Maintenance and Upgrade
 

So out of boredom and necessity, I overhauled the front suspension on the street bug Mojo. I love the lowered german look but the handling has nagged me since I installed the Maxx struts. It was very bouncy like I spent most of the time on the bump stops, and that's because I was but I also found other problems.

For starters, after pulling the driver's side apart I found that the strut retaining nut was loose and the strut cartridge had about 1/2" play inside the housing. One of the bump stops had also folded in on itself from abuse.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...1.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...3.jpg~original

Normally I'd say the ride height was set too low but the spring perches were at the maximum ride height setting. That tells me the spring is too soft so I compared it with a couple others I had in the garage.

Left: QA1 10" 125lb/in, Middle: Eibach 12" 80lb/in, Right: Maxx 12' unknown rate
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...0.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...1.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2.jpg~original

Its hard to see in the pics but the Maxx spring uses a thinner wire than the Eibach 80# spring which leads me to believe it's close to 70#, stock super beetle is 72# IIRC.

I pulled out the strut cartridge only to find it was blown. I think it's a mk1 rabbit/golf unit at 11.75" long, Sachs super touring cartridge.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...3.jpg~original

While I was at it I decided to slip over a coil over sleeve for better adjustments and fine tuning. A little careful work with a rotary rasp and they fit perfectly.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...5.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...5.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...6.jpg~original

Once that was done I decided to try the 125# springs with a 1" preload to take up some of the slack so to speak. I also removed one of the bump stops on each side (there's 2 that make a diamond shape) to see how the car handles off of the stops.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...6.jpg~original

Based on a vehicle weight of 2250# (wet, with driver), 925# is over the front wheels (L:488 R:437) and I think 125# is still too light. After a quick drive it's a much smoother ride and the front struts are definitely dead. I'm looking for good adjustable rabbit struts for the street and race bug and I want good struts before changing the springs again.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...3.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...8.jpg~original

i was checking over my stuff a while back and found almost the same thing with the aluminum collar. i ended up pulling the thing apart and putting some blue lock tight on the collar and torquing it down real tight. where did you find the threaded collar? thats one of my biggest complaints with the maxx kit. i hate the take it apart to adjust it thing.

I got a set of 7" bilstein threaded collars from summit:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BSN-B4BOA0000117/

You'll need to shave the inner diameter a little bit like I did to make them work. There wasn't a setup like this before from topline but now they have a threaded extreme strut cheaper than the maxx strut.

FWIW, the notes I have on the MaXX strut says it has a 71.5 pound rate.

Oh, and I love Spider Bait.

You could try these GAZ GAI inserts.

I think you you can make a good combination between spring and absorber.

http://www.gaz-shocks.co.uk/product.html

I was too tired last night to post it but here's my driving impressions so far with the new springs. The ride is much softer (not riding on bump stops now), and cornering is a lot less skittish. It always felt on edge pulling .9 G's or so but now there's a little more body roll and it feels more stable, the skittish feeling is gone. The springs are close but still feel soft to me, and though they are a good match for the stock rear torsion bars they need to be harder for a lowered car. I tried taking my roommate into town and the tires were just buried in the fenders with lots of rubbing, not to mention the poor kamei spoiler scraping quite frequently.

I changed my mind and I think I'll swap in the 300# springs for a lark. I'm pretty sure they're too stiff but I'd like it to sit low and take a passenger.

I totally forgot about GAZ, they're not usually seen here in the states. I'll have to see if they have a US distributor. The other option I've been considering is Koni adjustables.

Yeah, I figured the springs were close to stock, which is okay for stock height but not a lowered car. If you love the car now keep an eye out. I've been pondering making the street bug a rolling test bed for the race car. I've got plans forming now for rear coil overs, cup brace, and adjustable struts. I've also been tempted to drop in the "backup" race engine for R&D, purely scientific reasons :D

A typical 'performance' set up for the road is to increase the rate by 30% that will give ~100lb/in as well as dropping the front by 40-50mm. With that I would not expect any bump stop issues except in extremis . 125lb/in would be a race/rally set up that would IMO be uncomfortable on the road. I subscribe to the Chapman principle that it should have soft springing/stiff damping. You should be able to find plenty of suppliers for both springs and damper inserts including Bilstein.

Clive

humble do you have any pics on how the coil over sleeve sits on the bottom of the strut?