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Suspension
Thanks for the responses. I live in Metro Vancouver (BC). My daily drive is about 30 minutes. It is a little freeway, a little highway, plus some farm roads and a wee bit through "town".
I do love to drive up to Whistler which is about a 2.75 hour drive and to Kelowna (3.5 hrs) .Both of these trips are a real challenge to a stock air cooled 1600DP. I also love to head down to Seattle WA and Portland and have taken the car down as far as Long Beach CA where I have some family.
If I got the car "just right" (excluding a 5 speed and a Type IV) I would then consider a larger motor and look into racing it at a road circuit course.
When I initially started the project I went through a couple of Keith Seume's books. This is what I came up with. (Please do comment.)
- upgrade stock rubber bushes to heavy duty urethane
- recondition ball-joints and replace rubber boots
- replace wheel bearings
- install Bilstein or Koni shocks
- swap the semi-trailing arm over from one side to the other whilst at the same time trimming off and swapping the shock absorber mountings so that they are now below the trailing arms once more (???)
- reset so that the wheels have a slight negative camber.
- on the front end - overhaul, i.e. replace each component that show signs of wear. (E.G. rubber bushes, strut inserts, strut bearings, and ball joints.)
- install an uprated sway bar
- install a new steering damper (Koni)
- install a pair of adjustable short struts and Koni (or Bilstein gas shocks)
The pan itself requires a hole repair. I will wire wheel it and clean and seal it up.
While I have such great access I plan to clean and replace everything that should reasonably be replaced and uprated. What should I consider here?
Like I say, I am somewhat ignorant of these things. I used Muir's book, the Bentley manual, and Rick's "Bug Me Video"(s) to get the body separated from the pan and to do the engine removal and tear down. This all went quite well and I was pleased that I could remove the body all on my own with just a good jack.
Despite (or maybe because of) my ignorance, I am happy to tackle the project. I just don't know all the details on what I need to consider. I need an overall idea of the complete suspension (including brakes, wheels and tires) before I set out buying and installing parts.
I do appreciate all your responses.
Cheers,
P.S. I will try to upload some photos this weekend. Here too I am somewhat ignorant. Gee, I hope that I'm not just "eye candy" and that there really is something more substantial going on with me.
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