I am restoring a 72, and one of the trunk torsion rods??? was broken when I got the car. It is the one that fits into the left hinge(drivers) and the right side bracket(passengers). Anyway, I went to my local used Chevy parts guy and he pulled a whole pile of these bars out of the corner, and they were all the same, so I bought one and tried to put it in, well, it is 2 or 3 inches too long. Any help on this matter would be appreciated...is there an installation trick? Is there a different size rod? Thanks

Becareful when buying new(used) ones for your car. Those rods are SIDE specific and CANT be switched from right to left vise versa.

Also those rods are specific to the GM A-body ONLY. I would stick with getting rods that you KNOW came out of a 68-72 chevelle or 70-72 Buick, only cause they carry the same deck lid, pontiac and olds have different lids so the rod tension might be different along with the length. Just Looked through my parts book and only rods from a chevelle or Buick will interchange smile.gif

To install them I best method Ive found is that you start at the end to goes to the deck lid arm.. You might need a buddy to help you hold the lid up as you install the rod. But get the end that goes to arm first, make sure it fits into the groove on the arm snug. I forgot to mention to install them you need a tool to place the adjustment end of the rod in the slots. You can make this out of like 1/8 steel, all you need to do is cut a U shaped slot into the end so the rod will fit inside, should look like a pickle fork or ball joint seprator.

Ok now to fit the rod inside the slotted end you need to apply pressure in the middle of the rod so it bends slightly, not alot of pressure is needed. Now that it is bent you can slip the adjustment end into one of the slots. that tool allows you to adjust the rod into diff slots, so you can adjust the opening and closing tension of the deck lid

Forgot to mention that when installed correctly the end that fits into the slotted end, the end SHOULD point down and to the front of the car. If it points up or back its installed wrong or you have the wrong rod...Eric