Took the new build Speedster on a little shake down cruise, up the mountain road, nice and easy, up to 8400 ft.. Did great but I would say it has a tendency to oversteer a bit above 60mph. Any thoughts on this from your experience? I probably could have searched an answer but I took a nice photo with my phone and wanted to show off a bit with my brothers! Forgive me
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How was the front lowered? If you used beam adjusters, caster shims (between beam and body) are often required to correct the front steering geometry. Dropped spindles don't have that problem. Have you had it aligned yet?
Scott, what a great photo and what a gorgeous car, I love it!
WOLFGANG posted:How was the front lowered? If you used beam adjusters, caster shims (between beam and body) are often required to correct the front steering geometry. Dropped spindles don't have that problem. Have you had it aligned yet?
It has adjusters, Kirk at VS aligned it before I put body on.
Tom Blankinship posted:What's your tire inflation? I run 24 in the rear and 20 in the front. Less pressure in the front makes the front end less squirrelly.
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24 all the way around. Drop the front???
I wouldn't think an alignment without the body on would still be valid. A good alignment actually has driver weight or equivalent bags of sand in driver's seat along with normal gas and junk in the trunk. Do try dropping front tire pressure to 18-20 - the VS owners manual says 22 psi all around.
Caster is what makes the steering wheel come back to straight when you let go of the wheel when turning. It also helps the car to track straight and not wander all over the road. The greater the caster angle, the faster and easier the wheel comes back to straight and the controlled and accurate the ride feels.
Here's what the shims look like -
The car looks great, Scott! First thing I thought of, though, reading your initial post, is the car doesn't have enough caster...
A lot of good points made by people above. As has already been said, you can't do a proper alignment until the car is finished, and to be as accurate as possible you should have gas in the tank and weight in the driver's seat. FYI, your donor car originally came with the minimum caster needed to be safe at 60-65mph (VW wanted the venerable Beetle to be easy to handle in the parking lot even by granny) and every VW based car running above said speeds needs more caster to be safe. Lowering the front by modifiying the beam (with either adjusters or cutting and welding) removes caster and just makes things all that much more dangerous (we are talking about yours and your passenger's life here) so installing some caster shims is imperative. Even a car lowered with offset spindles may not have enough caster to be safe at higher speeds. I recommend buying 2 sets, installing 1 pair and then getting the car aligned again so you know how much caster the front has. Stock caster is about 3 degrees; Gordon (I think) recommends 6' (or close to it) so you may end up using both pairs. If not, the leftover pair will be easy to sell.
Gene Berg http://www.geneberg.com/advanc...ster&x=4&y=5 and others sell caster shims. They're not expensive, and this is so important, so get this done right away. Al
Spoken, he has...
If you end up needing 2 sets of shims be sure to order the longer lower grade 8 bolts too. Even with one shim (each side) those longer bolts can still be used.
Also - are you using a steering damper and at least a stock anti-sway bar (heavier after-market bars front and rear will give flatter handling).
I do like the dark gray! What color is interior? (See this is where I miss the old forums ability to set up a gallery for the member).
Damn nice looking car. The stance is perfect. How do you like the 356 engine?
Rusty S posted:Damn nice looking car. The stance is perfect. How do you like the 356 engine?
Really like the engine. I was going to go VW then found this engine a few blocks from my house so why not. 1965 356 sc with all the proper parts. Bought it cheap but that was the last thing cheap about that engine.
ALB posted:The car looks great, Scott! First thing I thought of, though, reading your initial post, is the car doesn't have enough caster...
A lot of good points made by people above. As has already been said, you can't do a proper alignment until the car is finished, and to be as accurate as possible you should have gas in the tank and weight in the driver's seat. FYI, your donor car originally came with the minimum caster needed to be safe at 60-65mph (VW wanted the venerable Beetle to be easy to handle in the parking lot even by granny) and every VW based car running above said speeds needs more caster to be safe. Lowering the front by modifiying the beam (with either adjusters or cutting and welding) removes caster and just makes things all that much more dangerous (we are talking about yours and your passenger's life here) so installing some caster shims is imperative. Even a car lowered with offset spindles may not have enough caster to be safe at higher speeds. I recommend buying 2 sets, installing 1 pair and then getting the car aligned again so you know how much caster the front has. Stock caster is about 3 degrees; Gordon (I think) recommends 6' (or close to it) so you may end up using both pairs. If not, the leftover pair will be easy to sell.
Gene Berg http://www.geneberg.com/advanc...ster&x=4&y=5 and others sell caster shims. They're not expensive, and this is so important, so get this done right away. Al
On order, thank you for the info and the link
scottmac posted:Rusty S posted:Damn nice looking car. The stance is perfect. How do you like the 356 engine?
Really like the engine. I was going to go VW then found this engine a few blocks from my house so why not. 1965 356 sc with all the proper parts. Bought it cheap but that was the last thing cheap about that engine.
Did you have it stroked or is it stock?
I usually recommend a range of caster around 5º - 7º with 6º as a sweet spot. They used to be available in two thicknesses; 1-1/2º and 3º but now I only see the thicker ones at the usual parts places. You use a combination of them to get what you need. My last alignment, we needed to make a thicker one out of a piece of anchor fence post pipe - you do what'cha gotta do, right?
Anyway, that should eliminate any high speed wandering and most of the "bump steer" you may be feeling. The down side is that it will make parking lot steering (low speeds) a little heavy, but it's a sports car, not a Cadillac. 
Good luck - you're on the right track!
Rusty S posted:scottmac posted:Rusty S posted:Damn nice looking car. The stance is perfect. How do you like the 356 engine?
Really like the engine. I was going to go VW then found this engine a few blocks from my house so why not. 1965 356 sc with all the proper parts. Bought it cheap but that was the last thing cheap about that engine.
Did you have it stroked or is it stock?
No stroke but SCAT billet crank, big bore kit (1720 or 1750), modern cam, dual solexes
