Very cool David ! Greg just told me that my wheels will be 5.5 rear and 4.5 front so it looks like 205s rear and 175s frt ?
I’d go 195/175
I' ve drilled two 1/8" in the rear portion of the floor pans to let the water out.... this does lighten up the overall weight a bit.
aircooled posted:Collecting empirical data to determine pass or fail parameters on drill lightening could get very expensive in this instance.
Carlos, I believe the rims are 5.5 " I was thinking 205s all around but that could change later.
Is anyone else using Vredestein tires besides Stan ?...................Bruce
Vredestein Sprint Classics on the Speedster.
Congrats, Bruce. In my feeble and fevered brain I've worked out a theoretical A-arm/coil over independent rear suspension that could work on a Vintage.
I look forward to seeing Greg's design & how different it is from the pictures in my head.
Yes, you have to watch that you don't compromise the strength of what you're drilling holes in, but since so many VW parts are way over-engineered it's a valid (and time proven) way of putting a car on a diet, and a lighter car accelerates and stops faster. My friend Bruce showed a number of things he'd lightened to an engineer friend of his and everything he'd done met with the guy's approval. Similarly, I've shown a few things to an engineering student I know (a friend's son) with no negative comments either. Porsche and a number of manufacturers and race teams have drilled holes in parts over the years with great success. I'm sure there are instances where someone has gone too far, parts have failed and it's cost teams races; it can be hard to resist the temptation to go too far. Believe me, once you get started it's easier said than done!
And yes, it would be really cool to just make everything out of lighter and stronger materials, but that can run into big $$$$ (which, sorry to say, I don't have). So far the major cost has been time; I haven't ruined nearly as many drill bits as I thought I would, although I did break 2- 1/8" carbide ($20 each) and 1- 1/4" carbide (almost $60- you can guess how loud I yelled at that 1) drill bits when drilling transaxle gears. A lot of the trans stuff is hardened for wear and HSS and even cobalt doesn't leave a mark. Heres a broken gear out of a 901 trans- note that it didn't fail because of the weight reduction efforts-
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ALB posted:
I'm just a cold, grumpy, and worn out pipefitter from Buttscratch, Forgotonia.
But...
the holes in the gear don't bother me at all. The holes in the backing plates are completely fine. The holes in the spring plates give me pause. The holes in the torsion tubes are terrifying.
You may do as you wish. I'd rather not risk doing my own finite element failure analysis on parts that need not to fail to keep the car together. 
@Stan Galat wrote- "...The holes in the spring plates give me pause. The holes in the torsion tubes are terrifying..."
I would have spaced the 2 rows in the spring plate further apart. At first I thought the same as you about the torsion tube, but upon further inspection and seeing all the bracing I'm not sure. From an engineer's mouth- "you can put a lot of holes in a tube before you significantly weaken it". To be honest, I won't be carving up mine. What really caught my eye, though, is the holes in the top of the body mount. Hhmmmm....
Another thing I just noticed in that pic- look at the exhaust ports, rockers and cylinder tin on the engine...
Bruce, very cool build. I'll be following, especially the suspension stuff.
RE: Tires: 205/60R15 is about all you can fit in the back with a swing axle. The inner fender liners will have to move inward to accommodate anything wider. I think the 65 series tires would be just a little tall for the opening.
I'm very jealous of the prospect of a 5 speed with true IRS suspension. Greg wouldn't do it two years ago. Plus I'm all the way out east so not near the proper folks for R&D.
But I do have one question. Is the front still a beam? If you're changing the rear, I'd say you've got to change the front.
With respect to front tires and brakes etc: I've got the Vintage 190 front(4.5") and rear(5.5") wheels so 185/65 and 205/60. I have the Airkewld 4 pot Wilwood front brakes. They are about 3/4" wider per side than a stock ball joint drum. The 2" narrowed beam has the tires sitting in almost exactly the same place they would with stock drums and beam. So I've got the same clearance to the inner fenders as everyone else, the hub face ends up in almost the same place. The only difference is the ball joints are each 1" inward, and the tie-rods are each 1" shorter.
A 205 section tire is the max on a 5.5" rim. Technically, a 175 section is the widest that fits on a 4.5". The 185 is a slight stretch, but after over 40,000 miles of seat time, I know the oversize works. I'll be curious to see what tires you end up with.
I have a set of steel 5.5" wheels I bought. I'm moving the centers outward for the front tires. I'm getting some autocross/track tires to swap out for those days. I'd really like to get those Vreds for regular street use as well.
If Greg could have those wheels made in 16"(say 5" F and 6" R) we'd be all set. Much better rubber choices are available.
RE WATER: I had a bunch of 1/4" holes at the corners of the cockpit on the old Spyder, plus a couple in front of the cockpit bulkhead, water accumulates there.
The new one is a whole lot better for water intrusion, but I still get some through the wiper holes, and over the sides of the doors while towing with tonneau in place. I don't what could really be done about that one.
Danny, On Speedster wiper holes I start with a washer under the cowl then a glob of caulk on that ( ACE home center Alex brand latex caulk - dries flat black. ) stuff it up into the holes another washer with a bit of caulk and tighten it down , clean up the excess caulk off the paint and call it done and leak proof.
Alan, no room on the underside for a washer, maybe some caulk though. Thanks.
I have the factory VW rubber washer and steel washer on top now. It doesn't leak much.
Danny, Right now it will be 4.5 with 185s on front and 5.5 with 205s in rear. That may change once the rear suspension is in place. Talked to Greg last night. He is pretty amped up about this project and said he has some really good ideas of how the rear suspension will all come together. Carlos mentioned that you "narrowed" your front beam. Was that primarily to accommodate the Wilwood brake assy's ? I would love to have a non-beam front suspension but time and money says that won't happen on this build. The next one ? Yes.
Thanks for the caveats on the drain holes too ! Danny, you're one of the numerous guys on here that I think, thinks like me and has a similar interests. Additionally, you have more modern technical knowledge that never arrived in my limited memory banks. I appreciate your comments.
The exciting thing right now for me is going down to Rancho next week to talk Subaru Transaxles and gearing. I will post their recommendations. Since I have a pretty good idea what tire size I will be using, this should help with gear selection.
The Subarugear.com site was very helpful and educational.............Bruce
Thanks Bruce. I'm really not that knowledgeable. But I like to read and try to learn.
The beam in my car is 2" narrowed and was welded in by Greg's chassis builder. That guy does nice work! It was specifically to accommodate the brakes/hubs. My front tires JUST clear. I'd like to have a little more room(inset more) actually.
DannyP posted:Thanks Bruce. I'm really not that knowledgeable. But I like to read and try to learn.
The beam in my car is 2" narrowed and was welded in by Greg's chassis builder. That guy does nice work!
I've looked at your chassis, Danny-- it's true. That guy can weld.
Yup, He's the guy that is cutting and bending and welding my frame right now.
Danny....Those Wilwood brakes work well and look good. I'm only guessing but did you install them because of the extreme braking required for autocrossing ? My autocrossing was dismal. The best I ever did was second (to last) . It's way more of a workout than I ever expected. My car looked bad too. I would show up with three layers of bubble wrap around the car so my paint didn't get messed up with all the cones I hit and smashed !
I had disc/drum. One time I was leaving a certain state park on a Merklin Pumpkin Run with El Frazoo hot on my heels(until his carbies crapped out). I went towards a 20-30 mph corner at 80 and got NO brakes due to fade. I vowed then and there to NEVER get that pucker factor again!
So I switched to the Airkewld. Blanchard ground rotors, solid and drilled all around. Single piston Varga rear caliper with ebrake. Braided teflon lines all around. There is no bias knob, just use the correct master cylinder like I did. Front are Wilwood 4 piston. I just changed the front to carbon street/race pads from Wilwood, I forget the compound but I have the box. They are supposed to be low dust and they are compared to the old ones but they still dust the rims a bit. The brakes work VERY well. I spent a DE day at LIme Rock. My instructor was impressed at how the brakes pulled us down from 110 to about 50 every single lap in a short distance with zero fade, going into turn 1. All day long. Between the 2 of us, my 1500 pound car was well over 2000 pounds with us in it. He is a big boy!
I hit quite a few cones the first time I did autocross. Those black marks really do buff right out LOL! The limiting factor is rubber for us. In my area, I have to run E-modified, which is a class for a custom tube-framed car(non-production). So basically I'm in my own class and am simply racing myself and FTD(fastest time of day). I'll never get fastest time because a totally modified Miata or formula car usually gets it.
The only positive to running E-mod is that I can use slicks if I want, and am not confined to somewhat streetable tires. I have been told that I could shave up to 3 seconds with really sticky tires by a guy that is quite good and usually designs the autocross courses. He also runs a Triumph Spitfire with a custom truss/ladder frame, A-arm suspension all around and a Toyota twin-cam 4 cylinder. And slicks........ He's fast. Fast as heck.
The last time I did autocross was last summer. I literally broke the second gear synchro. Could not downshift into second and upshifts were difficult, hard, but do-able. It's a full tear-down to swap a synchro. See why I want a spare transmission?
I would be wary of running slicks on a swing-axle car. How are you controlling potential jacking at the rear?
Lane, I've got nylon straps that prevent tuck/jacking. It's controlled to only allow a few degrees of positive camber. Also, on a Spyder with longer torsion arms there is less toe change than in a swing-axle Speedster. It's all good.