On my car I noticed that the front tires are not centered with the wheel wells. They sit more towards the back and I was wondering if I can put a spacer in between the axle beam and the pan to move them up about an inch?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Originally Posted by hbkmat:
On my car I noticed that the front tires are not centered with the wheel wells. They sit more towards the back and I was wondering if I can put a spacer in between the axle beam and the pan to move them up about an inch?
This may be one of the differences between a VS and an IM.
I have also noticed this on a few tubs myself and am fairly certain that it cannot be fixed without some heavy modifications to the pan/frame/chassis.
I was under the impression that mine was a CMC but I could be wrong. Are you sayingt he old IM have this problem?
They also cut and turned just the top front axle beam to lower the car and I was wondering if this could move the tires back at all?
You know they may have cut the pan an inch off too.
Ya you are probably right they most likely did cut the pan a little too much. What do you guys think the best thing to do would be to try and fix it? I am thinking reworking the fiberglass
Throw us a side view of you car, interested to see how bad it really is.
You really have two routes to go...
A- Get another pan, and swap them out, Take a few weeks, or...
B- Leave it alone, it’s been fine this long, leave it.
And if that doesn't work for ya. sell it. To move it all forward means brake lines , steering column, and then that area will be a weak link, and if something was going to snap or give up the ghost, it will be there.
my .02 here
Ya it still needs a lot of stuff done to it so I will probably just work the fiberglass a little bit to make it less noticeable. I will snap a few pics later. When you lower the car by cutting the top axle beam and turning it does that shift the tire back at all? If so I was thinking put it back up to stock height and putting drop spindles in.
Originally Posted by hbkmat:
They also cut and turned just the top front axle beam to lower the car and I was wondering if this could move the tires back at all?
Yes, the trailing arms at stock height angle downward. When they are rotated up to lower the car the spindle/wheel must necessarily move slightly backwards as well since everything is moving along the arc of a circle.
The ride height should have been accounted for when the frame was shortened, but now the proper way to fix this is to have an experienced welder extend the entire frame head forward. Using shims on the beam mounts to move just the beam forward is a bad idea (caster shims on lower tube are ok). But extending the frame head is a significant project. Moreso when the car's already finished. But I would consider it less of a problem than trying to modify the body in any way to match, unless you're a really proficient body man.
What about having a welder adjust the spindles for me?
Originally Posted by hbkmat:
What about having a welder adjust the spindles for me?
No. First, welding on spindles is generally a bad idea unless you really know what you are doing. Second, changing the location of the axle in relation to your steering axis will royally screw up your car's steering and handling characteristics. Possibly to the point of making it undrivable and dangerous.
Since the Speedsterowners sever is defunk, 
and the pie cut article I wrote is in bits and pieces. A synopsis on that article would be: The front wheels are out by 2” as compared to a real speedster. I spent several car show weekends with a measuring tape and online to verify this before I did my first cut to move mine forward and up. 
(I went overboard mine you)
Anyway, if you just want to move the front end forward by X and you’d like a link to a product…, http://www.thesamba.com/vw/cla...etail.php?id=1336302
Ask these fellows to make you a ball joint to ball joint front end extender or linkpin of the same for you.
Several people now make these and TheSamba is a good place to search and ask.
David / dd-ardvark
Originally Posted by hbkmat:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5...27276/in/photostream
The first pic doesn't make it appear all that bad to be honest.
When gauging from the bottom of the wheel well it's almost tolerable.
Yeah. The wheel/fender clearances are fine. You'd have to be a maniac to care about that little variation.
Oh wait . . . never mind, sorry.
Hey, I resemble that remark…, and you forgot to anal as well. 
David / dd-ardvark
I'm with him, it looks fine, but some good wheels under it, and no one will see it.
You want to fix something that looks okay to me. And even if it was a bit wonky, the cost of the fix wouldn't be worth it, if it could be done at all.
Drive it. It looks fine.
This car has turned me into a maniac and its hard to capture on camera. I can't wait to finish this car and I bet when I do I wont want to drive it in fear of messing it up.
"...and I bet when I do I wont want to drive it in fear of messing it up."
Nah. Trust me, you're gonna want to drive it.
My 2 cents worth. If the car rides and handles ok, I would take the easiest route. Modifying the chassis or welding anything at all can be disastrous if the flame hits the fiberglass, gas lines or wiring. If the flicker pictures are of your car then I see some glass work has been done around the wheel well. I'd go the easy route and glass more of the wheel well to make the wheel look more centered. The difference in the fenders would be less noticeable.
Who has some dropped spindles for me?
