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How close is too close?? Lowering question
matara - January 19th, 2009 at 08:40 AM

I've just put the Porsche 944 turbo brakes and Porsche turbo twists on my 61 Karmann cabrio using modified CB Performance dropped spindles

Luckily I've done this without having to narrow the beam which is typical when doing this conversion. My question is regarding guard clearance. The wheels are just on the rim of the guard as shown in the pic below. There is probably 4-5cm of clearance from the top of the wheel to the guard.

I was wondering how much clearance you need here for when the suspension compresses to stop rubbing etc. I like the idea of having a stock beam with only dropped spindles achieving the drop. That way I keep a good turning circle.

Cheers

Steve


matara - January 19th, 2009 at 08:41 AM

drivers side with the wheel turned a bit.


matara - January 19th, 2009 at 08:45 AM

Another showing the stance. The rear needs dropping a notch or two.


hellbugged - January 19th, 2009 at 08:51 AM

they will definately rub........probably on most bumps at that height, and definately around corners, sorry

bloody nice ride !:tu:


h - January 19th, 2009 at 08:57 AM

the luft lads maybe able to give you some ideas..

http://www.melburgluft.com/viewforum.php?f=10 


matara - January 19th, 2009 at 09:32 AM

So should I weld in some adjusters to allow me to raise it up a little bit, and fine tune it so it doesn't rub.

Will narrowing help out at all?

I've posted on Melburgluft to see what they say.

Thanks

Steve


vwsteve - January 19th, 2009 at 10:02 AM

ive found that even a full tank of fuel will drop it down further so you should keep that in account, when you drop the rear it will come up in the front a bit but the weight of a driver and a passenger let alone fuel will bring it down considerably


hellbugged - January 19th, 2009 at 10:43 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by matara
So should I weld in some adjusters to allow me to raise it up a little bit, and fine tune it so it doesn't rub.



Steve


yeah do it!........fine tuning "rake" makes a hell of a difference to handling too among all the other benefits


1303Steve - January 19th, 2009 at 10:45 AM

Hi Steve

Its hard to tell from those photos how close it will be, can you get any more negative on the front?

I'm surprised that the rears don't fit under, I ran 15x7s with 23 ET under the rear on my 1973 1300 bug, using an online wheel calculator those wheels (8.5 with 50 ET) should be 8mm better on outside clearance than 7s with a 23 ET.

Steve


matara - January 19th, 2009 at 11:49 AM

Steve,

I think I'll weld some adjusters in there and then I can set the ride height.

The rears are 8.5xET50 and they foul the springplate when mounted on 84NA backing plates with Boxster S disks. The studs in the hub are very long (80-90mm) and would have to put a 20mm spacer on there just to be able to put the nuts on the wheels (just using washers to work it all out) . I think I could easily get away with a 5mm with shorter studs, but I don't think the 8.5" wheel will get under the standard guard at all.


1303Steve - January 20th, 2009 at 09:08 AM

Hi Steve

If you look at the car for sale by user 1303 on these forums you can see that he has the same wheels under stock guards. Maybe you can get shorter studs?

Steve


1303 - January 20th, 2009 at 10:02 AM

Steve,

I run 9 x 17 996 wheels with 55 ET with standard rear guards. I use a Porshalink Hubcentric 25mm spacer/hub. Mind you I have a 225 strected over the rim, so the tyre is a more or less the same width as the rim, which makes it easier to fit under the guard.

When mocking it all up, I had the tyres removed so that I could tell what needed to be where. I found that I had to clearance one of the spring plate bolts so that the rim did not foul on it.

Hope that helps.


matara - January 20th, 2009 at 11:10 AM

1303, Can I get a pic of your rear wheel if you've got one handy. I never thought about using a smaller tyre to bring it in a bit. My preference is to stick with stock guards if I can get away with it. Not sure if having an early 61 body on a later IRS pan means I lose a bit of clearance space.

Thanks

Steve


1303 - January 20th, 2009 at 11:37 AM

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1303 - January 20th, 2009 at 11:38 AM

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