Raising My Ghia's Rear Suspension

[[email protected]]

I have a late 72 Conv Ghia and I want to raise the suspension. What's the best way to do that and do I need to lower the front suspension to give the car that "stacked" look? This is how the car looks now but I want it just the opposite. Thanks

[TDCTDI]

Take the engine out, that'll raise the rear right on up.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


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[c21darrel]

That will work!^^^
There is this.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=433753
Probably just need to re-index the torsion a click.
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[TDCTDI]

An outer click will be too much, unless you want to be like that goofy bastard that tried going for the rally look.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[jeffrey8164]

I just finished reindexing the rear of my 70. IRS just like yours. You don’t say how much you want to raise it. You may have to grind off the trailing arm stops, get longer shocks etc.

I drew out a pattern and at a 16” pivot point 4.5 degrees results in about an inch change. Stock height is about 21 degrees on an unloaded spring plate. Don’t worry about how many clicks inner or outer as in my case each had to be adjusted. Just get a magnetic angle finder and extrapolate.

In my case I just wanted the rear a tad lower so I went with 18 degrees which should give me about a 3/4 inch drop.
My drivers side was resting at 20 degrees and my passenger side was resting at 21. Once everything is apart it’s very easy to adjust. I ended up with a solid 17.5 degrees on both arms.

It’s harder to get the trailing arms out of the way than anything.
And as a bonus you can check the full travel of your wheel and tire combo to check for rubbing.

[[email protected]]

I'm not sure how much I want to raise it but I want it raised enough so the back is slightly higher than the from so I'm looking down at my hood and not over my dashboard. I'm 6ft tall so Im not small but I like to feel like Im sitting up in my car not down inside of it. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for all the feedback (and jokes) it's def a help. My dad is the experience car guy so Im running all this past him and he and I will be able to make it work Im sure.

[myghiarocks]

[[email protected]]

Here is a Pic of the car. As you can see the front is higher than the rear, I want just the opposite.

[CiderGuy]

[Rome]

The rear ride height looks just about optimal. I would not raise it more than an inch, accomplished by a combination of rotating the torsion bar's inner end as well as repositioning the outer end of the bar where it meets the trailing arm. As for the front, it would probably not need to be lowered more than an inch. This would give either a completely level body, or "slightly" raked to the front. Best way would be an adjustable front axle beam. Lowered spindles go down too far, usually 2.5", and you have to drill them for the disc brake backing plates. Then again, you can test the appearance of a lowered front by placing some weightlifting single-arm weights ("dumbbells") inside the front bumper to get the look you want.

Do you have the front tire pressures set to the factory values, of approx. 18psi?

[kiwighia68]

Judging by where your Ghia's rear fender arch sits halfway up the rubber of the rear tyre, I think the rear is good where it is. The front could easily be lowered by means of an adjustable beam, as Rome suggests. (And I agree with him on the dropped spindles issue. Not necessary to achieve a slight rake down towaards the front.)

And you won't have tyre rubbing issues either.
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Festina lente - hasten slowly
1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015

[TDCTDI]

While the rear of the car is slightly lower, probably due to sag in the rear torsion bars, it's not too far off from being level. Most of the perceived height difference is due to the fact the front wheel wells are higher to clear the front wheels when turning left/right, this is common in all automotive design. If you place a straight edge across the image, along the upper chrome side molding, you will see that the line is within 1/2"-1" of being in the same place on the front & rear hubcaps.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[doregan]

There are a couple of youtube videos on raising/lowering the rear.

I have a 1974 vert and it looks a little lower in the rear like yours. I am not aware that it was purposely lowered. I could simply be age-related sag.

You can always skip the suspension issues and just put slightly larger diameter tires on the rear and slightly smaller diam. on the front.

[TDCTDI]

[doregan]

I think if you are judicious in the sizes (diameters) and types of tires you use, you can use a slightly larger diameter tire on the rear and slightly smaller diameter on the front and it will look fine. Problem is that there is not much to choose from if you are trying to maintain the same aspect ratio and still fit on a 4.5j-15 rim.

I have 205/60R15 tires on mine (below) on Pedrini rims. The wide tires makes the steering pretty heavy. I had a '67 Ghia some 40+ years ago and it handled well. I might just get rid of the tires (and possibly the Pedrinis) and go with stock wheels and 165R15 Nexen radials. Maybe slightly oversized in the rear to level the car or get a slight rake.

In the long run, adjusting the rear torsion bars could be your easiest solution. Probably cheaper too.

[MontyOnWheels]

Does anyone know the stock rear ride height? The measurement from pavement to the top of the wheel house arc?? (obviously stock tire size)

[kurt912]

[mnwesty]