Super Beetle single A arm front suspension.

[The Pirate]

What do you mean by "roll centers"? I will be able to better explain my idea and design when I get a chance to draw up a diagram and post it. Plus If the I shaped control arm was such a good design why didnt VW use it on the early rabbits? My main concern is that the A arms are shorter and have to be mounted farther from the center of the car. Yet once this is done they will have the same amount up and down travel as the original I arm and the same arc of travel as well. I guess the question I currently have now is.

Again what do you mean "roll centers"?

Will the same springs work on the struts or will I need some softer or harder springs?

Will having the pivot points farther from center cause the way the car rides or sits on the suspesion to affected in a negative way?

Thanks for any help .

[The Pirate]

Ok I know what roll centers are now. And my idea may work. The main thing is that the a arm has the same ball joint position and amount of travel as the original I arm. The length of the A arm and its mounting location are subodinate to the ball joint location and travel of the arm. I finaly found a nifty website for this conversion as well as a handy free program for working out suspension geometry. Thanks for the tip.

[yetibone]

I've modified my 1303's front end to include strut rods grafted into the original lower control arms. This seemed the lightest, easiest, and least compromising way to strengthen the front suspension, and turn the front swaybar into a non-structural component.

Still gotta finish the rest of the car to see how good it is...

[The Pirate]

Ok those are nice. But it looks like you took notches out of you frame head to channel those struts into? That and they look like they may interfear with the frame moving up as the body comes down. Dont they bottom out in that channel? I will use paint to draw up a general sketch to show what I have in mind. Plus a little more wight in the front is ok with me as the super is a little to light in the front. That And I want to be able to get parts with out having to fab them incase of breakage.

Gave me some ideas.....

[yetibone]

During mock-up the struts bottomed out with a full 7mm between the channels and strut-rods. I put a ~7 degree downward angle at the root of the strut-rods, and a 12 degree upward bend about 10" away from the rod-end to keep them from bottoming.

[The Pirate]

Also yetibone how do you plan to fit a sway bar?

here is a very basic idea of what i am planing. I will be using Audi A arms. This is just a rough draft and may be changed during design and application.

[yetibone]

Front sway bar fits in it's stock location. It no longer bolts directly through the control arms, but with drop-links.