I've been posting today, but didn't introduce myself: I'm David Foley and I live in The Landings in Savannah, Georgia. My Beck Spyder #2600 should come along in about two years, and in the meantime I'm trying to learn everything I can to make sure I do this right. The car will replace my 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C Launch Edition #016/500. I wish you all well and thank you in advance for all your assistance.
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Welcome to the Madness, David! I’m just up the coast in the Charleston area. Next time I’m in Savannah for a track day I’ll try to remember to IM you.
It might be 600, but I haven’t asked yet as I don’t need to know this.
Yes, 550.002.600 is #2600
Carey is kinda like Santa clause,, always has time to make toys and also watching what we're posting!
Welcome David. I’m on my 3rd Spyder so I’ve got a few opinions. You will be happy with Suby power. Aluminum wheels. Front sway bar. Maybe upgraded Willwoods in the front. Definitely heated seats and either hard or soft half tonneau. And unless you like eating bugs get a real windshield. My 2 cents.
@550 Phil posted:Welcome David. I’m on my 3rd Spyder so I’ve got a few opinions. You will be happy with Suby power. Aluminum wheels. Front sway bar. Maybe upgraded Willwoods in the front. Definitely heated seats and either hard or soft half tonneau. And unless you like eating bugs get a real windshield. My 2 cents.
Thanks for the tips!!! I’m going to visit Carey when it’s time to finalize the build sheet, and I’m planning on getting both windscreen and windshield. Also heated seats and heater, but hadn’t thought to get a half soft tonneau along with the full tonneau. Will look at the Willlwoods upgrade too, along with the rest. Big thanks again.
Most tonneau covers zip down the middle, so you only need one.
@550 Phil posted:Aluminum wheels. Front sway bar. Maybe upgraded Willwoods in the front.
So all of these are open questions and I'd love to learn more.
Have Carey tell you about the windshield. Depending on how tall you are, the header will be right in your line of sight. He warned me about it when I had him replace my lexan screen with the Speedster windshield. He was right. I replaced it last summer because I was always slouching in my seat to look under it. Eventually hurt my back on rides >30 minutes.
And, IIRC, Carey told me he gets his brakes from AirKewled which I believe are Wilwood calipers.
ETA: WRT bugs in the face, at road speed, the lexan screen is just right to send airflow over my head. I can wear a cap with no fear of losing it, unless I forget and put my head back and the wind catches the brim. Not saying a big old bumblebee or something couldn’t make it’s way through the airstream, but still.
I will say that I’m hyper-vigilant about following too closely and having a stone thrown up from a car in front. I’ve also taken to wearing OSHA-approved eye protection, just in case.
@Foleydb posted:
- I've not seen mention of aluminum wheels (vs., I imagine, standard steel wheels in the "Wide 5 Wheel and Tire Package" on the Suby build sheet?) before, so this is new.
- I don't see that a front sway bar is standard on the Beck Suby 550, and it's not listed as a formal option, so this too is something new.
- Upgraded Willwood front disc brakes are interesting, and I'd love to know more about which brakes are standard and which you suggest.
So all of these are open questions and I'd love to learn more.
1. Vintage Greg has come up with and gotten the Vintage190 wheels manufactured. Wide5 4.5 and 5.5 inch in either powdercoat silver or black or polished aluminum. They are very light and nicely made cast wheels. I have a set and I'm a big fan.
2. Front swaybars are not standard on any Spyders, talk to Carey about having one fitted. I'm a fan, and have 15 years of seat time in Spyders. The front bar keeps the car flatter in corners and especially transitions side to side.
3. The Wilwood caliper brakes from Airkewld work VERY well. However, combined with the wider track of the brakes and the slightly less backspace of the 4.5" Vintage190s, talk to Carey about fitment. My car has a 2" narrowed beam(fit is perfect with respect to track width). I don't know if there's room to do that on a Beck. I have a Vintage which uses 2" tubing for the main rails where the beam is welded instead of the larger 3" tubing on the Beck frame.
I've gotten hit by bugs coming from the side of the windshield maybe twice in 45,000 miles. I have a glass windshield. You can wear a baseball cap the normal way and it won't blow off. It will buffet but not come off. I know nothing about the plastic windscreens.
I have a Vintage Spyder so a little different from Beck.Vintage sources aluminum wide 5s. Carey can get them Do not get steel wheels. Front sway bar is an easy cheap addition. A must. I did not get the Willwood front brakes. I wish I did. About a $500 upgrade. Vintage cars can be ordered with them. I'm sure Carey does Willwoods. Have Carey put some LED brake lights in rear grills. I hear that insects provide a lot of fiber. If you need more fiber in your diet get the wind screen.
What Danny said....
@dlearl476 posted:Have Carey tell you about the windshield. Depending on how tall you are, the header will be right in your line of sight. He warned me about it when I had him replace my lexan screen with the Speedster windshield. He was right. I replaced it last summer because I was always slouching in my seat to look under it. Eventually hurt my back on rides >30 minutes.
ETA: WRT bugs in the face, at road speed, the lexan screen is just right to send airflow over my head. I can wear a cap with no fear of losing it, unless I forget and put my head back and the wind catches the brim. Not saying a big old bumblebee or something couldn’t make it’s way through the airstream, but still.
How tall are you please?
I'm 5'9" with a 32" inseam. I fit just fine UNDER the glass screen/aluminum trim. Phil is shorter than me, but I've never met Dave so can't help you with his height.
For reference - I'm 6 ft tall with the same inseam Danny has, so I've got an extra 3 or 4" in the torso/neck/head. I look like a bear on a tricycle in a spyder (which is deeply regrettable to me).
When I drive one, I look completely over the top frame of the glass windshield. I'd need goggles with the low plexiglas windscreen, but I imagine anybody would.
+1 on goggles.
Front sway bar is not an easy bolt-on installation for us, but for Beck/Special Edition it's all in a day's work I suppose.
Be ready for something totally unlike the Alfa.
@dlearl476 posted:....ETA: WRT bugs in the face, at road speed, the lexan screen is just right to send airflow over my head. I can wear a cap with no fear of losing it, unless I forget and put my head back and the wind catches the brim. Not saying a big old bumblebee or something couldn’t make it’s way through the airstream, but still.
I will say that I’m hyper-vigilant about following too closely and having a stone thrown up from a car in front. I’ve also taken to wearing OSHA-approved eye protection, just in case.
My years of riding a motorcycle have gotten me used to this. Like others have said, its a motorcycle with four wheels, almost invisible to the soccer moms and cell phone idiots
@edsnova posted:Be ready for something totally unlike the Alfa.
^ that
The Alfa is a working man's exotic. This is the same in that it has 4 wheels and a seat. Be ready for something that might not even meet your definition of an automobile.
It's a whole 'nuther sumthun'.
.
One area where the Spyder beats the Alfa - more pedals.
.
I'm 5'10" with a 32 inseam and size 12.5-13 feet.
I have a Seduction Motorsports Spyder with the glass windshield.
My seats are mounted to the floor and tilted back a good bit. If I sit up straight, the frame is in the way, but If a sit the way I sit when driving like a mad man, which is just about every time, then no problem.
My right shoe hits the hump under the gas tank, so I have to drive without that shoe on that foot. Removing this hump is on my list.
I have a set of 190s too. They're about 12lbs lighter each. The offset of the 4.5s lessens front tire rub. The steel wheels would rub often, but our roads are very twisty and not the smoothest.
I have lap belts, shoulder belts or belt is on the list too. Danny has anti submarine belts along with shoulder belts.
I use my cloth tonneau cover all the time in the half zipped mode. I did make a prototype with a smaller opening that allows just my shoulders and arms to poke through. I use it in cooler temps.
I'm also in the process of making a sway bar. Here is a thread with Jim Gilbert's bar. https://www.speedsterowners.co...-front-anti-sway-bar It also shows Danny's bar, a clam shell propping device and limit straps for the rear axle. There is also a thread on here somewhere with my idea for a sway bar. It's similar to Jim's and Danny's.
All for now.
CG
@dlearl476 posted:6’2” with a 32” inseam, so a rather long torso, 5” longer torso than Danny. But my seats are mounted on the floor, not on adjustment rails. I don’t know how that factors into eye level wrt the top of the windshield compared to Danny and Stan.
We are the same. I suspect my seat will also need to be mounted to the floor.
A few notes:
For most states and initial inspection, it is important that the car has an AS-1 certified and laminated safety windshield. Some, but not many, states will allow a plexi. Thus, most guys I see will register with glass and then switch to plexi. Side note: laws and rules change all the time too, so just because someone did something in the past doesn't mean it will work today. CA is a good example. A year ago you could register a plexi windshield car in CA, last year they changed the rules and you cannot. I do not yet know how this will play out for anyone who has to do annual inspections, but we were explicitly told that plexi was no longer allowed in CA. Just FYI...
6'1" 225lbs, 34 inseam and I have no issue driving with either windshield. Sitting still you'd think the upper glass frame would be intrusive, but once moving it is fine...
If you want to run V190 alloy wheels, it is highly suggested to run a 1" narrowed beam. If you want to run Wildwood brakes it is also suggested to run a 1" narrowed beam. If you want both Wilwoods and V190 wheels, 2" narrowed beam is suggested. The beam is integrated into the chassis, so this is an early decision that has to be made. The beam itself is not much more expensive to make, but it does require custom torsion stacks and custom tie rods also.
There are several different wheel specs for the steel wheels. Standard, for Beck, is 15x5.5 rear 25mm offset and 15x4.5 front 45mm offset. These are actually tucked slightly more than the alloy wheels and rub less with standard width parts, but front rub on hard cornering is still present simply due to wheel/tire size compared to original as well as a slight asymmetry in the body which was present in the original and present in all of the replicas. Steel wheels can also be narrowed an additional 10mm or so, which just about eliminates rub except on really hard cornering with 2 ppl in the car, which I don't think you'll ever get rid of without moving to 3.5" wide wheel like the original.
Our floor is slightly lower than Vintage (1/2"?) which allows my foot to fit under the fuel tank hump without issue (size 12) and I test drive in workboots often... driving shoes are much more comfortable but not necessary. Additional height can be gained a few ways, no seat tracks, seat mounting angle, thinner bottom cushion, etc...
I am 6'1 and I do have to slouch just a wee bit to see under the frame. When going down hill, I do have to pop my head over the frame to see but my seat is still on tracks. The bugs are far less of a concern to me than rocks. I have been slightly grazed and wouldn't do the screen.
My feet are size 10.5. I have no issue with the "wart" hanging down under the tank in my Vintage.
That being said, I drive barefoot in the summer if I can. It is just more comfortable for me. And I have driven the car with Red Wing Lineman boots. They are HUGE!
At Carlisle, I drove a Beck that had the Fibersteel pedals in it. My foot kept catching on the hump/wart thingy. I think that was due more to the pedal cluster and the possibly raised flat floor.
@chines1 thank you for the wheel/brake/beam info. That will really help guys out!
Wilwood/Airkewld brakes w/Vintage 190s? 2" total(1" per side) narrowed beam is the solution.
The raised floating floor removes about 1.25 inches of depth at the pedals. I think it looks cool and I removed the tank goiter so no problem, but some larger-footed men might find it constraining.
The good news of course is that the floating floor comes out in 4 minutes with an allen key.
re: sway bar, personally I've never found them necessary on a speedster or a spyder and in 3000+ cars out there (Speedster/Spyder combined), there may be sway bars on a half dozen... Now, if I was pushing the car to 10/10ths regularly I may feel differently... but I do drive very spiritedly and never thought "damn I need one".
@chines1 posted:re: sway bar, personally I've never found them necessary on a speedster or a spyder and in 3000+ cars out there (Speedster/Spyder combined), there may be sway bars on a half dozen... Now, if I was pushing the car to 10/10ths regularly I may feel differently... but I do drive very spiritedly and never thought "damn I need one".
And that’s a mic drop on the sway bar issue as far as I’m concerned.
@chines1 posted:re: sway bar, personally I've never found them necessary on a speedster or a spyder and in 3000+ cars out there (Speedster/Spyder combined), there may be sway bars on a half dozen... Now, if I was pushing the car to 10/10ths regularly I may feel differently... but I do drive very spiritedly and never thought "damn I need one".
I think we may just have to agree to disagree on this particular point, my friend.
I drove my original Spyder with crappy Aldan rear coilovers and COFAP front shocks. It was OK to cruise around in. Through many, many changes over the years I arrived at my current setup: Koni front shocks(full soft at #1 of 5 clicks), custom front anti-sway bar, rear QA1 coilovers set at 10 clicks out of 18, and anti-positve camber straps. This thing handles the best it possibly can. The last item to improve is the Sportrac tires that will be going on soon.
1.5 degrees negative camber front, 3.5 degrees in the rear. 1/16" toe-in front and rear. 23 psi front, 27 rear.
The only way to make it better than it is now would be all-new IRS suspension front and rear and rack and pinion steering. I really should have let you drive it a couple weeks ago in Carlisle...
@DannyP posted:I think we may just have to agree to disagree on this particular point, my friend.
I drove my original Spyder with crappy Aldan rear coilovers and COFAP front shocks. It was OK to cruise around in. Through many, many changes over the years I arrived at my current setup: Koni front shocks(full soft at #1 of 5 clicks), custom front anti-sway bar, rear QA1 coilovers set at 10 clicks out of 18, and anti-positve camber straps. This thing handles the best it possibly can. The last item to improve is the Sportrac tires that will be going on soon.
1.5 degrees negative camber front, 3.5 degrees in the rear. 1/16" toe-in front and rear. 23 psi front, 27 rear.
The only way to make it better than it is now would be all-new IRS suspension front and rear and rack and pinion steering. I really should have let you drive it a couple weeks ago in Carlisle...
and I knew we would disagree on that one... :-) That's also why I mentioned 10/10 because I know you drive your car way harder than most ever will. AND your set-up is quite different from a Beck even stock v. stock.
