new to the game

Welcome to the Madness, Collin!  I think you probably win the award for the further north Speedster.  Hope you can stay warm enough to have a decently long driving season.  Right now I'd trade some of our heat and humidity for Anchorage.

Nice score on the wide-body, Collin! Welcome to the Madness! 

Very nice speedster. 

Collin---good for you---that car has to be super rare up there.  When we recently stayed at the Capain Cook Hotel there, we saw only very utilitarian vechicles and airplanes with huge tires there.  Your Speedster will certainly add to the scene on the streets of Anchorage, Alaska!

If anyone would benefit from an Espar sas heater if would be you!  I don't imagine one would let you have a year-round driver but I bet it would double your driving season.  They come with a defroster attachment too which I reccomend.  Google it and check it out.

Good luck---looking for more posts about your experience with a Speedster in Anchorage.

I think you can get "longest drive" if you drive it to the great  Carlisle Speedster event next year unless David Stroud goes through Terra Del Fuego on his way there. 

New love has a way of blinding you

Welcome to the madness.

Welcome to the Madness...the door panels are the bomb !

Welcome To The Madness, Collin! I live in Vancouver, BC; too bad you didn't drive it all the way home, but I'm guessing you only had so much time? You say you got "pushed around by trucks and high winds on the I5"- that's going to happen a little bit, but we may be able to help you tame it a little. It's probably a swingaxle and not irs, as it's a '67 pan (do you know the difference? don't be afraid to say no- we will teach you!), so it needs a camber compensator (on the back, under the axle tubes and looks like a leaf spring attached to the transaxle case in the middle) and a heavier than stock front sway bar. First pic is of the rear suspension with a camber compensator, 2nd is of the front trailing arms with the sway bar attached with gold colored clamps to the lower arm. Sorry it's not larger; it's the best I could find. Some pics of the underside would be helpful, if you can. Al

Is that a Vintage, guys?

Colin, if you got blown around, perhaps you could use a set of caster shims in the front, maybe a new steering stabilizer, and a good four-wheel alignment?

And welcome!

RE Jack's heater comments: I highly recommend the gas heater as well. You can be comfortable down to the mid-40s F with one installed.

OOPS!! What Danny said, Collin; I've got $10 that says it doesn't have caster shims, and the rest of it is important as well.

FYI- The VW was an economy car for the masses originally designed in the 1930's, and the engineers never envisioned what we do with them now. They are built with the minimum caster (2 1/2-3 degrees) in the front suspension needed for the car to be safe at legal highway speeds and still allow easy low speed (think parking lot and a 100lb. lady) steering. When lowered there's even less caster and steering can get a little "squirrelly" at those higher speeds, and the solution is a pair of shims to space the bottom tube out from the frame head. I've heard of guys running as much as 6 or 7' caster, but I think the consensus here is that 4' (or a little more) is plenty for higher, ever so slightly above legal highway speed cruising.

I took a Cal Look bug I built in my youth (lowered almost 5" in front, 1 or 1 1/2" in back, bigger engine, lots of fun!) up to about 105 (or so) mph down a long hill on a local mountain highway, was all over the place, and a wind gust put me in the next lane before I could react; it was that uncontollable (and scary!). I never ran it up that high again. That was before I knew about caster shims. Gene Berg Enterprises http://www.geneberg.com/produc...php?products_id=1214 sells them for about $20/pair, and if you shop around I think you'll find them for a little less, so they're not expensive.

As Danny said, get the car up on a rack for a good 4wheel alignment and see if you need them. If you don't have friends with the equipment then have them beforehand. Depending on how the front is lowered it may need 2 sets. Al 

And Collin, if it needs 2 sets of caster shims, you'll need the longer bolts that are available. One set of shims is usually OK with the factory bolts.

Swing axle rear suspension is a type of IRS in that each wheel moves separately, but wit's different from what we normally refer to as IRS.  A swing axle rear suspension is what you have and one in which the axles are "hinged" at one end only - the transaxle.  This means that the wheel swings in an arc from the side of the transaxle as it moves up and down, which can produce some serious camber changes.  Porsche 356s and 550s all had swing axles.  It is simple and rugged, but not the best handling arrangement.  True IRS is "hinged" at both ends of the axle, allowing the wheel to move up and down with little camber change.  While more complex, this allows for much better handling and is what most cars have now days, including all Porsches.

That's a very simplified answer but I hope it helps.  Your car appears to be equipped with a camber compensation which reduces the tendency of the car to "jack up" on the outside wheel in a hard corner.  As long as you follow the mantras of "don't lift" and "slow in, fast out" that many early Porsche drivers learned you should have plenty of safe fun.

As Lane said, although technically yours is independent rear suspension, it's what we call a swingaxle because of the brakedrum/wheel being fixed perpendicular to the axle tube. This is what causes the wild camber changes as the rear of the car moves up and down. I see the rear of your car has an anti-sway bar attached (look closely Lane, it's not a camber compensator), which gets mixed reviews for swingaxle handling. I'm not sure exactly what the deal is, but I know some guys don't like them at all. At the end of my spiel I'll provide a pic showing the difference between the swing and irs.

Have you got a pic from the back showing the camber of the wheels when the car is on the ground at ride height?

You have a front (technically, anti-) sway bar; someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it even looks thicker than stock, and that's good. As mentioned before, some caster shims will make a real difference in how the car handles on the highway, so don't put that off, as unpredictable handling when winding it up past legal highway speeds can come back and really bite you in the ass (and everywhere else). 

PS- The Berg caster wedges 

http://www.geneberg.com/cat.php?cPath=12_384_2917 are about $10/pair, 5.9mm thick and add 2.36' of caster. As said before, you want to end up with somewhere between 4-6' caster. 

PPSS- What tire sizes does the car have front and rear? And are you happy with the brand (are they Nexens)?

Oh, btw- that pic of the swingaxle rear suspension (and camber compensator) I provided above isn't my car, but stolen out of the gallery off the Samba. It looks to be a stock height bug. Anyway- the comparison I promised- swingaxle on 1 side, irs on the other-

You're right, Al.  I was thinking of your picture farther up.

Here's a shot of a swing axle VW cornering.  The wheels tend to 'tuck under' the body, and it's a little off putting, to say the least.

Here's an illustration, showing how a camber compensator helps a swing axle car stay more stable during cornering.

Sweet looking speedie Collin and welcome to the madness! Looks like an oil cooler behind the doghouse mounted over the firewallscreen to take advantage of the airflow. I like the pedal setup and the location of the 2 gauges left of pilot seat - oil temp and oil pressure? That must have been a great first ride driving it up to Seattle, what a way to break her in to a new owner!! You are sure to get great enjoyment of not only the car but you will find the SOC'ers to be a great group of people.

so you're saying my 60mph spinout last week on my new favorite road (undisclosed location ) was totally Charlotte's fault and not a result of over-zealous driving!

I like the sound of the camber compensator.  Product suggestions??

I'm looking up how to set the caster using shims as we speak (don't tell my PM).  That sounds like a more pressing issue.

Al, the tires are Nexen, 17" wheels and I believe the tires are 235 width. I'll double check that when i get home.  if you're asking because of the wandering steering, I'm sure that's a part of it (specially with the formidable lane ruts here in AK).

Dutch,

you are correct about the oil cooler and the first ride!

I actually rattled one of the bolts holding the oil cooler to the fan shroud during the drive.  As well as one holding the shroud to the bottom of the pan.  They have been replaced and added to the list of "things to check/tighten periodically"

A lot of us have the CB Performance camber compensator on our cars.  No complaints.

ordered one.  thanks for the reco

+ 1 on the CB Performance Camber Compensator.  I have one and it works VERY well. Ask me how I know!

You have an aftermarket front anti-sway bar, probably about a 3/4".

Haha I just found out about those rattling loose (as well as some other things) myself!  I too have a similar list being created..........!!!!

Great purchase, really Grabbed Life by the horns with this one

You'll have a lot of fun with it!

Good lookin' widebody! Nice to see another one join the ranks here. Best of luck with it and Welcome to the Madness