Suspensio Adjusters

[Thumper]

I have recently got back into the 'bug scene' with '71 1600 beetle. The car stands as tall as my neighbours 4X4! Where in Cape Town, do I get adjusters and who can weld them in? I did the rear suspension before but how many on the front spline and rear spline to get a 40 to 50mm drop?

[calooker]

The front suspension has no splines so it is a cut & weld there, the rear can be lowered by turning the splines no problem, the rear suspension torsion bar has inner & outer splines with a different count, so if you turn 1 inner spline it will not give you the same drop as 1 outer spline, I have never turned the inner splines. This is not a job for the careless, you can loose a arm or leg if you are not careful, I use a chain strapped to the jack & spring plate & shock tower.
1 outer spline will give you about a 35mm drop, 2 or more and you will be running on your bump stops, your tires will be eaten up in no time and your shocks will bottom out so do your homework, or you will be doing it twice. Sometimes the suspension sags unevenly with time and you need to consider that too or you could land up with a ride that is lopsided.

[calooker]

The adjusters you can buy from Volkspares, give them a call they have them, the ship too, as for the welding, you will have to contact one of the local buggy / beetle shops.

[Thumper]

Thanks for the speedy reply. I would rather have someone with experience tackle this! I have read that to get rid of the jittery ride on a lowered front suspension is to fit spacers on the bottom tube. This will get the bug to 'return to centre' as well when turning. Have you done this?

[Tony Z]

Take the bug to Frank at Franks Motors in Woodstock, tell him what you want and he will do it. He's been into bugs and bug racing just as long as Dave Ingle, but he still does it, Daves now on the Golfs and others.

[calooker]

Yes, shims are used to sort out the suspension geometry after the front is lowered, I have never used them, so can't comment on their use, but also had no problem not using them and I drop the front about 35mm, the choice is yours.

[IMPI]

Using spacers between the lower beam and the frame head should only be neccessary when the car is lowered more in the front than the back. This was mandatory for tho old school california look cars that only lowered the front.
I have used old center main bearings as spacers with good luck in the past.

Should you not require the adjustability feature you can simply turn and weld the beams. (usually it is adjusted once and then stays there any way.

[Thumper]

Volkspares in JHB gave me a fair price on adjusters. Also a chap in Killarney Gardens that will weld them in for me, if I take the beam out myself. The back I will have to tackle myself it seems. As for rock hard suspension, if a leaf in each tube is removed, will that not return the 'feel' back to normal? The reduced travel makes it bumpy, so, fewer suspension blades=softer ride. No?

[calooker]

When the dudes remove leafs only from the top (a NO NO) because it is less hassle than removing from top & bott. it is cheap insurance cause even if the top grub screws don't bite properly on top at least the lower grub screws will hold things together a bit rather than having both trailing arms pull out altogether at the same time. By removing only at the top or only at the bottom puts a bit more stress on the leafs that have not had any removed, in turn making the ride harder (bouncy), don't cheap out on suspension or brakes, your life depends on it.

[Thumper]

The guys that build the MG TD replica cars on beetle chassis, like the Fibrefab do this quite often. The body is much lighter and the seat ends up where the back seat used to be. I suppose its not a good idea on a standard beetle. I don't mind the bumpy ride so much. As long as the car does'nt change lanes every time it goes over a painted line!

[Tony Z]

thumper

come to the braai, I'll show you what a rock hard suspension is like. We can chat about it then

[Thumper]

Will be there.