Doors Up Storage/Torsion life

[Watkins Family <watbmv@xxxx>]

Other than the fact that the bar is under the most stress in the down
position, is there any info from the manufacturer of the bars that the
life expectancy is cut short by closed storage? This would be an
interesting thing to research. Since the bars were cryogenically
twisted at minus 200 or so degrees I would assume that any regional
temperature shift would not affect the life of the bars. Being in Maine
my doors do go up slowly when the temp gets cold but this doesn't change
the summer performance. Our 0 to -20 degree weather is nothing compared
to what temps the bars saw when they where made.

I'm sure these were designed with the idea that the doors would remain
down more often than they would be up. Given the age of our cars and
the fact that torsion bar snapping doesn't seem to be a larger issue
brought up on the list, would it be reasonable to assume that we
shouldn't all start storing "doors up"?. I don't want to start a "me
too" thread but I can't imagine most of you put your cars up for the
winter with the doors up. Even the deloreans magazine storage info
says to store doors closed. I would think condensation and other winter
issues would be worse for the car.

I would like to know however if the "carcoon" available from DMC has
enough room in it for a doors up storage? If I chose to store doors up
in the open, it would mean lot of little critters camping out in the
car!

Also, a question was asked about the availability of torsion bars. If I
recall, James said they had plenty. Perhaps this could be restated.

Tom
#005732