Rear track width problem!

[Andy White]

Hi everyone,

I recently swopped my swing axle suspension for IRS and fitted 944T brakes to the rear. I am running 17" 7.5J with a 52ET and 215/45 tyres. I now find that these mods have increased the rear track width by an inch either side. Ideally I would like to use my standard width NOS wings but find that the tyres won't fit underneath anymore. There is at least an inch clearance between the tyre and spring plate so I'd like to narrow the rear track if possible.

I have one solution that involves machining the hubs so they sit further in and machining new caliper mounting brackets. This isn't a problem as I won't be needing the cable handbrake mechanism but it is quite extensive work.

Does anyone know of any other solution?

Thanks in advance,

Regards,

Andy.

[Steve C]

Hi

I had a similar problem. You either buy new wheels, have your trailing arms narrowed or have the backing plates altered and new drive flanges made. I choose the later, http://www.clubvw.org.au/porsche_brake_photos.htm
Go to the bottom of the page to see photos of my narrowed backing plates and billet drive flanges.

Steve C

[Andy White]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the quick response!
I only just recently bought the wheels because they were the biggest offsets I could get (52ET). So that leaves me with two other options. I think that I can narrow the rear trailing arms by an inch either side without too many headaches but then what can I do about shorter drive shafts?

Thanks again,

Andy.

[Steve C]

Hi

you can use 2 short axles from an auto bug. These maybe hard to find but im sure you should be able to buy them new in your neck of the woods.

Steve C

[Andy White]

Hi Steve,

Cheers mate...
Off to the breakers or VW then to source more parts!

Regards,

Andy.

p.s Anyone have any axles from an auto bug?

[hot66]

i'm having a similar problem, see my previous thread :

http://www.germanlook.com/Forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=237

[hot66]

Steve C

why didn't you just machine some material off the rear hub so it sat further on the splined axle?

[Alex]

If you are using the bug IRS trailing arms or even the early style aluminum arms your rims should fit under the fenders. The fenders might need some work though like folding the inner lip and pulling the fenders out slightly. I have seen many cars in German mags that had Porsche 944 Turbo rear brakes with 8.5 inch rims under stock fenders.

A 9X17 ET47 rim fits under the stock fender with a 27mm spacer. given a Track increase of 26mm on each side because of the Porsche brakes you would eliminate the spacer. Since you are using smaller rims with a bigger offset you should have space under the wing. This info comes from many German mags as well as from the CSP cataloge and website.
Sandeep is fitting 18x10 in the rear with bigger tires and he could get away with a 2 1/4 inch wider fender and he uses a 930 rear brake setup which increases the track by an additional 13mm so his total is 39mm per side.

One thing that might be done is to modify the fender though. fold the inner lip to pull out the fender slightly. How much extra fender width to you need? 1cm or 1/3 or an inch?

Alex

[Andy White]

Hi Alex,

Believe me, no amount of bending the rear wings will allow me to fit the rims and 944 brakes on the car. The Wheel, tyre, brake and IRS combo has increased the rear track by about 2 inches and there are no spacers. I knew I would come into difficulties at the time and now just have to find the best solution for narrowing the rear track.

As suggested earlier in this thread by hot66, turning off some material from the back of the hub is an option but only to remove 10mm from either side, but this brings me to another problem...I'm running with the Turbo rear discs which will not sit further back with the aluminium caliper carriers, so I'd have to have new ones CNC'd. Then the rear width would still be 32mm too wide even after rolling the lips on the wings!

See my problem?

Cheers,

Andy.

[Alex]

I still do not understand. From which year are your 944 Turbo brakes? If your track increase is about 2 inches it seems to me that you have 87 and up rear brakes. Is that possible?

Alex

[Andy White]

Hi Alex,

I am using the early 944 rear hubs on standard beetle splines. Bolted over these are 944 Turbo discs without spacers.

I am wondering though, whether the trailing arms are actually Type1's. They were bought at a swapmeet so I can't be sure that they were from a beetle. Was there a difference in track between the T1 and T3?

This is the only thing I can think of if you say that the wheels and components should fit under stock arches.

Can anyone else help us with the confusion?

Kind regards,

Andy.

[hot66]

have you seen the pics of my wheel / fender clearance on the link I posted? Has your set up pushed your wheel further out than that?

How much clearance do you have between the inside lip of your wheel rim & the shock tower bump stop?

With the setup I'm running this bumpstop is very close to the wheel rim.

If you move the wheel to far in this will need machining down & also the distance to the spring plate must be considered.

At the moment I'm waiting until I get some weight back into the car & see how the suspension settles out before making any modifications.

I have seen may bugs run this combination of wheels , suspenson & brakes, all with standard fenders (although these do tend to be super beetles (1303's) )

[Andy White]

Hi hot66,

Yes I did have a look at your post. My situation is very similar. The wheel rims stick out about the same amount as on your bug but with the tyre fitted the problem is pronounciated even more.

I have plenty of room between the wheels and springplates as they are only 7.5j. I have already taken some material off of the shock tower bump stops because initially I was planning to use the swingarm suspension setup. So I have no problems at all with clearance on the inside.

I think that I'm going to try to narrow the spare set of trailing arms I have by making up some jigs and cutting and shutting them. It seems to be the obvious and easiest solution.

Cheers for all your help.

Regards,

Andy.

[Steve C]

Hi

"why didn't you just machine some material off the rear hub so it sat further on the splined axle?"

I couldn't do this because it would have made the ebrake run into the rotor and the caliper position would have been mucked up.

Steve C

[hot66]

steve, I mean't in combination with machining the calliper mounting plate to suit :D

Andy, keep us informed on narrowing the rear trailing arms. I looked into this but there doesn't seem to be anyone supplying these anymore.