Front end choice for drag bug?

[BFB]

Im thinking maybe in a year or so about building a drag bug and just kicking ideas around and wondered if ya’ll were going to build one what’d be your choice for front end? KP, BJ, stock, aluminum , maybe custom I beam? something else?
I had a buddy that had a rat rod bug that had an I beam front end and we were pretty sure it was quite a bit lighter than a stock vw beam.
I’d think with the I beam the castor adjustability would be nice.
And the fact that for most of the I beams theres more brake options available. And yes i am kinda leaning towards an I beam, for the previous reasons and itd be easy to extend the wheel base some too.
Thoughts?
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"how am i supposed to torque the rear wheel nut to 250 ft lbs??? " - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
Most experts aren't.

[NJ John]

You want a beam with factory style bearings on the control arms. So aluminum and aftermarket beams are out. BJ or KP work. My second beam in my drag buggy was all built with Jim Larsens(JCL)input. Narrowed, no adjusters, a bunch of leaves removed, cheap 90/10 shocks for a Mopar. It’s all about stored energy and a free moving suspension. Upgraded shocks for more adjustability if you want to spend more money. The rear suspension is where you can really spend some money.
But, some get lucky with worn out stock shocks and a already saggy front end. It all depends on how fast you wanna go and if you want to do all the upgrades at once.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[jim martin]

no reason to waste all the energy on some custom I beam setup .
when the std vw frt ends work beautifully .I agree with having the bearings in the beam as smooth movement really helps with weight transfer .I do like ball joint beams just like the positive feel just seams more solid . the competition engineering 90/10 frt race shocks from a mopar are way to stiff for a vw been there,I use the dual adjustable qa1 up frt and the Ron lumps dual adjust at rear .the qa1 were not revalvable and could not control the back of my car even at max setting ,Rons still have 3 clicks each way much better and can be revalved stiffer if needed.
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B.C's fastest street legal vw , June 2006 Hot VW's feature car 9.81 sec at 145.26mph.
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Airspeedparts.com topic http://airspeedparts.com/forums/index.php?topic=914.0

[BFB]

Whats the problem with the bushings vs bearings?
_________________
"how am i supposed to torque the rear wheel nut to 250 ft lbs??? " - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
Most experts aren't.

[jim martin]

Roller bearings just move smoothly without binding
_________________
B.C's fastest street legal vw , June 2006 Hot VW's feature car 9.81 sec at 145.26mph.
Sponsored by :
LUCAS OIL PRODUCTS http://www.lucasoil.com
KROC head porting services
Dialedinperformance.com
Airspeedparts.com topic http://airspeedparts.com/forums/index.php?topic=914.0

[NJ John]

My current 90/10’s are Summit brand and seem stiff on my 73 bug.
The drag buggy had C/E fronts and seemed softer. However, I had very little spring left in the beam.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[jim martin]

This is what you need to do , without getting into chassis setup.
Disconnect your frt shocks . Then at ride height grab your frt bumper and pull up . If it does not lift smoothly like a feather you have issues . That’s stage 1.
Step 2 is add shocks , now you have a base line to work from .
_________________
B.C's fastest street legal vw , June 2006 Hot VW's feature car 9.81 sec at 145.26mph.
Sponsored by :
LUCAS OIL PRODUCTS http://www.lucasoil.com
KROC head porting services
Dialedinperformance.com
Airspeedparts.com topic http://airspeedparts.com/forums/index.php?topic=914.0