really making a link pin beam hug the corners

[Chickensoup]

so ive been pondering on what i want to do with my car after i get my current set up on the road. right now its as follows,

stock width '65 link/king pin beam
-stock needle bearings
-welded in adjusters (sway away kind)
-stock trailing arms
-rebuilt stock spindle assemblies
-lowered empi oil shocks (they are going bye bye soon)
-stock drums
-stock rebuilt steering box

but heres my proposal on what i think will be a good idea.
If i remove the center grub screw on the adjuster so that the torsion bars arent doing anything but keeping the spindles in the beam, and use the adjustable GAZ coil overs with the correct length, will i see an improvement?

also, i want as wide of a front track as possible, however i also want to stuff some wider tires/rims under there (like maybe 5.5s). if i buy something along the lines of the cb disk brake kits, and have half and inch turned off the face of the hub/rotors, in order to fit wider tires, will this ultimately improve or hurt cornering characteristics?

other than having the correct caster angle(right now i have one set of shims), is there anything else to consider?

thanks

edit- ive seen the off road guys rifle drill their trailing arms. does this actually add to strength and make a worth while weight loss? also i just realized that if i completely remove the center grub screws then i will be making a death trap due to the side load put on the trailing arms and bushings. so im thinking i will leave the grub screw is, but make the sides above the threads in the beam smooth so it can still move up and down and then weld a box like container over the grub screw with a cap on it so it can back out
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-'85 c10 5.3 LS, 222 cam, long tubes, x pipe, 3 inch spin tech's
-'05 B5.5 TDI Wagon 17in sport rims ;EGR + BSM + ASV Delete, Stage-2 Tune, straight pipe
'65 Tourist Delivery Build
'66 RIP
'69 RIP
Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"

[esde]

You won’t find a way to narrow the disc brakes. If it could be done, they would’ve done it
You could follow the formula vee tricks, they can get a beam to handle pretty well. I run offset link pin bushings for a touch of front negative camber, you can really take a turn hard. That, with Koni reds and a white line sway bar has been pretty good for me. And 3” narrowed at that ( with discs)
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[modok]

The key to grip... is to get good tires; high performance tires. They come in many sizes.
bigger tires are not always better, just bigger. Overloaded loses grip, called "load sensitivity" but underloaded isn't good either.. so how do we choose?

Tires have a load rating right on the side, that's a clue. Not the total picure but for example.
Lets select tires so the corner weight is around 40% of the load rating.
Average bug maybe there is 400lbs on each front wheel, 600 on the rear

So lets say you want a load rating of 1000 front and 1500 rear.....

You can look it up yourself, but usually the way it works out is you end up needing the smallest size they make for the front, and the biggest size that will fit in the rear.

[earthquake]

I would dump the torsion springs in the front beam and use Through rods, It will save a few pounds. I would not do any thing to the trailing arms, they are forged steel and are plenty strong for what you are trying to do.
I have wanted to make a pitman arm to mount on the passenger side of the beam and use a drag link so you cam use two driver side tie rods and get rid of the long tie rod, it should help with any bump steer.
To bad you cant use a ball joint front beam, they are easier to set up for handling them a LP front end and they have a little camber adjustment in them.

eQ
_________________
74 CLASS 11 LOOK-A-LIKE
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[-Alex77-]

I would try 195-205 semislicks and 2 degree negative camber.

45-50 profile with 16" wheels and 50-60 profile with 15" wheels.

Also big improvement would be coilovers with adjustable shocks and rack and pinion steering (VW Polo 86C steering rack fits)
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Lasercut parts and CAD design

[FreeBug]

Well, unlike a through-rod, keep the top springs and they will act as an extra sway-bar, like the type 3. Interesting.

[Dale M.]

Also consider 3/4 inch anti sway bars front and rear....

Also a lot of excellent advice in another forum...

https://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewforum.php?f=51&sid=b42562d2106018d08fcb61961f41af60

Dale
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"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
============================================================
All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[frenchroast]

Probably controversial but if you're willing to sacrifice some straight line stability in favor of better turn-in, you can experiment with the toe slightly out. It will chew the inside edge of the tire more and directional stability will be less on the freeway though. I have no experience doing that on a link pin so caveat emptor and all that. I used to do this on my GTI but I like the bug (ball joint) and awd bmw at zero toe.

[DeathBySnuSnu]

My experience is very old.....and I am currently re-learning what I thought I knew.
But as I see it.....combining the two.

Keep the scrub radius down.....if you run disc or something that pushed the wheel flange out then you must run the correct offset to get the scrub back it.

Put some more castor in.,....shims

Put a degree or two negative camber in it.

Don't run a large width tire......you will never get it hot enough to stick.

Through rods a Gaz type coil overs are great.....so adjustable for spring rate and dampening,.......but do not do anything for the geometry such as above. If you can afford them them run them.....will give you that edge of tunability specific for your car.

Overall......it is still an ancient design.....work well for what is it.
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[Chickensoup]

sorry about the delay. i was camping with some vdubbers and got 0 sleep on friday after forgetting the air mattress and laying on rocks at 28 degrees F.

lots of useful info it seems. i know theres a little science to tire choice so i will read some more on that. i dont want too aggressive of a tire tho. i will research.

wow i didnt even know through rods existed. thats awesome. i will be using those and the gaz coil overs i think.

ive heard about good results using the larger diamater sway bars. who makes a decent bar?

with a link pin beam, adding washers may add a little bit of camber but it will wear out the bushing tho. so what should i do? have new bushings and washers drilled at and angle and then file the sides of the pin carriers?

right now my tires scrub pretty bad, i really like the current ride height. i dont have the current tire size off the top of my head but should go with a more narrow tire? rim size is 5.5in in width and 15in diameter.

what tire size would yall recommend?

thank you!
_________________
-'85 c10 5.3 LS, 222 cam, long tubes, x pipe, 3 inch spin tech's
-'05 B5.5 TDI Wagon 17in sport rims ;EGR + BSM + ASV Delete, Stage-2 Tune, straight pipe
'65 Tourist Delivery Build
'66 RIP
'69 RIP
Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"

[modok]

165/65R15 Continental procontact tx
or 175/65
I like 5" wide wheels, but 5.5 is ok.
or 185/60 is ok too

[Ian Godfrey]

I also think 185 is probably as wide as I'd go on a 5.5 rim. if you are going for stock tyre height:
185/70 15 Dunlop D83J
185/70 15 Blockley radial
are 2 good old style tyres that work with our primitive suspension
The Dunlop is also available in a 205/60 which would be nice on the back maybe on a 6.5 or 7 inch rim

[Chickensoup]

Thanks for the recommendations!

I checked the tire size. They are Nanking 165r15 875

So I'm guessing the 875 means 75 for the side wall?

I'm thinking about going with the first ones Modok recommended. The size seems right and they have a 5.0 star review!
_________________
-'85 c10 5.3 LS, 222 cam, long tubes, x pipe, 3 inch spin tech's
-'05 B5.5 TDI Wagon 17in sport rims ;EGR + BSM + ASV Delete, Stage-2 Tune, straight pipe
'65 Tourist Delivery Build
'66 RIP
'69 RIP
Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"

[Chickensoup]

[esde]

[Chickensoup]

[Teeroy]

Taller tires wont handle as well.
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ARR #3
www.autosportsnorthwest.org

[Busstom]

[Chickensoup]

[Busstom]

Well, out of curiosity, I just did a search for "Nanking" tires, cuz that's what you actually typed, and they apparently don't exist, because I was redirected to Nankang tires. And Nankang 165R15 875 is what I searched for yesterday, and those didn't come up either.

So I suspect that the tire you're photographing is so old that it even pre-dates "tire dating" standards, and which, if it does, could explain Nankang's non-standard size lettering on the sidewall. I'd be really interested (read: surprised) if that tire has a date code embossed in the DOT code (it would only be on one side).

So I don't know what the "75" means in 875, I suppose it could be the height, as you suggested, but then I don't know what the "8" means.

Edit: Ahhhh, I see, the tire doesn't read "875," it reads 87S, which is probably a load index and speed rating or something (notice the difference between the 5 and the S).