Now this is a serious car. Well done pal. Now go and have some fun at Spa. :cheers:

Road trip to Spa was awesome, loads of cars I've never seen before and after seeing other pictures plenty I missed so I'll definitely be back! Was great to get a chance to drive around the track and got a top 20 award which finished off a top weekend :)

http://www.ricola.co.uk/images/cabrio/spa_1.jpg

I also finally got the photoshoot for Volksworld done with some strange attachments, should be some good action shots and I can't wait to see them (http://www.stevehallphotography.net).

After the trip to Spa, the race style compact boots finally gave up with dealing with the CV angle. They are mainly designed for race cars and are basically an inverted cone with little give so not surprising really. They were necessary to clear the coil-over springs. This picture is from underneath with the car on a 2 post lift and the suspension at full rebound so definitely not the worst position, the damper swings closer to the axle at ride height.

http://www.ricola.co.uk/images/cabrio/broken_boot.jpg

The long term fix was always to relocate the coil-over. I had a spare pair of trailing arms from a 944, these are identical to the beetle ones with the exception of some internal strengthening.

http://www.ricola.co.uk/images/cabri...m_internal.jpg

I made up new curved section to take a scallop out of the arm and also reweld the lower damper mount about 15mm further forwards.

http://www.ricola.co.uk/images/cabri...internal_2.jpg

All back together ready for clean up and paint.

http://www.ricola.co.uk/images/cabrio/944_arm_mod.jpg

Better view showing the additional clearance made.

http://www.ricola.co.uk/images/cabrio/944_arm_mod_2.jpg

As before this is with the suspension in full droop but now with a nice big silicone off road style CV boot that is designed for much more angularity than I will subject it to. At ride height I can get a finger between the spring and boot so clearance is no longer an issue. While I was at it I also fitted the 944 spring plates with the built in capability of a camber bolt anti-roll bar fitting to set the camber, it is also designed to take a toe adjustment tool. I had to lose the ride height adjustment due to clearance problems with the wheel but with the adjustable coil-overs this really isn't an issue for me...

http://www.ricola.co.uk/images/cabrio/944_arm_mod_3.jpg

Great fix! I'm not looking forward to all the after built fixes coming my way either...

Jason

lol, let's face it, we'd get bored it if all went perfectly!

Hey Ricola! I didn´t know that was your car! I would have stopped and had a chat! Really nicely done! The interior is really top notch!! Great fix on the trailing arm too!

torsion bars
 

Hay, are you using torsion bars and coil over springs. I see many are using the 944 trailing arms, with coil over springs. Is there a reason why you choose not to remove the torsion bars, if you are using both. I know many are of the opinion that since the 911 use the torsion bars that's the hot ticket. However the sway bars, coil over springs application should work equally well if not better.

The shock towers weren't designed to take the whole loading of the rear end and I have heard of them braking before so I use both. Using torsion bars as well helps share the spring loading in the chassis and means you can use smaller diameter springs.

Thanks

You chose to use the irs trailing arm, is there an advantage using the aluminum 944 trailing arms. The 944 brakes fit the normal irs's with ease. Also the 944 aluminum trailing seems to not be able to take the load by themselves either. Yes I do recall that the 944 are 25mm wider.

The shock mount on the steel arm is definitely better for higher loads being double shear. No real weight difference. I wanted the narrowest track possible. IIRC there are 2 or 3 different aluminium arm types/widths, the only reason I'd go Al is if I wanted a wider track which avoids use of spacers and gives less axle angles as they are longer.

You are not wrong, but I could use a break with 2 big projects!!!

Jason

WRX/Porsche Karmann cabrio 1303
 

The Volksworld Magazine dropped through the door yesterday and it's great to see this car featured,a well deserved entry into the mag.This is great exposure for the GL scene and it make's people to look at these later bugs rather than the same old copy cat cal lookers.Congratulations Ricola,on a brilliant and massively inspirational build.:cool::cool::cool::cool:

Cheers Graham!

Good work, I will go looking for that VolksWorld... it might take a month or three to arrive Down Under

You can do a digital version download if that's your kind of thing. I prefer to have the paper copy though...