pressed the tubes to grab and secure that collar. Once you slot the outer tube skin like I said before, screw a long bolt in the grub screw threads to give you something to grab onto and work it up and down until the collar works itself loose.

You'll need to drill out those two factory "football-shaped" dimples before the center collar will move freely up or down

On early beams its more of a pinch then a dimple. Each dented mark in the beam is about an inch and a quarter long.

Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:31 pm

I went and spent some time looking at the beam...it does have a collar and the dimples are 1" long dents!

I think it would take more than a little wiggling to get that collar to slide up and down easily.

I think the old style adjuster is the way to go! One more question while everyone is in "beam mode"...if you narrow a bean two inches do you also shorten the tie rods an even two inches?

I know this sounds strange but the tie rods come off the pittman arm at an angle.

John

Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:36 pm

John wrote: I went and spent some time looking at the beam...it does have a collar and the dimples are 1" long dents!

I think it would take more than a little wiggling to get that collar to slide up and down easily.

I think the old style adjuster is the way to go! One more question while everyone is in "beam mode"...if you narrow a bean two inches do you also shorten the tie rods an even two inches?

I know this sounds strange but the tie rods come off the pittman arm at an angle.

John

Yes you would narrow the tie rods an inch each if you go narrowed 2"

Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:58 pm

Thanks for all the help! I finished the car about 8 months ago and I'm already bored with it! The old lady look with the front end up in the air has got to go!

Again, Thanks for all the replies!

John

Wed Jan 19, 2005 5:50 pm

If you decide to buy a new beam narrowed 2" you can buy new tie rods also that are matched to the beam. Makes things easier.

Thu Jan 20, 2005 2:15 pm

All Done! Stopped on the way home and bought the old style adjusters, a large pipe cutter and rented a mig welder from home depot.

Two hours of my time and less than $60 and it's done. I clocked the adjusters about a 1/2" to the lower side to give it more drop...I just hope I didn't go too far.

Again, thanks for the help!

John

Thu Jan 20, 2005 2:47 pm

John wrote: All Done! Stopped on the way home and bought the old style adjusters, a large pipe cutter and rented a mig welder from home depot.

Two hours of my time and less than $60 and it's done. I clocked the adjusters about a 1/2" to the lower side to give it more drop...I just hope I didn't go too far.

Again, thanks for the help!

John

So you didnt narrow it then I take it?

Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:05 pm

No I decided not to narrow it right now...it seemed dumb to just buy a 2" narrowed beam. I figure if your going to go real low than at least a 4" narrowed beam is the way to go.

This was more of a spur of the moment thing to keep busy waiting for the shows to start back up.

I did find out last night that installing a fully assembled beam by yourself is not an easy task!

John

Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:14 pm

Trayle D. the real oggfk wrote: Im gonna say this once because I know as soon as I do someone is gonna jump my shit and say it not true, but Avis Adjusters suck, they may be easier for the layman to install. But once you get them in, adjusting is a mother fucker. Save yourself the time and buy the other style and be done with it.

.. Im not trying to be a smart ass of ne sort , but from recent expirience ( spelling ) .. avis / berg adjusters are simple to adjust . with my good buddy Jake lifting my car I used a ratchet and loosened and raised the front of my car . ( so we could put a tow dolly on w/o tearing up my fenders/apron ) , it took 45 seconds .... ne who , nice job and nice car John . :)

Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:51 pm

John wrote: No I decided not to narrow it right now...it seemed dumb to just buy a 2" narrowed beam. I figure if your going to go real low than at least a 4" narrowed beam is the way to go.

This was more of a spur of the moment thing to keep busy waiting for the shows to start back up.

I did find out last night that installing a fully assembled beam by yourself is not an easy task!

John

I agree 2" narrowed is what we like to call "Training wheels" because you will regret that baby tuckage later. I cant even notice a 2" narrowed beam. Also, when you do get ready to do it all, dont forget dropped spindles or your front wheels will be pushed too far forward rubbing on the headlight buckets. You will notice a car with dropped spindles wheels always sit even in the middle of the fenderwell from the side view instead of up close to the headligh buckets.

Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:41 pm

you want some tuckage, so narrow that baby at least 5"! believe me, the look of the car is awesome when you see that tuckage in the front.

Thu Jan 20, 2005 11:01 pm

Here are the before and after pictures....this is about halfway down on the adjusters.

Sun Jan 30, 2005 1:31 pm

Decided to go lower! Now I nned a narrowed beam!