Road trip to Spa was awesome, loads of cars I've never seen before and after seeing other pictures plenty I missed so I'll definitely be back! Was great to get a chance to drive around the track and got a top 20 award which finished off a top weekend
I also finally got the photoshoot for Volksworld done with some strange attachments, should be some good action shots and I can't wait to see them (
http://www.stevehallphotography.net).
After the trip to Spa, the race style compact boots finally gave up with dealing with the CV angle. They are mainly designed for race cars and are basically an inverted cone with little give so not surprising really. They were necessary to clear the coil-over springs. This picture is from underneath with the car on a 2 post lift and the suspension at full rebound so definitely not the worst position, the damper swings closer to the axle at ride height.
The long term fix was always to relocate the coil-over. I had a spare pair of trailing arms from a 944, these are identical to the beetle ones with the exception of some internal strengthening.
I made up new curved section to take a scallop out of the arm and also reweld the lower damper mount about 15mm further forwards.
All back together ready for clean up and paint.
Better view showing the additional clearance made.
As before this is with the suspension in full droop but now with a nice big silicone off road style CV boot that is designed for much more angularity than I will subject it to. At ride height I can get a finger between the spring and boot so clearance is no longer an issue. While I was at it I also fitted the 944 spring plates with the built in capability of a camber bolt anti-roll bar fitting to set the camber, it is also designed to take a toe adjustment tool. I had to lose the ride height adjustment due to clearance problems with the wheel but with the adjustable coil-overs this really isn't an issue for me...
