944 IRS conversion

[oprn]

I just came across this. For all those that are considering 944 parts it has some good data!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVJPhQo1cms
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[oprn]

Time for first impressions.

I drove the car briefly yesterday. The ride height is too high for my liking at the present but I did not detect and banging on the lower stops... yet. I do plan to index it lower if I keep these 944 bars. The ride did not seem overly harsh but there were no major bumps on the short drive.

The car seems a bit busier at speed. There are 3 things I am going put that down to. 1) It's been a year and a half since I drive a short wheel based car, 2) the extra rake is cancelling the effects of some of my extra castor. 3) it hasn't had a rear wheel alignment yet.

How about the brakes? Oh ya! I am liking it so far. The 944 rear discs are not overwhelming the EMPI fronts at all. I have not locked it up on pavement but on gravel the fronts are still locking first. I need to get out there now and do some serious panic stop testing but at this point the car feels very stable under hard braking.

On to the peddle feel. My previous complaint with adding the EMPI front disc brakes was that suddenly it took much more effort to stop the car than it did with the stock drum brakes. My attempted fix for that was to lengthen the lever arm of the brake peddle. I increased the mechanical advantage from the stock 5/1 ratio to 6.6/1. Oh ya! That did the trick! I would do that again in a heart beat! It almost has the feel of power assisted brakes now.

I will have to admit at this point though that the peddle does have quite a bit of "free play" before you get braking and it does feel a bit spongy. I bled the brakes at least 5 times what with changes, leaks found etc.. so I am pretty confident that there is no air in the system. Here is what I am putting it all down to until proven otherwise:

1) I used the stock Beetle master cylinder, smaller bore = more peddle travel but less stopping effort required.
2) 4 short rubber flex lines. I may try braided steel lines.
3) one rear caliper can be seen to tweak sideways slightly when brake are applied = wasted motion.
4) no residual pressure valves... yet.
5) the added peddle length is causing flex in the brake peddle/firewall/MC connection.

All of the above are adding up to make for a less than solid peddle feel.

I also must not neglect to mention that the parking brake (even though the 944 has it's own separate parking brake drums and shoes) is not as good as the stock Beetle ones. That is a definite down grade. I moves the system from an emergency brake to parking only status.

More to come after a proper alignment and some serious road miles.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[Busstom]

Nice summary.

[oprn]

Yes!
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[Daddybus]

My split bus (the Daddybus) has 944 IRS. The parking brake pads need to be adjusted correctly (slight drag) and equally R/L (both wheels lock up with the same amount of force). You also need proper modification to the cable housing (cable housing extender) so you pull enough cable to lock up the shoes. When adjusted correctly, both wheels lock up completely and equally using only 3 clicks of the parking brake handle.

[Busstom]

[oprn]

[Clatter]

Trivia tip:

The little brake shoes inside the 944 rear rotor hat are the same dimensions as early split Beetle.
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Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[oprn]

[oprn]

Turned out pretty good, he only had to adjust the toe a little but. Adjusted the front toe more but it's been 3 years since the front was looked at.

I could use a bit more castor but I think I will lower the rear ride height and see what that does.

I am pleased with the gearing change so far. 2900 RPM at 60 mph. My only concern now is cooling. Today I was facing a 30 mph wind that was gusting to 50 mph on the way there. The oil temperature hit 190*F after a half hour. On the way home running with the wind it peaked at 180*F. It normally runs at 210*F at 70*F ambient so when it warms up I will know if I need more fan speed.
_________________
We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[oprn]