VS Adjustable front beam

Bob,

 

If there is adjustment left, go for it.  Kirk used a single for ride reasons, from what I have read. 

 

Stephen

 

 

If you're just dropping it a little, then it may ride alright; the best thing is to try it, as you've got nothing to lose. I ran a Callook beetle in from the mid '70's to the early 80's with the front end dropped 4 1/2" (select-a-drop turned all the way down) and even with the Koni's set on soft it was rough. I've done the beam in my Speedster with 2 adjusters and drop spindles.

 

If just adjusting the select-a-drop gives enough drop but the ride isn't right, you can take the beam out as a complete unit (minus wheels). Scribe a line horizontally across the tube for reference, cut the center piece loose, rotate 1/8 or 1/4", reweld (use a piece of angle iron on the back side as you're tacking the center in place), reinstall and now adjust the top adjuster up a little.

Fire up the welder, Bob! 

I don't have a welder, but I have a high quality hot glue gun.

Just make sure it's the special super-strong stuff; the ordinary glue isn't worth crap!

I'm just thinking here, but if you are going to cut the beam and reweld, why not just put the second adjuster in?

Bob could do that Danny, but then he'd have to take apart the whole beam. My suggestion can be accomplished without dis-assembly, and, as it turns out, you don't even need a welder

I'm thinkin' I'll just drop it and see how it feels. How can I tell how much potential drop I've got? I know, dumb question, but is the amount of thread left on the bottom bolt of the adjuster the amount of potential drop left? Once again the depth and breadth of my absence of knowledge about some of this stuff is mind boggling, but I'm going with what I've got. Thanks for the SOC! 

 

Some direction as to the actual steps to get this done would be helpful, if somebody doesn't mind. Stan walked me through it several months ago in the parking lot of a Starbucks but I immediately forgot the process.

 

If the ride is harsh, then I suspect that switching to shorter shocks might make the whole thing OK.

 

The real goal is to drop it evenly, or maybe just a tad lower in the rear. Hence my other post re: Atomwerks.

 

Again, Thanks!!!

The actual travel limits with that type of adjuster really depend on how long the slot is for the 2nd bolt that holds the center of the spring pack. If they didn't make the slot very big you won't get much adjustment range out of it. If it is long enough, you can lower the car until you bottom out the sliding block on the nut that is on the inside of the cage that the downward pointing adjuster screw runs through.

 

Since you only have one adjuster, the adjustment range is half of what you would get with two adjusters. Essentially the trailing arms will align themselves at the average angle between the two adjuster settings. Since you have one that can't move the average of 0% and 100% is 50%.

 

You can estimate the amount of additional drop you could get, it's basic trig. But it may be faster just to back the adjuster all the way out to the lowest setting and put it back on the ground. For estimation, go measure these:

 

D = distance from edge of sliding block on adjuster to the nut that it will bottom out on at full drop

R = radius from beam tube center to where you measured on the sliding block

L = length of trailing arm from beam to ball joint

 

So for a hypothetical example if D = 0.25", R = 1", L = 12"

 

Drop distance is roughly ((D / R) * L) / 2 = ((0.25/1)*12)/2 = 1.5"

 

It's divided by 2 since you only have one adjuster.

 

If D is 0.125" instead, all else equal, remaining drop distance is about 0.75".

 

This is a very rough estimate since the actual drop distance also depends on the rotational angles the trailing arms are at relative to the ground.

 

 

To make the adjustment, lift the front of the car off the ground. Back off the lock nut on the horizontal bolt a bit. Back off the lock nut (outermost one) on the downward pointing bolt. Unscrew the downward pointing bolt to lower the car, screw it in to raise the car. Verify the horizontal bolt is still tight. Re-tighten both locknuts.

 

 

Shorter shocks will prevent bottoming out the shock over bumps in a lowered car which can certainly cause a bad ride, but it's also very bad for the shocks. It won't necessarily make the whole ride softer unless the new shocks have a lower damping rate than the old ones.

Justin:

 

Once again, thanks!

 

This explanation ought to be archived in the knowledge section.

My own 2009 VS only had one adjuster. My front end was too low and so I removed the drop spindles and put in standard ones, and then it adjusted up.  It now has a slight rake and I don't bottom out on everything.

Hey Cole! You probably ended up where I am now. It appears that I have the stock spindles and single adjuster setup you have.

 

I'm going to see how much adjustment I can get and consider a shock change if I can get down where I want it and the shock travel room is too compromised. I'm thinking this strategy might not get me much, but we'll see!

I changed to stock spindles for two reasons: first, the rake was way to much for me, it was really noticeable.  Second, I had less than 2" of clearance from the ground to my sway bars and I was always scraping which put the front end out of alignment.  

 

Standard spindles and adjusting the beam down gave me a little bit of rake (I now like the look) and a lot more clearance.  I have not scraped since making the change.

 

I did not need to change shocks.

 

How much rake is "right" is very personal, many have told me that you cannot have too much!  But this is the right amount for me.

 

 

Very subtle rake. Looks great.