Newbie to Aircooled, Looking for suspension info Handling!

[Chris Percival]

Go to http://www.superbeetlesonly.com/, and read the forum archives. That should yeald many answers to your questions.

[Mysticle31]

Theres some good stuff there. What do guys here have to say about springrates? Where can I find rear springs (or whatever those are called) for the car? 120lb - 150lb fronts?

Where is the point of dimishing returns in regards to tire size for these cars? (I'm looking to fill up the massive 3 in wider fenders)

[NO_H2O]

There is a tech article on the main page (germanlook.com) called The Perfect Suspension. You will find lots of info on different torsion bars, sway bars, etc.

[boygenius]

You can use the 944 rear torsion bars for some added stiffness in the rear suspension. They are cheaper than aftermarket VW ones. The VW comes with 22mm bars and the 944s bars run from 23mm to 29mm in diameter depending on model.

[Mysticle31]

That article is about regular beetles though?

I'm curious, how does a torsion bar rear end work? There is a coil spring there right?

[zen]

Originally Posted by Mysticle31

That article is about regular beetles though?

I'm curious, how does a torsion bar rear end work? There is a coil spring there right?

nope. there is a spring plate attached to the trailing arm. the inside of the spring plate tub (which slides into the torsion tube) is splined and the torsion bar is inserted into the spring plate on one side, rides through the torsion tube and slides into a splined section of the torsion tube on the inboard side. how's that for a run on sentence? the torsion bar then twists between the splined sides to provide the needed tension to push the susension down. the downward travel is limited by a stop for the spring plate on the lower edge of the shock tower. hopefully that made sense.

[boygenius]

Here is a picture of my chassis while I was setting it up for the 944 trailing arms. The bar sticking out of the chassis is the torsion bar. It is basicly a rod of spring steel with serations on either end. The large splines are on the inside and are held in place by the center of the torsion tube. The smaller splines are on the outside of the torsion bar and are held in place by the spring plates. Their resistance to twisting is what VW and porsche used for rear suspension springs.

[Mysticle31]

That's uhh....different. I'm going to have to buy the SB just to take it apart now What's the deal with rear suspension then? How can I beef that up? Whats the deal with these 935 spring plates I read about? Is that prety much top of the line mod I can do? (with 944 trailing arms) What are the 944 spring plates? or 911 (never heard it meantioned thought of it for curiosity)?

[Mysticle31]

I'm also looking for info if these can be converted to standard setup (coilover or coil/strut) Seems it can be done but is there any benifit..

[boygenius]

Originally Posted by Mysticle31

That's uhh....different. I'm going to have to buy the SB just to take it apart now What's the deal with rear suspension then? How can I beef that up? Whats the deal with these 935 spring plates I read about? Is that prety much top of the line mod I can do? (with 944 trailing arms) What are the 944 spring plates? or 911 (never heard it meantioned thought of it for curiosity)?

The 944 rear suspension fits no nice because porsche used the beetle rear suspension in the 924 with little modification. It was then upgraded in the later 944s and 968s but it will all fit with a little work. The 911 set-up is too different to make it work and the 944 parts are so much cheaper. I'm not too knowledgable about the 935 set-up but I think it is a heim joint design so the suspension has more adjustability.

I beefed mine up with a käfer cup brace and some plate steel on the inside of my shock towers to make up for the metal removed to clear the 944 spring plates. Hope this is helping...