Damo has had his car on the road for a while now and was never really happy with the front suspension that he had pro built (by a dub specialist too) so he brought the bug up to my workshop for a bit of tweaking to get things sorted.
Firstly the suspension hardly actually moved when driving or just negotiating a bump like a driveway lip, also the steering was stoopidly tight so when steering into a corner, you actually had to manually straighten the wheel to come out of the corner. Man it was positively dangerous to drive.
The Whitline swaybar attachment to the lower shock mount is also a little agricultural so we redesigned that too, along with fitting improved CSP front end supports.
The CSP front end stiffiners make the connection from the beam lower tube to the front body mount bulkhead, this is only able to do around 30% of it's potential so I added the diagonal supports to tie in the top tubes as well. We ordered steering box clamps from CSP with the supports to do this.
These were trial fitted and modified to do the job properly
The front end suspension and steering were both rectified by correcting work done previously, ie. 2 ball joints were replaced and one lower trailing arm bush required reaming to gain free movement. Also a ton of sand was properly cleaned out from the inside (aparently left over from sandblasting) luckily he had done minimal mileage or the outer needle bearings would have been toast. I juggled the torsion leaf positions as the previous shop had also stuffed up on thier redrilling for the 2" narrowing and we couldn't get the desired camber specs previously, even with the aftermarket adjusters with more offset.
So all was reassembled and lubed properly. 🙂
For the sway bar links, we fitted 4 x Heim joints and a threaded rod link to the lower shock mounts for a nice adjustable system that should work well without the stoopid chunks of angle iron that normally come with the kit that are so problematic. Pics tell the story here.
So the alignment went well, not quite the camber we desired but 1 degree neg both sides was achieved where previously we could only get zero, all without making another set of torsions, so we're happy. 🙂
Enjoy driving your awesome car Damo, it's a credit to you mate. One very nice German Looker (well once you get those wheels sorted 😉 )
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE
👍
they are both sweet looking cars
I like the beam tie in supports. 🙂
I wonder tho. If the thick support bar located centrally between the beam tubes would this support well or is the triangulated design the better idea?
madness is in the eye of the beholder 👍
psimitar wrote:I like the beam tie in supports. 🙂
or is the triangulated design the better idea?
In a word....yes
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
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looks good matt, Whats the brake kit?
EVERLAST CONCRETE TANKS
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Thanks Mac, the brakes are 944 Turbo all round, I believe the fitting kit is from Vee Dub Engineering (Canada) but Damo can correct me if I've got it wrong. Stopping power is certainly not an issue with the 4 spot Brembos on each corner. 🙂 🙂
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
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nice 👍
Futue te ipsum!!!
I think, that CSP front end stiffeners originated in '68 on Country Buggies..
Hey Johnny, yes they did, but they were tiny by comparison in design and strength. I usually make them or integrate into the bar work, but the CSP ones are off-the-shelf and German made with a quality fit.
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE
I want 4 pot brembos on all corners.😁
Still amazes me, the corners that get cut by some "specialists". Sand in the beam? Really?🤪
sweet work as always, love the swaybar hangers
Quit calling rust patina
nice tidy link on the sway bar
BMW R65 LS
1967 1300 Deluxe
Swing-axles FTW
❗
The beam supports that are fitted to my Ghia are a double unit that fits up to both sections of the beam similar to what you have manufactured except the head is one piece. This was an optional part purchased from the dealership in about 1968 from memory.
I know what you mean Nils, on both accounts.
I've had feedback in the past that I put shit on other shops too much, I think that if they didn't do shit work all the time I wouldn't have to say that sort of stuff. In this case, it was no expense spared, big D wanted the best, no questions. And from experience I am sure that was how his job would have run.
What do you guys think?
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE
Yea ,well we all know the answer to that one Matt , but apparentley it is not good sportsmanship to bag sh!t work .
To those in the know and the good old word of mouth it all works out in the end though .
Don't let body work get in the way of real suspension travel
I'm not going to sit a bag on anybody, but I think these places put themselves under the pump in an effort to be competitive. As a result things can get overlooked. We all spend time looking for the best price on parts, when parts really are the cheap part of most of our projects.
To think, 38hrs/wk @$90per/hr = $3420, How much can you really get done on your veedub in a week? Sure could buy alot of sweet parts for that!
I have spent probably 300+ hrs changing the engine in my baja over the winter, maybe $2000 in parts. Now would I have payed $20000 for this service? NOoooo!
If someone quoted you $20000 for an engine change, plus the cost of the engine mind you.
Point I make is-
--are we asking too much for our money?
Quit calling rust patina
matberry wrote:I've had feedback in the past that I put shit on other shops too much, I think that if they didn't do shit work all the time I wouldn't have to say that sort of stuff. In this case, it was no expense spared, big D wanted the best, no questions. And from experience I am sure that was how his job would have run.
What do you guys think?
i used to work up at mattys boat shed and the retification of all and sundry componets not directly related to the customers problems but had to be sorted in order to rectifying the customers orignal concern was were the cost blow outs happened.From my pov matty approach is tohave a modified vw that is as close to or exceedes the orignal vw design.Given the chance to go for a slow cruise,a serious fang on the bitumen or the dirt you can help but smile!but when you jave to spanner on a car mattys fiddled with it was always an enjoyable day at work.Thats my two cents for what its worth.And damio i cant wait to go for a drive it sounds like its not a death trap it use to steer crap and ride crapper and that was just in and out of the shed!Nice work matty,betcha it was nicer to put back togeather than it was to pull apart that was a shit job sounds like you found quite a few more things than i saw!
matberry wrote:Thanks Mac, the brakes are 944 Turbo all round, I believe the fitting kit is from Vee Dub Engineering (Canada) but Damo can correct me if I've got it wrong. Stopping power is certainly not an issue with the 4 spot Brembos on each corner. 🙂 🙂
Oh, are 944 rotors easily available in Oz then? I know Euro companies still manufacturer them but weren't sure if Oz companies did.
madness is in the eye of the beholder 👍
Thanks for helping me fix my front end Matthew. I am very happy with the end result. The installation of the CSP bar kit was very easy and very well made. It was nice fitting quality German made parts on my bug. Now a little lesson learned from this, the CSP bar kit does not fit narrowed beams, my beam is narrowed 50mm and the CSP bars are stamped L & R too make it fit on a narrowed beam all you have to do is swap them from side to side and they clear the uprights on the beam. Installing this kit also allowed us to install my whiteline swaybar in a much better way, you can see in pics how it now attaches much better than two U bolts and some angle iron. The heim joint adjustable tie rods only cost $80 to make from all new hardware sourced from a bearing shop. As for availability of 944 brake rotors i simply went to Brisbane Porsche dealership and ordered from them and the price was cheaper than aftermarket. Front caliper mounting kit was from Canada and the rears are a mix of early and late 944 components and its all a bolt on for the rear brakes. Matthew insists that i paint my wheels black.
This is my Volkswagen, there are many like it, but this one is mine. Without me my Volkswagen is useless, without my Volkswagen, I am useless.
61 Karmann Ghia 2110cc type1 w Los Panchito's
66 Deluxe Beetle 2270 type 4
10 Subaru WRX Impreza
Hmmmm he wanted to paint mine black too
How bout black spokes with polished outers....possible? Leaving the center caps and wheel nuts silver
hellbugged wrote:Hmmmm he wanted to paint mine black too
How bout black spokes with polished outers....possible?
Yes possible. Or maybe leave them as is and let Matt paint them.
😂This is my Volkswagen, there are many like it, but this one is mine. Without me my Volkswagen is useless, without my Volkswagen, I am useless.
61 Karmann Ghia 2110cc type1 w Los Panchito's
66 Deluxe Beetle 2270 type 4
10 Subaru WRX Impreza
Good to see it back together and on the road no matter what colour the wheels.
Looks tell a thousand words..... Do you like the neat, almost sleeper/sweet street look or desire the hardcore " there's definitely more going on here" attention that comes with the dead giveaway of blackedness 🤘
Sweet ride...... I do have this distant memory of seeing you belting around in my fresh 1776 complete with stinger, look forward to the return show of faith one day. Ha ha ha, hint hint😘
Didn't you guys know, black wheels is the new.... well, you know, black. lol
As Daimo said, it's all about the look 'your' after, do you want , my middle name is Nancy, or do you want, look out Holdenman, Mr 351, I got shit here that might just whip your butt.
Is Blackedness a real word???....I like it
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE
grumble wrote:The beam supports that are fitted to my Ghia are a double unit that fits up to both sections of the beam similar to what you have manufactured except the head is one piece. This was an optional part purchased from the dealership in about 1968 from memory.
I missed your post mate, got any pics of these?
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
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Here's the country buggy ones
BMW R65 LS
1967 1300 Deluxe
Swing-axles FTW
❗
Thanks Shaun, I remember them now, they are a strong design, I was thinking of what must be the early CB design that was made from some 1/2" (or there abouts) rod.
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
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Sheez Shaun that reminded me I have a set of them...... somewhere 😵💫
Well worth fitting to every bug IMO
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE
Yes .... Was surprised to find someone had fitted them to my stocka long before I got it
matberry wrote:Thanks Shaun, I remember them now, they are a strong design, I was thinking of what must be the early CB design that was made from some 1/2" (or there abouts) rod.
Ah, see now that was the design i was thinking of
🙂madness is in the eye of the beholder 👍
