Good morning all,
I am looking to convert my 68 VW IRS chassis to rear wide 5 rims keeping the drum brakes. I am going with wide 5 disc brakes up front on a narrowed and adjustable beam and want to keep the wheels uniform. A few months ago I saw that CSP had a conversion drum but it is no longer on their website. Any suggestions.
Thanks,
Bob
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You can use a later IRS drum, but you may need to take them to a machine shop and shorten the center hub/spline area. Or maybe add a spacer to take up the length, I can't remember. All I do remember is the splines are the same for all swing-axle and IRS and only vary in length of stub axle.
To use a 5x205 mm Beetle drum on an irs trailing arm I believe you can keep the wider late shoes, wheel cylinder and backing plate, machine the contact surface ¼" deeper in the drum (to accommodate the wider shoes) and fabricate a 5/8" spacer for under the axle nut. I'll see if I can find my notes to confirm this for you later in the day. Al
You can use Thing drums on the rear, but they do increase track width by about 1/2" per side. Depending on wheel offset, this could be an issue.
I have a similar set-up on my car, discs on the front and drums on the rear. I used wide five drums from a '67 Bug on my IRS rear. I also used the narrow shoes from an early Bug. As Al mentioned above, you will have to have a spacer under the axle nut. Using the narrow, wide five drums will help give a little more clearance between the tire and fender.
Another comment, you may not need a narrowed front beam for your disc brake conversion. I used the wide five disc brake kit from CB Performance (not dropped). I have an adjustable front beam that allowed me to set the front to the appropriate height. In my opinion a narrowed beam will push the front wheels too far inboard.
James
cip1 has the conversion drums, i am going through the same thing as you are, 69 pan wide 5 wheels.
Hi all,
Glad Bob Z asked this question. I'm new here (live north Charlotte, NC area) and have just started a Speedy build. My dad's had the CMC kit for 35 years and I have managed to find most of the parts in storage. I'm probably missing some things but I'll deal with that as I find it. I too have a IRS donor (73pan). It already has a 4 lug front disc conversion. I'd like to do the Wide 5's at some point on all 4 corners, so thanks to those that have answered. It has already helped me...
