Performance Chassis for T1

[acidjzaz]

Hello

All of your chassis builds look great!!! and I am considering parts for my next build.

I have read from your site how well they handle but I too would like to request some kind of performance video clip.

California is the state of endless endless roads

I would vote you get a car to Matt Farah and let him review it.

That guy is dying to drive anyone's car and would probably love to get it on his channel..

His team would take care of all the production work and I guess you would just need to get the car to him.

It would be a win win for everyone.

[CruzerDog]

I have both, the front and back products with a Medeola MD4 and new 2110 cc VW. It should be finished by late December or early January, 2018 if you like to use for your video. You would have to go to Florida to drive it .....

Gary

[acidjzaz]

I'm down .. !!
hahaha

[gdando]

As I finally get Frankenstein back on the road I am hating how a 3+” narrowed beam drives on southern Italian roads. I read all the posts from page 1 and am curious to learn if my oringinal 5.5 Fuchs will be compatible with your front suspension and brakes.
_________________
"Sicilian Frankenstein, 74 T-1 w/ 2110, irs, Gilmore A/C, disk brakes, original fuchs 6" dish"

http://www.shoptalkforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=120800&highlight=

[coolrydes]

[Plipton]

Kevin,

Can you check your email junk folders please? I have been trying to get hold of you for the last few months with no success.

I know you follow this thread so I'm having to try here.

Thanks
Rick

[TheViking]

[BuggyT4]

Hi Viking,

My best advice to you is to stay away from the Mendeola suspension, or whatever it is called now. The suspension itself is built OK, however the spindles are absolutely terrible. Those on my suspension broke, were repaired, and cracked again. According to Coolrydes they broke because, even though I had rims and tyres of the recommended size (17" rims and 205 x45 tyres), the rims did not have the recommended ET. First time I ever heard of spindles cracking because of the ET. Anyway, the manner in which those spindles were welded was shocking (not just my own evaluation, but that of a pro who has built VWs for decades). When I asked Coolrydes to deliver replacement spindles, he made one excuse after another, and after delaying delivery for months, finally asked me close to USD 1,500 (plus shipping) for a pair of replacement spindles. The whole suspension (including spindles) costs USD 3,295, so he sells the spindles for almost half the cost of the entire suspension. I will let you appreciate whether this constitutes eye gouging, or is a fair price. I asked what improvements were made to the design and fabrication that would ensure the spindles do not break again, and I was not impressed with the answer, so I passed. BTW it was Coolrydes himself who installed the suspension.
From what I understand, as those spindles are welded, they will never pass TÜV inspection, and I would recommend that you look at better built alternatives, of which there are several. Just my two cents.

[TheViking]

[BuggyT4]

I am not sure what it is exactly you are looking for. For front A-arms or twin-wishbone suspension, there is a company in the UK called Red9design that makes such a suspension. I am not sure whether they are better or worse than the Mendeola one, and whether they would pass TÜV. There is another post on The Samba comparing a few products, but some of them may be NLA: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5153005

Before deciding on buying anything, make plenty of research on as many forums as possible. Good luck!

[TheViking]

[BuggyT4]

For better handling than stock IRS, have you looked into replacing the rear arms with Porsche 944 arms, and using a Käfer bar?

[Plipton]

Richarzzz Speedshop is currently finishing a Red9 chassis in Germany which has to pass TuV. Check them out on FB and maybe call them for info.

I went with Mendeola for the following reasons (compared to Red9)

The spindles are stock on red9 however they have bolted-on steering arms which I thought would work loose/be slack/not be strong enough generally.
The Red9 system bolts to the chassis in lieu of the torsion tubes. Mendeola welds securely in place.
There appears to be little or no support at the rear of the Red9 system and I fear it could flex horribly.
The whole system looks flimsy to me.
I have heard from others that Red9's system (the T2 version) has weak spots and can break.
There is no option to narrow the front on Red9
Mendeola offers a matching rear end which is built to work well with their front system.
The Mendeola spindles, however, would probably not pass TuV, TUF, MoT ,WoF etc in the EU/UK/Aus/NZ etc. I am currently building mine with stock spindles and using an adapter (made by Halbug) to restore the correct camber.
Mendeola requires moving the steering shaft to a new location. Red9 uses stock steering shaft.

There are other systems available. I made my choice based on the above. Do your homework and ask around and see what people generally think of both systems (and others). It's a lot of money to spend so spend it wisely.

[TheViking]

[TheViking]

[Plipton]

[TheViking]

[Plipton]

It's all about the scrub. A longer top wishbone would give a different scrub radius. I think the original design used stock spindles but that was changed later.

Also the Mendeola spindles are 30mm lower which you can sort-of achieve by adjusting the shocks but then you're further into the camber arc at your static ride height so any compression will provide more negative camber quicker than using Kevin's spindles. You can't use normal dropped spindles, by the way.

You could adjust the bottom wishbones to their inner most position (as long as the caster was OK) but then you lose the scrub again. It all depends which wheel/tyre combo you use. I believe the Mendeola system is designed to work with 205/40 x 17 tyres and a 45 - 55mm ET number.

Yes they should pass TÜF. Halbug has got them through TÜV in Germany. I'm assuming that the 2 standards are similar, of course.

[TheViking]

[Plipton]