Have you looked into one of these?
https://youtu.be/ZcWw41MlPcA


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The 65-67 fastback is somewhat different than coupes or Cougars.

Wear leather gloves. Wrap an old blanket around the end of the rod to protect the trunk lid, and you. Remove the retaining nut, twist the rod to reduce tension on the little lever plate, disconnect the rod, and gently allow the rod to go slack.

 

Didn't realize the fastbacks were different. Learn something everyday.

 

^^^ +1 on the thicker gloves.

 

I have a couple of the retaining rings to hold the rod in place. They are not an exact replacement for the stock part (a little smaller OD) but will work. Exact replacements are not reproduced. PM me your mailing address if you want me to send a couple.

 

Mark: Not sure if we are talking about the same thing. My torsion rod doesn't have any retaining rings--just a clip on the driver side, and a metal arm on the passenger side that the torsion rod fits through. I am going to take several pictures later today and will post them here this afternoon. Thanks for your response. Please let me know your thoughts after you see the pictures. Ron

 

I'm the person who started this thread and promised to post some pictures of my trunk lid and the torsion rod. Here are the pictures (I hope. The photo app in Win10 is driving me crazy):

 

My early '65 Fastback (Sep '64 build) torsion rod which is different on both ends from the later torsion rod. I installed it for these photos but I leave it off because when installed and the trunk lid is closed the torsion from the rod raises the left rear corner and the body lines on the trunk lid don't match the quarter panel end cap body lines. First photo is the lid closed with the torsion rod. Second photo is without the rod.

 

Very common problem and hard to adjust. Many use aftermarket gas hinges or take the torsion rod out and prop.

 

More re trunk lid torsion bar

AWHTX: So that means that my fastback with a February 1965 scheduled build date has a "new and improved" torsion bar! Lol. I would never have guessed that my factory set-up was an improvement over anything! But great pictures and thanks for posting them. If you still have it set up in your trunk, could you post a couple close-up shots of the driver-side hinge so I can see how the torsion rod is secured to the hinge? Hard to believe that mine, which is secured on the driver side with an electrical clip, is an improvement! Thanks, Ron

 

If you still have it set up in your trunk, could you post a couple close-up shots of the driver-side hinge so I can see how the torsion rod is secured to the hinge?

The driver's side isn't secured to anything. It just slips through a slot in the hinge arm and then that square U shaped bracket on the outside of the hinge arm surrounds it.
I disassembled the car 25 years ago and now I don't remember what was on the right end of the rod. It may have had an axle "push nut" or a cotter pin. There is a hole in the end of the rod that I put a hairpin clip through but I don't remember if the factory drilled that hole and had a cotter pin in it or if I drilled the hole.

 

This is what I'm talking about...

 

If you just need to remove the trunk lid, perhaps you could simply remove the lid from the hinges without disturbing the springs at all. Don't know for sure, never done it myself.

 

Okay, gotcha. There's one on the torsion rod now, passenger side, and I've seen these at the nearby OSH. If the inside diameter is wrong for my application and I can't reuse the old one, I may come knocking to buy one or two from you. Many thanks, Ron...

 

No charge.

 

Old Paint: That's exactly what I did today. Piece of cake. Not sure if my painter will be happy with the rod suspended there above the trunk, but he's used to working on Mustangs so I'll let him deal with it if necessary. Two pluses for removing the lid today: First, I had easy access to the old weather strip which had petrified to the point of feeling like a piece of granite and is coming off easier on the bench than if the lid was still on the car. And secondly, I was able to get a good look at the car's original Rangoon Red color on the underside of the deck lid, an area where the sun was seldom--or never?--seen. I masked off a section of it today and took a little rubbing compound to it followed by a few squirts of McGuires "quick detail" spray. The color seemed to really pop, especially in comparison to the section next to it that I didn't touch. I will try to post the picture later and maybe some of the forum members who own Rangoon Red colors and have better color vision than I do can let me know if the area I cleaned up is a match for the original Rangoon Red from the factory. Hope so. Later, Ron...