My '68 Conv seems to want to go 'walkies' when flicked around corners or roundabouts. Would this be due to no rubbers on the rear anti sway bars or is this a handling characteristic inherent to Beetles

Only had it 3 weeks but having fun finding out all the things the PO forgot about fixing!....

Roger

My guess would be shot rear mounts. The ones under the gear box where the motor mounts.

You will need to pull the motor to change them. Put some urethene ones in.

Thanks Blue.
it seems the motor has to come out soon anyway to remove the thermostat.
I still think the rear anti sway bar should have rubbers though

Roger.

This is an aftermarket job???

I dont have an aftermarket sway bar and my end dont jump about.

Before though i did have broken engine mounts and the end felt very "swaying" going through "s's"

Put new mounts in and all was fine.

LOL!!!

OK ...... rear ends are torsion bar and shocks.
They are rear end motored cars (are D'oh!) and obviously different to a heavy fronted jag.
Any sway bar would be aftermarket.

I will still bet on busted engine mounts allowing your motor to sway

What tyre pressures do you have in the rear

Blue, the only difference between the VDub and the Jag rear end is.......
well lets just say the only thing the SAME is they both have 2 rear tyres

Lugnuts...28psi.

:thumb

i would say remove the sway bar. I have really played around with my suspension. and used a rear sway bar to help balance out some over steer, but found the rear sway bar was to much and still makes the car taily.

front= koni shocks, king sorings 30% stiffer and 30mm lower, neo bushes, -2degree camber. 195/60r15 tires, and std 21mm sway bar
rear= std torsion bars, koni shocks, lowered, and 24mm adjustable sway bar on its softest setting, 205/60r15 tires

For all intents and purposes the rear bar is doing nothing anyway. The PO didn't realise (or didn't worry about) there not being any lower rubbers on it. Consequently there is about a 5" gap between where the rubbers are supposed to go and the mounting points so it's basically doing nothing.
I'll go for the Engine mounts first and see what transpires

I hope I'm not hijacking this post, but where could I get urethene GB mounts?

thanks

I am guessing most of the sponsors would have them

If you have trouble give me a u2u and i can dig some up

cheers blue!
Are they much more dearer than the regular rubber ones? I take it they would last longer too?

Biggest plus is they dont tear like rubber.

Number of times i have pulled a motor and the gearbox / motor is just sitting in the cradle.

I had new rubber ones put in when i rebuilt the stocker back in '97. When i pulled it in '01 to put the 1776 in the were ratted.
This was just 4 years of pottering round.

softop, does the back end feel like it is lifting when things go astray in corners? ie the outside wheel tucking under causing the body to lift. if so getting new rubbers on the back bar could help, by adding spacers under the rubbers you could also start to "tune" the back end to you prefered driving style (or so i have read, never had a car with one).
another thing, have you had a wheel alignment done?
it is a pain, plus should be done (before getting a wheel alignment if needed) but checking and replacing the springplate rubbers could help the situation. if these are flogged out your toe setting will wander all over the place.
BTW in making these suggestions i'm assuming that when you say "flicking around corners etc" you are driving with a little more "enthusiasm" than the average motorist. if so lowering the back end so you have a little neg camber should help (along with replacing those missing bushes), lowering both ends is even better (keeping the front caster unchanged), but things can get expensive quickly (lowering the frount means using aftermarket parts and welding structural bits + engineers certificates to comply to RTA regs).

hope you can decipher my spelling and the info is usefull.
have fun with your new toy.
henry.

Henry, The back end doesn't feel like it's lifting, more like the outside wheel is 'tucking under' which feels weird as there is no body roll (there's no body TOO roll). The rubbers on the rear are fine, BUT the rear bar is designed so as the rubbers dont touch the chassis untill there is a heavy load in the rear, the same as 'helper springs' fitted to a normal(!) car when towing a caravan etc.
Wheel alignment was done in the 2nd week that I had it. The PO had all the tie rod ends and ball joints replaced but it was toeing out badly.
Springplate rubbers? What are they? I'd better go an' consult my workshop manual (which finally arrived) but my wheel alignment guy did'nt mention them.
Erm, dont you mean positive camber -top of wheels out further than bottom- VW rears come with neg camber as standard, dont they
Of course this cornering thing could all be in my imagination as I'm comparing it to my other driveway blocker which handles like a dream.

Roger.