The speedster I got is quite low in the back, and I've no clue on how to raise it. I think it's based on a 73 beetle.
Any guidance? Places I can research? I wasn't able to find anything on the forums.
Thanks in advance!
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I'm guessing the proper way would be to adjust the splines on each side but when I found my car a bit low after installing the Soob engine, I added a $100 set of coil over shocks to raise things a bit over 1/2". In fact I had to tweak the coils a bit. They say you cannot cut them down at all...but you can and it works fine.
Sweet! Thanks, guys.
WHen you lower the car does it automatically de-camber the wheels? IMO my car rides too hi in back, and the wheels are kind of tucked in. What is keeping me back is that if you lower it do you not mess with the travel of the shocks thereby making the ride even stiffer? Right now it rides like a go kart anyway./ Of course my perception might be influenced by my dailies which are a Benz and 993. When I push on the corners the Speedster is not nearly as stiff as my 993 yet the 993 is a cushy caddie compared to the speedster. ALso any one had experience with the Atomwerk lowering arms?
If your car is a swingaxle (the axle is inside a "tube" and there is a joint with a rubber boot at the trans but the drum end connection is fixed) then unfortunately, lowering the back will decamber the wheels. There will also be less suspension travel before it bottoms out and now may do so more frequently, so may ride rougher. The shocks won't bottom out because the springplate's total range of movement governs the amount of suspension travel, and that hasn't changed. You could put in slightly thicker torsion bars (stock are 21 or 22mm; I believe Intermeccanica uses 24mm bars in their cars), since lowering the rear suspension will take some of the pre-load out of the torsion bars. The heavier bars will keep it from bottoming out as often. The tops of the tires will "tip in" more though, and the more they do, the more uneven your tire wear will be. It is what real Speedsters were like, though...
Your other cars have much more modern suspensions; the swingaxle is a design from some 70+ years ago when cars were much more basic (or crude- that might be a better word here) and there's no comparison. Enjoy the Speedster for what it is; a throwback to the past. If you want something more modern under your car then convert it to later model beetle irs (about $1,000?-less if you can do it yourself, but rides and handles much better than the swingaxle) or (if you really want to go "modern") let Kevin Zagar (Coolryde on here- look at the pics of the install under his car) put his custom front and rear suspensions under your car (6500 or $7,000 + the install). Now that would be trick...
Hope this helps. Al
I have no direct experience with the Atomworks springplates, but I don't see any benefits from the design and they may take the rear wheel past the point it was designed to stop at, which will damage the axle spade (the end in the trans) and the fulcrum plates.
my car is an IRS. SHould have mentioned that. THanks for the detailed explanation tho
What shocks do you have in rear? I used the KYB gas shocks - big mistake for a smooth ride (great for go cart handling especially with rear anti-sway bar and lower profile tires). Guidance normally given for a comfortable ride is cheap oil filled rear shocks. Raising it should de-camber the tires some. With independent rear you'll always get some of the angled tire action going down the road. Adjustable spring plates would let you fine tune rear height without reindexing the torsion bars.
I have an IRS car and am running Koni shocks all around for a VW sedan. The weights are pretty close between a sedan and my CMC car (2,000 lbs), and it rides somewhat softer than those KYB shocks I started with withut giving up any cornering capability. Plus, I'm running 3/4" sway bars front and rear (which tend to stiffen things a bit, too). I like the Koni's a lot.
And, contrary to popular belief, the IRS wheels go straight up and down, maintaining a very close to vertical angle all the time (one hell of a lot straighter than the arc of a circle described by a swing arm rear). That's what makes an IRS rear so much more predictable in a turn than a swing arm. I could break my swing-arm dune buggy loose on even moderate corners, while I have never been able to find the break-loose point on my IRS rear - or I run out of courage before I can make it break loose (And I'm a pretty ballsy driver, too!)
