1964 Beetle.
- Thread starter whatucolm
- Start date
Colm this looks good, although I would still probably move to the lower mounting hole on the upper 'A' arm and extend the upper tie-rod out to reset the camber. Couple of reasons. The locost only weights about 450kg and will have less body roll than the heavier beetle. Having the arm more upwards will ensure that you will never get any positive camber when cornering hard. The good thing is that you can drive it like this then try it the other way to gauge the difference. As I said before the shock plays no real part in how camber changes when the 'A' arms move up and down. What I would do is put a jack under the front of the car, take off the two shocks and then jack the car to the ride height you prefer. Then measure the distance between the two mounting holes and order the correct length shock/spring set-up based on this dimension. You will also need to watch what Poundage is on the spring. I would go for something around 180lbs to start with, or even 200lbs. Really it's trial and error, but the more important thing is the shock itself, ie overall length and maximum travel.
The other thing which I can't quite make out from the photos you posted is the actual position of the ends of the Steering Rack? The position and width of the rack is very important to limit Bump steer. You are very limited to the actual positioning of the rack due to the tunnel and frame head of the chassis. One of the most important things is that the ends of the rack (when steering is centred) fall somewhere on a virtual line draw between the pivot points of both 'A' arms. Not sure if you can make out my quick drawing below?
Something else you should consider doing is adding another cross tube to the lower 'A' arm as shown below. The lower 'A' arm takes 99% of the abuse and adding this additional bar will spread the load between the two mounting points better.
Overall...cracking job considering how tight for space it is in that area. Some small fine tuning will have you setting some nice lap times at Mondello next year!
thanks knk-ya i must try the lower position,at some stage.i never realised the Locosts were so light!jazus-they must be moppers to go/handle?
i really want to drive it before i take the subframe out again,as i've had it in and out about 20 times now,and the last time,i swore it was the last time until i drive it!
i'm 99% sure i'll have to raise the outer end of the tie rod to get the bump steer right,if i use the lower one,which is gonna put more pressure on the 14mm bolt i put through the origional steering arm hole-its one of the bits i'm unsure of-so i'd like to try it this way first.
i like that diagram thing you did-i came across similar ones alright.i was lucky in that the pivot of the rack fell almost exactly in a line between the two pivots.
i was thinking abiut putting a bar across where you said alright!-they do look a bit spindly there.i wasn't sure how much use it would be tho-thats on the 'to do' list now too so-cheers!
the springs i got are 180 lbs,funnily enough,tho they'too short.would you by any chance have any shocks/springs for sale?
i guess you must have built some Locosts before? any pictures?
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jesus Barry..a calander for lap-timing is it?! i wasn't planning on stopping for a picnic or anything..can we have a calender sent out to john please ?
made a small bit of progress with the old wagen today-nothing exciting tho.got a steering rack clamp off a mk3 golf.it was about 60mm diameter.i bet it round the place with a hammer til it was 40 mm,shortened it and drilled a new hole in one side.now it fits the steering tube of the Beetle.
i welded it to the tube then-its reinforced with the collar inside.
it fits like this inside;
i made an aluminium plate for the outside to give it a bit more support.
get to keep my most favouritest steering wheel in the car!
just need to weld the shaft between the two knuckles now,and i shoul have steering again at last.
i welded it to the tube then-its reinforced with the collar inside.
it fits like this inside;
i made an aluminium plate for the outside to give it a bit more support.
get to keep my most favouritest steering wheel in the car!
just need to weld the shaft between the two knuckles now,and i shoul have steering again at last.
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Any time lad.
Have a load if pictures that I took of the wiring loom, clocks and front end. Will add them in if you want.?
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sound Seanie,you might stick a few up so,if you dont mind-try not to put any up of my dodgy welding tho-
this is some build thread, I just kinda started reading it thinking ill read the start and head out to the garage, God damn was I surprised when I came to the second page, I was hooked!!
love it man, from the look of it to the amount of work gone into the axle.
cant wait to see the rest of the work.
best of luck.
love it man, from the look of it to the amount of work gone into the axle.
cant wait to see the rest of the work.
best of luck.
thanks Colin! my brother was saying he met someone from Monaghan,on Eircooled out at the shed alright-sorry to have missed you-sure give a shout if you're ever passin again.cheers.
got a little bit done with the car yesterday.i was trying to make a kind of surge tank/swirl pot for the petrol tank,to help prevent the enging getting starved of fuel.
i had some 2mm steel knocking around,so i got the hammer and grinder out again..
i had some 2mm steel knocking around,so i got the hammer and grinder out again..
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i cut a round bit for the bottom,and welded it together.
then drilled some holes in the tank-the idea is supposed to be the petrol goes through the holes,into the bean-can i made,but cant so easily get out because the holes will be like a baffel?-a hole in the bottom of the bean can will feed the pump-and hopefully avoid fuel starvation on long corners especially.i drilled some holes in the floor-mat too,while i was at it..
this is them welded together;
then drilled some holes in the tank-the idea is supposed to be the petrol goes through the holes,into the bean-can i made,but cant so easily get out because the holes will be like a baffel?-a hole in the bottom of the bean can will feed the pump-and hopefully avoid fuel starvation on long corners especially.i drilled some holes in the floor-mat too,while i was at it..
this is them welded together;
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this is where it sits with the tank back in the car;the fule pump will be just under it.
will hopefully repaint the whole petrol tank during the year.
will hopefully repaint the whole petrol tank during the year.
Sorry to burst your bubble but I thinks it's going to leak out of that...
don't worry Kvinyl,i splashed out onsome extra sticky sticky tape,but it dosnt matter really coz i have no petrol money anyway!
nice work as usual colm. and well done for not setting fire to yourself again while welding the tank
ha,ha-ya,i had two fire extinguishers beside me(one looked a bit too flammable)and rinsed the tank out with water-no explosions thank God!
Nice work...did you test the tank for leaks before painting?
Nothing worse than having to empty a tank of petrol AGAIN to patch weld.
Nothing worse than having to empty a tank of petrol AGAIN to patch weld.
thanks knk,no,i didn't check it yet-its just a bit of aerosol primer on it at the moment.welded the connection for the petrol pipe on yesterday,and got petrol pipe today,so i'll probablly check it tomorrow.ya,wouldn't be much fun empting it agaiin alright!