Ok iam trying to sort out the suspension on the super, so I can make full use of my new engine. Does any body know of someone that has in the past, does, can make adjustable strut tops for my super?

or another car that i can use instead? (maybe early golf? or porsche?) the lower inner adjusters are at their max and i only have 1.5degree -ve and want about 2.2 to 2.5........

id try richard at vforce mate im sure he might know something

yeah im pretty sure richard would do adjustable strut tops...i bought complete adjustable struts from him however and even though i havent installed them and tested them yet..they sure look the goods.

yeah..me too
i'm very interested in whatever you can find out.....i can get half a degree -ve.

just redrill the top mounting holes should get about 2 to3 degrees fit your strut brace too easy good luck

As far as I can work out the strut tops' 'dome' and symetrical design doesnt allow any easy relocation for neg camber (like, for instance, an early Commodore) even with filed mounting holes. It might be an idea to try more caster first by shortening/relocating the radius rod/swaybar. That will give you better camber and steering feel when cornering without compromising tyre contact patch at straight ahead. You could also modify the control arms' inner mount (elongate the hole) but that will stretch your track and might affect your scrub radius/steering geometry too much...guess it's a three-bolter; maybe you could look at a later two-bolt front end...?


[ Edited on 11-1-2007 by VWCOOL ]

yeah thats what i thought about the top. No its a 2 bolter, but didn't want to roll the wheel inwards as i am trying to fit some 6inch wheels in there. It may just be easier to get the Vforce struts and go down that path, as it will allow for a wider wheel. (presently run 195/55r15 R881 on 5.5 inch steel wheels and was looking at some 6inch superlites).

can you get sway bars with the end machined so you cna just use spacers to adjust caster?

yeah the narrow springs allow more tyre; there's not much room under there... Not sure about adjustable swaybars - I was simply going to relocate (with plates and Noltec bushes) the front mounts/bushes on my car. That will give more 'base' caster, but it won't be adjustable

Hi

I bought some weld on camber adjusters from Pedders for an Escort, they looked the same as a bug one only with a bigger circle so that it gets more movement, I still had to file the slot on the lower control arm mounting, or you could unpick the stock ones and re weld them.

Steve

i got an adjustable front bar from VVDSupplies...more castor feels good and much more stable at speed

Hi

I'm pretty sure that extra caster would also help with the shimmies. I had an adjustable bar on my 1302 and it worked well.

Steve

yep..it does...even after replacing just about everything in the front end i still had a very slight"shimmy" at certain speeds, after fitting a bar with extra castor it disappeared

Topline in the states offer urethane mounts for the swaybar that are eccentric, ie the hole is not in the center. This is a budget way of getting some more caster. Their swaybar is also shorter in the arms that locate the control arms so that too helps give more caster.

I made my own strut tops using a sperical style top bearing (made by a local speed way guy) and that fits into a steel plate I made up. I offset the bearing towards the middle of the car to give more negative camber. You could make them adjustable, but I didn't see the point with mine. It becomes solid mounted which is supposed to be noisy, but my car is noisy enough that I don't notice any difference.

I also have adjustment on the lower strut bolts (golf struts).
Cheers
Jeremy

http://carolineandjeremy.multiply.com/photos/photo/2/9.JPG 

Sorry can't get the image to link, so heres the link.

[ Edited on 18-1-2007 by Jeza ]

Jeza do you have any pics of your strut tops? i have a bit of time as the engine won't be ready till mid/late feb. so can spend a bit of time getting thing sorted.

Hi Bix

The link above which didn't work quite as I'd hoped is a photo, I'll try adding one to this post.

I've also just remembered that Topline offer a camber plus kit, which offers more adjustment to the inner control arm bush, works really well, also urethane.

Cheers
Jeremy




[ Edited on 18-1-2007 by Jeza ]

Found another pic that might help explain it.

This is the parts of the bearing, this complete housing fits into a hole in the plate and a ring screws on the top to hold it in place. I used 2 pieces of 3mm steel plate(needs minimum of 6mm to clamp). The mounting studs are the stock ones from the old strut top, and they go through only 1 plate, the other plate is basically a large washer- helps to distribute any load (if this is actually required??) and works as packing so I can screw the mounting ring up tight.

Make any sense at all??

The pic.

nice setup with the struts there
so there golf springs?
im looking at making the same setup out of honda CRX rear struts so i can fit some 17x7.5 porsche rims in

-Joel

Hi

Golf struts, with the platform removed to make coil overs. The spring is aftermarket. Similar setup to the Vforce slim coil struts. I'm using 944 hubs though, not the standard 3bolt 1302 ones.

The CRX struts sound interesting, how does that work? Are the hole spacing the same as the Beetle 03 hub? Or are you just using the spring?

Looks good - Is the Golf strut a little shorter, and bolts straight on to the 1303 2-bolt spindles?

If so, I'll keep that in mind when parts hunting for my next project

mmmmm interesting, as i have a mk 1 golf, and 2 sets of suspension for it, including a full set of jamex fully adjustable coil overs............

[Hey thanks for that - I'd heard somewhere the Golf struts fit L-Bugs but wasn;t 100% sure. Cheers!

[ Edited on 19-1-2007 by VWCOOL ]

what is there to stop you tyres banging the side of the wheel wells.
i have the hip hop setup and i'm banging the tyres.

helpppp!!! please

Hi

I have 2 bolt skinny struts on my daily 1303, I filed the top hole where it mounts to the strut and fitted camber from a Golf 1. If you look closely at the Beetle strut, in the stub to struts area mounting area, you will notice that it is double skinned, the inner skin is already elongated and the ridge is there for the camber bolt to act on.

I had the car wheel aligned yesterday and I had heaps of camber adjustment. I was able give the inner control arm adjustment full negative, then the wheel aligning guy set it up with 1 degree neg, still with heaps of adjustment left, try this with a beam. This pulled the wheels right in, I'm fitting 17x7 wheels soon, so fingers x they will clear OK.

Steve

I was wondering about this as well and got talking to a couple of guys I know who are into drifting. They told me that all the AE86 toyotas cut out 180SX nissan strut tops and weld them into the toyota bodies to run the off the shelf Nissan strut tops. Reckon this could be done with a bug?

Just heard back from k-mac. In late June they will have a super beetle strut top ready. This is their new deisgn which allows ajustment of chamber and castor both together and seperately.......

reviving an old thread, but im sure there would be interest, in my brain wont switch of to let me sleep pondering things on my bug state, i came across this

http://www.k-mac.com.au/ 
Superbug, 1600 3 bolt strut '70-'74 #830416J $370 - pair
they now have a listing for bolt on strut tops for bugs

first ones with some get pics up here!

mostly because im curious if they are nicer than what i have currently

Very intersting, STIDUB. I can't sleep either, lol. Nice looking strut tops, and it's impressive to see K-MAC catering for superbugs.

Mr Kmac is old high school mates with richard from v-force from memory, no wonder why they have them now

Looks like I jumped on the strut bug bandwagon at the right time then! I still secretly resent the strut front and wish that it was a beam though.