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Mon Sep 20, 2021 6:48 am

Keep it up Ian. I'm watching for inspiration. 8)

Mon Sep 20, 2021 8:17 am

Heady stuff! 8)

Mon Sep 20, 2021 8:59 am

Ian,

Are you reporting travel based on the engine and body being on the pan?

Mon Sep 20, 2021 5:28 pm

Dorigtt, the travel measurements are at the wheel, with the car fully assembled.
So at the back 50mm to the bump stop and 80 to the metal is 60mm and 90 at the wheel. In the previous version of the car I had 28mm torsions and 27mm sway bar, to keep it very flat.
This time I'm going 26mm torsion and 22 sway to compliment the Mendeola front end which is more compliant and has rising camber so it is OK to let the body roll a bit more.
The rake is a bit less than 1 degree, so 30mm lower in the front
This all leads to using slightly shorter, softer bump stops that will engage more often as part of the suspension system rather than just being a bump stop.
Sorry for the long rave but I still get excited about what is possible with our old (light and simple) cars :D

Tue Sep 21, 2021 1:41 am

Ian,
Could you clarify what you mean by "80 to the metal"?

Please don't stop with the details! I'm building a car that'll be 75% street driven and 25% track use (not for competition, but for the safe driving enjoyment at the limit.)

Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:54 am

Dorigtt, I'm happy to answer questions. 'To the metal': if there was no rubber bump stop the trailing arm would hit the metal stop above, ie 50mm travel and 30mm high bump stop = 80mm.... and then a nasty metallic crunching sound :oops:

At the front there is 50mm of droop (below normal) and then 100mm of travel until the pan hit the ground, so I'll get some bump stops for the shocks to stop that.
I hope this all makes sense

Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:52 pm

Whoo! What a sweet build..!

Rear suspension gives me flashbacks to building my Fastback.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=581759

One thing (OK many things) done wrong on my build includes not checking alignment on the rear suspension while it was being built.
Lost toe-in when the suspension was at final ride height.
Coming clear back apart to trim more off of spring plates was no fun.
So be 100% sure you have plenty of adjustment in the rear - i never would have guessed this until it was too late.

You'll be really glad you went with a Berg5 vs. a Porsche gearbox.
While they are missing shifts and hunting for gears with a 901 or 915, you'll be long gone. 8)

You SURE you don't want a type 4?
They're for circuit racing you know.. :wink:

Oh, and strip all of those paint/bodywork products off ASAP,
Including the POR15.
That stuff is HEAVY!! :P

You'll run carpet and door panels, right?
With holes cut?
Doesn't weigh that much.. :D

Wed Sep 22, 2021 3:38 am

Clatter, thank you for you comments, I had read fair chunks of your thread as it comes up in google searches for suspension :)
you are absolutely right about the toe in. My first mock up at ride height seemed OK after I moved the inner pivot in and back as far as I could go

but when I set the camber to 2 deg neg I had 0 deg toe in :!: so yep, off with the spring plates and a bit of grinding to get enough adjustability of toe in, and that leads to a bit more cut off the bump stops and a bit more off the front spring plate bolt, well you know how it goes :cry:

i don't have experience with a 901 but a few peeps have said they don's shift as well as the later boxs with Borg Warner syncros (like a VW)

i like the light weight of the Type 1 engine and I think it is just all I know, though I did think about an oxy boxer for a while. Now i'm thinking a TF 1 case might give me the best of both worlds. Though there would be some negotiation at home for one of those to appear under the Xmas tree. :?

I've taken out all the sound deadening, but I've kept door panels and just the floor carpets that I can remove to race. the radio and heater has gone but I'm keeping the bud vase for giggles!

Wed Sep 22, 2021 12:51 pm

Where'd you get those adjustable inner bushings?!?!

Thu Sep 23, 2021 12:58 am

Dorigtt, those are weather sealed monoballs from Elephant racing:
https://www.elephantracing.com/944/weather-sealed-monoballs-for-944/trailing-arm-monoball-cartridge/
the bit that is red in the picture slides out and I took about 8mm off that so the arm would offset the max towards the centre of the car.
here's pic of the uniball without the red sleeves:

I also had to turn down the VW pivot bolt to fit:

normally the washers are on the inside on a VW trailing arm, both are now smaller and on the outside

Thu Sep 23, 2021 7:22 am

Well thought modifications, a great attention to detail.. I am loving this thread!

Antoine

Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:24 am

the next little step, I finished the hand brake.
to recap, the calipers and cables are from Rally Design in the UK
http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=11370
then I got some swage ends in 6mm, same as VW, and some cheap press dies off Ebay and swaged them on.

finished cables

and made up some brackets that attach to the lower shock mount to hold them at a suitable angle

and it all works....

Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:35 am

Next I've moved on to the engine upgrades.
first up I stripped and cleaned the 48IDA's and added JMP 40mm venturies and velocity stacks. You'll see the new venturies have no secondary venturi :idea:
It will be interesting to see how they work. I'm hoping for better throttle response and good top end. The old venturies were traditional 42mm ones with slightly shorter Berg stacks and the carbies were a bit temperamental in the mid range even with a third hole drilled.

Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:37 am

Nice attention to details Ian!

You know how much I appriciate this :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers
Lars

Fri Oct 15, 2021 1:38 am

not much visible progress recently, I've been pulling down my motor and measuring a lot for the rebuild. I did do some more work on the carbies and made a bracket for the Throttle Position Sensor from a kit made for 50DCO's

I also got my new starter from Brise, less than 1/2 the weight of a SR17 or 15

Sun Oct 31, 2021 12:58 am

Ian, the mass difference of the starters is amazing. Are those starters having any disadvantages for street use?

What is this second gear on the starter for???

Do you have a correct part number for the Type1 handy?

Thanks for sharing all those racer tips 8)

Cheers

Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:01 am

Lars, thanks for the comments, the 'second gear' is the reflection in the top of the scales :lol:
no down side that i can see other than cost :cry:
I'll check the part number for you.

Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:20 am

Ups :lol: :lol: :lol:

Of course... no magic technolog with second gear.... one never knows, what kind of tricks you dig out :D

Cheers

Sun Oct 31, 2021 5:12 pm

the Brise starter is part number:
763509AXGAC
it also fits some early porsche 911

Mon Nov 01, 2021 1:19 pm

Ian, did you maybe forget a number and it is 7635091AXGAC?

This is a Porsche starter and the only one I could find.

Thank you