I did it and I’m glad I did!

I had Boge Turbo TS shocks on my 77 Scirocco. Handled great but the ride was really rough. I'd say they were meant for autocross/track only.

My girlfriend at the time complained that it hurt her ****s on every bump. I never changed the shocks.......

When I bought my Spyder it had Bilsteins and I ran my tires at what I thought was 'normal,' about 30 psi.

After I swapped out the Bilsteins to KYBs and switching from 165/15s to 195-205/55/60 15 and running them at 18-22 psi, the ride is almost civilised.

When I pulled the Konis I checked their settings - Fronts were "soft" and rears "medium".  They all felt like "Hard as a Rock" to me!

@DannyP posted:

I had Boge Turbo TS shocks on my 77 Scirocco. Handled great but the ride was really rough. I'd say they were meant for autocross/track only.

My girlfriend at the time complained that it hurt her ****s on every bump. I never changed the shocks.......

77 Sciricco takes me back....was a cool car back then

Danny knows this, but my late brother had an '83 Scirocco Callaway stage 3 coupe.  Bigger brakes, beefier suspension, wider wheels and a YUGE! variable boost turbo with water injection.  Callaway  advertised them as "Vette Killers".

I could see me ripping around here in one of those, or an early GTi, or an Alfa Alfretta.

Ray's Scirocco was scary in it's day - Remember this was in the days way before massively turbo-charging engines of 2 liters and under and Callaway in Old Lyme, Connecticut was about the only shop doing it right around here.  It was strong right out of the hole and never, ever seemed to stop building power.  Besides a turbo that could put out 40 lbs. of boost, it had a sensor-activated anti-knock water injection from what was once a windshield washer bottle, adjustable cam advance/delay:

Electronic spark retard and had an MSB ignition that no one on the VW Scirocco forums had ever seen that seems to have been made to Callaway's specs:

Of course, running that kind of boost on almost anything sacrifices the head gasket or stretches head bolts or both.  It had a blown head gasket when Ray died and I replaced it and got a new set of special, high-rated ARP headbolts for around $200 bucks and a new gasket from some place in California that should be able to handle the pressure.  The new owner replaced the stage III turbo with a stage II (max boost 21 pounds, IIRC) and he's happy with it.  

Now Lane might guess where my son got his ideas for his 680hp Turbo Eclipse - "Well, RAY did it, so I'm doin' it!"  My brother and son was/is a couple of crazy dudes......

What a great story. Thanks, Gordon.

I had to change those bolts out for ARP head studs and nuts on my Corrado that put out 17 pounds of boost or so. Basically same engine, 1.8 SOHC that was in the Callaway your brother had, except his had CIS-E injection and Corrados had Digifant and an easily swapped ECU chip.

I had an Autothority stage2 kit in that car, and a Tectonics tuning exhaust, by Darrell Vittone, son of Joe Vittone of EMPI fame. You know, way back when EMPI was actually good.

That car was a Mustang/Camaro/Vette killer. MASSIVE roll-on torque, the G-lader supercharger never had to spool up, it was always ready with boost.

Is this what you're talking about Gordo? KYB Shocks for a VW Beetle

I have KYB GR-2 So if that One is a replacement for the GR-2 then Yes.  

Just make sure you’re getting the Right shock for your suspension, as there are, like, eight different ones for different years and models for front and back.  

I ran GR-2s on the front of my first Spyder for years. They were decent and I have no complaints.

@Carlos G posted:

I could see me ripping around here in one of those, or an early GTi, or an Alfa Alfretta.

Alfetta. Here's my Sprint Veloce. (Now my son's)

Those look so damn cool, at least to me.

My friend Chris Vitale still has one just like that Dave, and in black. He had a lime green Lancia Scorpion in the 80s, I loved that car. Now he's got a new Abarth Fiat.

I really liked that Alfa that came around in North Carolina. The owner, not so much, eh Carlos, Stan, Bob, Mike and Lane?

Yeah, that was definitely weird.

Was the guy allergic to plastic?

No, he was more like "please be my friend, I don't have any". He kept inviting us to his secluded house for a party, and honestly I was creeped out.

Did he have the soundtrack to "Deliverance” playing on his car stereo?

Or maybe his name was Jason - Jason Voorhees?   Was he a cook?

That red Alfa was pretty nice. I do like that model too.

The guy was a touch starved for attention.

I can see it now, all of us in a hole in his basement smearing lotion on each other's backs.