Someone on this site bolted weights to the front beam.

Early 911s had weighs up front.

I have a Spyder and I carry my tool bag and some other stuff up front for some ballast. I'd have to weigh my tool bag to know how much it weighs, but if you jumped in a river with it, you'd sink straight to the bottom. I'll weigh it and let you know, just because.

I got my car out today and got up to about 90 passing some other road users, and it was solid.

Checking the front suspension geometry would be a start. I'm sure some others will chime in with specifics.

This is a simple method, but it works and gives you more of an accurate weight:  With half a tank of gas, wrap a few rocks in a rag or towel on either side the battery & go for an extended ride adding or delete rocks until you arrive at what best works for you. Back home weigh those rocks on a scale. Once you know the weight needed you can add steel either next to or under the battery ( depending on how tall the battery is) .. or add the weight to the axle beam.

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Yeah, they're light up front.

It's more noticeable on very rough roads, a lot less so on interstates.

Some of us have a skinny spare wheel and tire up front, which is a somewhat more utilitarian way to add weight, although a normal width road tire (165 and up) is probably too wide to fit. And a spare will pretty much use up all the available storage space in the 'frunk'.

But the big factor you may not have thought about yet is tire pressure. These cars want much lower pressures than modern cars up front to ride, handle, and brake properly. Most of us are running less than 25 lbs  (around 20-22 is typical). (Higher pressures, maybe around 28 lbs, work better in the rear, where most of the weight is.) By the time you get up to around 26 lbs or so in front, the front bounces over surface irregularities at speed, losing grip, and the front brakes will lock up too early.

Before you do anything else, try experimenting with different pressures to see if you also need to add weight.

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I used lead filled dive weights (an option would be ankle weights).  The reason being: I could move them around as I saw fit and secure them when I found the sweet spot.  I could put them fore or aft of the axle too.  They can also be secured to the carpet with the attached Velcro.

One concern I had was adding weight under the battery for fear of the fiberglass not being able to support it.

Recently a few members have added weight to the beam which I imagine works quite well.  However I am of the opinion that adding weight to the body through the use of dive weights lowers the body and center of gravity ever so slightly and puts downward force on the suspension as an added bonus.

Mayo: Not picking on you here but velcro is great for many things. Securing heavy things that turn into missiles in an accident is not one of them.

Using velcro temporarily to sort out where weight should go is good, but I'd bolt the weights down somewhere, and to some metal for a permanent solution.

Same thing goes for a fire extinguisher. Or a passenger that refuses to wear a safety belt. Who wants a 5,10, or 200 pound missile in the car with you during a collision?

All good points, above, especially the tire pressure tip, but also insure that your front end caster is set to 5º - 7º to eliminate the wandering nose at high speed and any bump steer.  You’ll need to take it to an alignment shop to check it - Big bonus if you find one that knows VW Beetles.  
You may need one or two sets of caster shims to take with you because the alignment shop probably won’t have them in stock.  Get a pair of longer beam bolts, too, just in case (they’re cheap).  Insert one or two shims between the lower, front torsion tube and the frame mount.  One shim = 2.5º change.  

https://www.cbperformance.com/...ter+shim&Submit=

I’m running 6º caster on my Speedster with a motorcycle battery, gas heater, a few spare parts and 12 volt air pump in the frunk nose - No room for a spare tire and it is rock stable at 80-90 mph.

This is why I enjoy this forum so much; there is always a way to improve an idea you may have.

@DannyP : Excellent point about securing the weight, no matter where it is really.  I hadn’t considered them coming loose on impact.  

I guess that stems from not having anything significantly shift in the boot so far, even with my spirited driving! Fortunately I’ve not been in a collision and hope to be able to say the same for a long long time.

@Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi Was the member who came up with the brilliant, if not factory looking, solution to adding weight to the front of the car. Here’s the thread from when he did the modification to the car.

https://www.speedsterowners.com/topic/the-weight

Hi-capacity fuel tank adds 8x4 # so 24 # - but usually eliminates a spare wheel.  Tools like scissors or bottle jack adds maybe 8#.  Few bottles of water and a blanket?

I believe Jim made led weights to attach to his beam and likes it a lot he posted them here with diagrams.

@WOLFGANG posted:

Hi-capacity fuel tank adds 8x4 # so 24 # - but usually eliminates a spare wheel.  Tools like scissors or bottle jack adds maybe 8#.  Few bottles of water and a blanket?

Well shouldn't that be wine & cheese and blanket?

@Robert M posted:

@Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi Was the member who came up with the brilliant, if not factory looking, solution to adding weight to the front of the car. Here’s the thread from when he did the modification to the car.

https://www.speedsterowners.com/topic/the-weight

Cool - I am welding-impaired personally though.

@Robert M posted:

@Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi Was the member who came up with the brilliant, if not factory looking, solution to adding weight to the front of the car. Here’s the thread from when he did the modification to the car.

https://www.speedsterowners.com/topic/the-weight

The Weight...

That project was stellar that jim did should be added to the site info reference library.  It reminded me of this song...

"boy your going to carry that weight a long time"    

@msjulie posted:

Cool - I am welding-impaired personally though.

You know who isn’t welding impaired? The students at the local welding technical school who might be looking for an easy project. Just a thought. Or see if one of the guys from a local muffler shop would weld it up for you if you bought the material. There may also be a way to do that without welding if you stare at those drawings enough. Maybe just sandwich the front beam between two pieces of plate steel with some beefy nuts and bolts.

@IaM-Ray posted:

The Weight...

That project was stellar that jim did should be added to the site info reference library.  It reminded me of this song...

"boy your going to carry that weight a long time"    

I think of that song every time I see the title of this thread.

U-bolts.

U-bolts and the non-u-bolt part of muffler clamps. You could just use the entire muffler clamp if the muffler clamp u-bolt was long enough, but it probably wouldn’t be.

If you put a couple on your beam with the flat side of the muffler clamps oriented on a flat plane, you can make weights that can be secured without welding.

My solution to adding weight in my turbo Subi IM was a custom made Cordura bag filled with 50 lbs of nickel plated lead shot. It is secured by two 8X2” hook Velcro that interacts nicely with the factory carpeting.

Having slung a few tons of these in my 20 years in theater, I suspect they’d be perfect with a few holes drilled in them to attach to the beam with u bolts.

@dlearl476 posted:

Having slung a few tons of these in my 20 years in theater, I suspect they’d be perfect with a few holes drilled in them to attach to the beam with u bolts.

And there you have it. Bob’s your uncle.

@Robert M posted:

You know who isn’t welding impaired? The students at the local welding technical school who might be looking for an easy project. Just a thought. Or see if one of the guys from a local muffler shop would weld it up for you if you bought the material. There may also be a way to do that without welding if you stare at those drawings enough. Maybe just sandwich the front beam between two pieces of plate steel with some beefy nuts and bolts.

I was wondering if something like the u-bolts hold leaf springs might work..

@Stan Galat posted:

And there you have it. Bob’s your uncle.

Mutual hardware is the place ?  Oh as expected, not inexpensive

I'm also looking to see what might fit on either side of the battery as an experiment to confirm I want more weight up front...

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Either side of the battery is where I keep most of my tools, in small canvas bags that fit into odd-sized spaces and keep the fiberglass from getting scratched up.

HD and HF have all kinds of little tool bags that will work.

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@msjulie posted:

Mutual hardware is the place ?  Oh as expected, not inexpensive

U-bolts are pretty common. I’d think any Ace or True-Value would be able to hook you up.

I have no idea if there are any farm supply places in your part of the world, but we are littered with him here. Tractor Supply, Farm King, etc. all have u-bolts. Our home improvement box stores do as well.

But before I did something that involved, I’d get a few 10 lb barbell plates, wrap them in a rag, and put a few on either side of the battery to see how you like it.

@msjulie posted:

Everyone knows these speedsters are like kites compared to nearly anything else on the road and especially light in the nose.

Not looking for anything extreme, just a little more stability at highway speeds would be the goal;

Just curious if the new style, fancy pants tube chassis need the caster set up that the old pan chassis need? Perhaps additional weight and an alignment check would do the trick?

@msjulie, You could try some small in-home style dumbbells. a pair of 10# ones might fit either side of the battery and you could see if 20# was enough. You could also try a bunch or lead shot or ball bearings in some old knee socks.

This was an issue on my KarmanGhia and I used to strap my toolbox in the frunk. IT was closer to 30#, but it was high above the beam, not low and way out in front of it like in your speedster. I also found that a much lower tire pressure helped a lot. It was a heavier car, but I still found that 18-20 psi was all it took.

Last thing. I'll bet anything that it doesn't have over 4 degrees of caster (stock VW Bug is about 3 degrees). This works great for people that just cruise the neighborhood, do cars and coffee, and occassionally take the slow road to the beach. It keeps the low speed steering effort light. I suspect it is perfect for Greg's typical customer, but it won't suffice for anyone that wants to go fast and engage in spirited driving.  Given your track history I assume that's you. Find one of your track buddies or someone that can check your caster. Use the shims and longer bolts referenced by others to add some in, 6 degrees would be ideal.  While you're at it make sure you have some toe in (1/8" will make a big difference on a worm gear steering system) and check the binding bolt of the pitman arm to make sure it's torqued.

I know you payed beau coup bucks, but I wouldn't count on all of this being set up for your preferences and of course we can't change the inherent nature of the wee beastie in any case.  Let us know what you find and where you end up!

@Stan Galat posted:

U-bolts are pretty common. I’d think any Ace or True-Value would be able to hook you up.

I have no idea if there are any farm supply places in your part of the world, but we are littered with him here. Tractor Supply, Farm King, etc. all have u-bolts. Our home improvement box stores do as well.

But before I did something that involved, I’d get a few 10 lb barbell plates, wrap them in a rag, and put a few on either side of the battery to see how you like it.

I don’t think I’d want to hook a 12lb hunk of cast iron to my beam with any pressed steel u bolt from Ace, etc. I’m thinking more like the forged ones with flat radiuses that hold leaf springs to axles like Julie suggested.

ps: Julie, I think that you could shop around and find stage weights for a better price. That pic was just the first one that came up. Given what they are and how many hundreds any old school hemp theater would have, they seemed really expensive to me. The next size up, 20# iirc, was $109/ea.  

Something else just occurred to me: I don’t think I’ve ever been to a thrift shop that didn’t have some sort of bar bells/weights for sale. That would be a good source of cast iron as well.

@dlearl476 posted:

I don’t think I’d want to hook a 12lb hunk of cast iron to my beam with any pressed steel u bolt from Ace, etc. I’m thinking more like the forged ones with flat radiuses that hold leaf springs to axles like Julie suggested.

A 5/16" grade-china u-bolt will hold a heck of a lot more than 6 lbs (12 divided by 2). It'll probably hold 600 lbs, but you do you.

How much does that 12lbs weigh when you hit a pothole at 40mph?

@dlearl476 posted:

How much does that 12lbs weigh when you hit a pothole at 40mph?

More.

Does your exhaust fall all over the road when you hit a pothole?

No, but it’s attached at numerous points with grade 8 hardware.

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@dlearl476 , I think Stan was careful to specify grade-china u-bolts because of the unique properties of the material from which they're made.

After just a few months on the job, grade-china steel begins to chemically bond with any ferrous metal to which it is attached, significantly strengthening the joint. In a year or two, especially exposed to the elements, the bond is virtually permanent, and whatever you've u-bolted in place is pretty much there for good. There's really little need to worry if you select the right materials.

You can speed up this curing process by lightly misting the joint with salt spray once a week, but if you're lucky enough to live near the ocean, even that is unnecessary.

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@Sacto Mitch posted:

.@dlearl476 , I think Stan was careful to specify grade-china u-bolts because of the unique properties of the material from which they're made.

Grade-china hardware is pot-metal alloyed with cheesium. It's the bestest hardware your Yuan can buy.

There's a place for it. Not every fastener needs (or indeed should be) Grade 8 or stainless

... but again, David should definitely do David.

@Stan Galat posted:

... but again, David should definitely do David.

I will. The extra 50¢ I spend on a bolt is well worth knowing it will still be there at the end of a drive.

Don’t spend yours all in one place.

To recap, then, @msjulie:

First, check your tire pressures. If they're higher than 22 in front and 26 in back, set 'em down and take a test drive.

Second, check front caster. Hard to do in-house but if you look under the front of the car where the H-beam attaches with those four big bolts, you should see a flash of aluminum behind the bottom tube, between it and the chassis. If you don't already have those caster shims, buy two sets and get at least one set in there. Then take a test drive and see if that fixed your problem. If you need a second set you'll also need longer bottom bolts.

Third, if steps one and two are complete, and the car still isn't handling right, take it to an alignment shop for a four-wheel alignment. Remember to set the tire pressures again when the shop is done. Those meatheads sometimes blow up the tires hard just because.

Fourth, if all of the above is done and the nose still feels "light" at speed, then and only then start looking at nose weights.

The pressure in the rear should be higher than the front. I run 18F, 28R.

@JMM (Michael) posted:

Last thing. I'll bet anything that it doesn't have over 4 degrees of caster (stock VW Bug is about 3 degrees). This works great for people that just cruise the neighborhood, do cars and coffee, and occassionally take the slow road to the beach. It keeps the low speed steering effort light. I suspect it is perfect for Greg's typical customer, but it won't suffice for anyone that wants to go fast and engage in spirited driving.  Given your track history I assume that's you. Find one of your track buddies or someone that can check your caster. Use the shims and longer bolts referenced by others to add some in, 6 degrees would be ideal.  While you're at it make sure you have some toe in (1/8" will make a big difference on a worm gear steering system) and check the binding bolt of the pitman arm to make sure it's torqued.

Ok good point about my expectations - I don't intend to thrash the little speedster but I am used to a bit more stability perhaps than most might expect?  thanks

Found this in my records that may help visualize adding weights to front beam done by another owner years back.

there is a pdf with a schematic he put together with details/dimensions in the attached link/forum discussion.

https://www.speedsterowners.co...6#627604737965994306