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Sat Feb 28, 2009 7:49 pm

Thought I'd post up some pics of what I've been working on. It may give somebody an idea or two and maybe we can see some more creative wheel/tire choices out there.

I bought the narrowest 18's I could find with the most backspacing I could get. 18x7 with 4.25 backspacing. I narrowed the rear about an 1-1/4 each side using the short side axles from an automatic type III. The axles are only 1.04" narrower than stock, so some people claim you can't narrow the rear more than that exact amount. I can slip my axles in between the stubs and I still have 1/4" to spare. That coupled with the depth of the C.V. mount, I'm hoping will be enough. Anyway, here are some pics to chronicle my progress.

Wheels

Don't fit

I cut the carrier bearings out of the arms and then cut the face of the arm off. I built a simple jig with some caster spanners and steel to take measurements off of. I bolted the jig to the spring plate perch which is exactly parallel to the back of the carrier bearing flange. I then made sure the 1/4" plate I was now using for the face of the arm was parallel to the spring plate perch. (When I was all done you could lay a straight edge across the rotor and measure to the spring plate perch with calipers and it was dead nuts on)

I welded the 1/4" plate to the face of the trail arm and then sunk the carrier bearing into it. You can see the camber built into the carrier in this pic. The flange is wider on one side than the other. You have to make sure you weld it back in, the way it came out. I measured 157 times before I welded anything up.

Then, I boxed the rear with 4" square tubing.

As it turned out, that wasn't quite enough as the tire rubbed ever so slightly.

Plenty of room on the inside though.

A friend of mine had a great idea though. He asked me if I could build my own caliper mount and get rid of the stamped one that came in my disc brake kit. It took me some figuring, but I figured out a way that I could.

I made a new caliper mount and bolted it to the old one. The caliper bolts to the outside face of the mount, so I'm just moving where the caliper mounts, back the thickness of the original mount (1/4").

I took my outside spacers (on the right) to the machine shop and had the thickness of the original mount machined off of the face of it. That allows the rotor to go the same thickness farther toward the center of the car. Everything (seals, bearings, spacers) work exactly like they did before, it's just missing the thickness of the original caliper mount (1/4").

Bolted TIGHT!

Finished product

I tried to get my rotors on and ran out of splines on the stub by a little less than 1/8" because the rotors are sliding 1/4" further on the axle. I took my rotors in on thursday to have 1/8" of the splines taken out of the bore, so I can push it on the full 1/4"

I'll try to post some more pics when I get my rotors back and the wheels on the car.

Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:07 pm

you have any pics of the car? I like the wheels.

Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:08 pm

SWEET! bout time you started a build up thread.

Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:24 pm

Looks cool, but I didnt realize 18s required so much work, I wonder how these other guys did it:

Sat Feb 28, 2009 9:16 pm

jmsmilin wrote: Looks cool, but I didnt realize 18s required so much work, I wonder how these other guys did it:

The first set fit because swingaxle is narrower than IRS, and the wheels on the second one (which is IRS) are FWD offset. I could have went with FWD offset, and was going to, when the arms weren't narrow enough. I was pretty distraught at that time.

Sat Feb 28, 2009 9:23 pm

Skim wrote: SWEET! bout time you started a build up thread.

It'll be sad compared to any of your build threads. :lol:

rusty57 wrote: you have any pics of the car? I like the wheels.
Just a turd I bought for $1500. It had a nice Empi wheel minus the horn button. That's worth 1/3 of what I paid for the car. :lol:

No rust to speak of and the top is nice. I used a 2-part cleaner and conditioner on the top. As I was coating it, I realized that it didn't have even one tear or crease or anything. It must not have went down very often. Even though it looked shitty at first glance, the top turned out to be perfect. Shit, it even runs pretty good.

It's pretty clean everywhere you look.

Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:25 pm

$1500, and it runs?

That was a score.

Sun Mar 01, 2009 11:43 pm

Thats a clean looking vert bro!
Its gonna look good once its sitting on all fours.... 8) 8)

Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:31 am

Noice!!!

Seems like the driver has gone down a lot more than that top has.

Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:54 am

69 Jim wrote: Noice!!!

Seems like the driver has gone down a lot more than that top has.
She was a nice old lady...

You're going straight to hell...LOL.

Not news to you though, right?

Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:02 am

chickengeorge wrote: 69 Jim wrote: Noice!!!

Seems like the driver has gone down a lot more than that top has.
She was a nice old lady...

You're going straight to hell...LOL.

Not news to you though, right?

I was talking about you fool. :lol:

Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:05 am

69 Jim wrote: chickengeorge wrote: 69 Jim wrote: Noice!!!

Seems like the driver has gone down a lot more than that top has.
She was a nice old lady...

You're going straight to hell...LOL.

Not news to you though, right?

I was talking about you fool. :lol:
You're still going to hell...only sooner now.

Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:40 am

Nice wheels! 8) You gonna paint it or just polish it?

Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:41 pm

Mike Fisher wrote: Nice wheels! 8) You gonna paint it or just polish it?
The Paint? I'm not sure I'll do either. I had to get a decklid (one year only) for it and it's red. It'll have one crazy colored fender (what ever I find) on the right rear as well. It had a Mexican re-pop which had a funky shape to it.
I might wax the car up, I don't know.
I think I'm mostly going to "Dukes of Hazard" into the thing and drive the CRAP out of it.

Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:50 pm

Might as well paint it now. You won't be happy with "OG" paint! :twisted:

Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:57 pm

Mike Fisher wrote: Might as well paint it now. You won't be happy with "OG" paint! :twisted:
LOL. Maybe I will...

Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:13 pm

3 months til the 24th Northwest VW Bug Run @ Woodburn, OR in OG/primer/paint?

Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:30 pm

Mike Fisher wrote: 3 months til the 24th Northwest VW Bug Run @ Woodburn, OR in OG/primer/paint?
I'm hoping to have it moving by April 4th. I actually bet my boss, so... :?

"Bug Run" huh?...I don't know man, I don't really like VW shows. I had fun at the Classic cause I was with other Samba folk, but I have much more fun at all-makes shows. I'd rather look at a sweet-ass slammed International pickup than a Yellow dune buggy with a stuffed Spongebob Squarepants in the driver's seat. VW people are just like Mopar people, Chevy people, etc, etc...When you get them all in the same place, it's kind of fuckered up.

Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:31 pm

We bring BBQ/shade tent/ice chest. Get Ning and Arlene to make Lumpia Shanghai! 8)

Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:35 pm

Mike Fisher wrote: Get Ning and Arlene to make Lumpia Shanghai! 8)
What the fuck did you just say to me?