Q – I was wondering about lowering my 1985 Carrera. I was told that the front torsion bars are easy to adjust and that the rear ride height is adjustable too. Is this something I can do my self?
During my investigation, I also removed the side skirts on my Carrera to clean them up and tidy up some rough spots on the body. When I turned a couple of the screws that hold them to the brackets on the right rocker panel, the whole bracket ripped off my car! The oil lines run along that side and I am wondering how I am going to replace them without removing the oil lines. This is really starting to get complicated. –Wade
A – Lowering the front end is easy and inexpensive on this generation Carrera. The rear end ought to be fairly straightforward except that I have found that the torsion bars are set from the factory, to go up, not down. Maybe they expected them to sag? That, combined with the age of the rubber bushings (that are now over twenty years old) turns this job into a nightmare. The rubber donuts act as bearings and get destroyed along with the torsion bar caps. While it is expensive, I think that most folks will not have access to the wide array of dangerous tools needed to do it safely.
As far as the side skirts, you are skewered on the horns of a dilemma. To replace those brackets, you will have to lower or remove the oil pipes, grind down (or cut) to solid metal and weld them back on. That is going to hurt.
An alternative method that I have used is rectangular plastic blocks that attach to the rocker panel with two stainless steel screws. If you engineer them well, the side skirt can be secured to them. They are every bit as solid as the original bracket. When the car does get restored in the next decade or two, you might want to put the original brackets back on but if you want to drive your car this summer, it is hard to beat plastic and stainless steel. – MC