Supers are a simple matter of adding 944 parts to get pretty good handling. I think someone is making new lower control arms.

Jason

Picked up the laser cut and press brake parts today. $660 and 24.5 pounds. I will be tinkering with the parts this weekend, then off to Walt on Monday to start getting it all together!

Jason

Great! :)

Pictures! :cool:

Pictures Man! Pictures!

Laser Cut Plate Parts
 

Someone mentioned pictures? Don't get too excited, these are just the laser cut parts. Fab pictures to come soon, as all the parts are over at Walt's Custom Services now to start fabrication.

Jason

it begins....
 

Well, in one day Walt did all this, so this thing should be done way faster than I thought!

Jason

Damn, that thing's looking pretty sweet :) hope it drives as good as it looks

nice work. :cool: What expences have you made so far if i may ask. :bowdown:

Costs:
Design-$1000+
Parts- $700+
Fab- $? still in progress

Having the world's only bolt-on race-designed double-wishbone Type I-

Priceless!

I havn't really been keeping an eye on costs, as it really doesn't matter to me, I just have to get it done! When it's done I'll tally up the actual costs of the final product. Up to this time, I've purchased $100s more of parts, but they've not ended up being used.

Jason

OH MAN! :eek:

The goodies are comin', the goodies are comin'

Nice work! The pictures look great!

Can't wait for the test results and to use my 90% off any purchase coupon that Ferdinand Porsche gave me to buy this set-up.:D

Maybe everyone that's interested in purchasing this setup should post here so volkdent has an idea of how much he could sell and calculate a price.
I definetely am very interested in the beauty :)

Count me in as interested also.

Dan

I have the part in the picture now. I'm going to try it in to make sure everything is as it should be. Just to keep you update on how much you piggybank might be emptied, the ? in the post above is currently running $1600, and I'm about half way done with the fabrication! No arms yet, and they'll take alot of time. I expect it will run at least $2500 for fabrication, probably more.

I think the version that I will end up selling you guys will be a lot simpler and less time consuming to make, so should be a lot less expensive. There are a lot of things that went into the design that are nice, but just so time consuming(read costly) to fabricate that it is ridiculous. For example, I had captive nuts machined to fit into the back of the rear plate, where regular nuts could be used, and the adjusters for camber are very machining intensive, where they could be a simpler design. I'll expect the final product to be somewhere around $3000 for sale, but there will still be some parts that will need to be sourced by the purchaser, for example the universal joints for the steering.

I'll take some pics of the try in.

Jason

Maybe this was mentioned previously but shouldn't you get a patent on that design to protect all your work and the investment?

VERY nice work. looking forward to seeing and hearing more about it. especially as it gets some road time. love seeing people push the boudaries.

Some things just aren't worth patenting. I'm currently working on some non-VW things that will get patented, but the minimum amount is $1000 to patent something. This isn't a new idea, well maybe the bolt on part is, but the general idea is not, and if ANYONE wants to go ahead and build one themselves, they can be my guest. It is complicated enough that not just anyone can build this. Even the other setup that was mention from Eyeball Engineering I believe would require splitting the pan and body. Mine is bolt on with removal of minimum metal, not easily duplicated.

This is a very intensive process and I'm not even sure if I'll like the results yet. I know that it will look cool, but I didn't build it just to look cool, it has to perform amazingly as well. This thing might suck for all its cool looks. I doubt it, but it could! That's why I want to give this thing some serious road time before and a redesign for simplicity before sales come into the picture. The nice thing about ACVW's is that there not new and they never seem to go out of style, so some patience will pay off for those who care to wait.

When the final design is complete, I won't be so showy with it, no 3D models and all that. You could buy one and copy it, but I think someone with some computer smarts could get the plates cut from the 3D model I've offered for current viewing. The trouble is, its still a very costly road to go down. A smart person would just wait till its perfected then shell out the dough.

Jason

Now if I could only get one for my bus.

Progress has slowed a little bit. One reason is some machining delays, another is a design change. The final design called for new bungs to be machined to replace the eccentrics in the spindles. This proved to be expensive and completely eliminates any castor adjustment. While the designer insists that the castor adjustment is not necessary, with everyone tending to have differerent rakes to their cars, I think it's important, as well as not everything in life is perfect, so adjustability is important.

So, a little change of design delay, then, with new A arm design in hand, Walt should be able to get the arms done in a couple of weeks.

Jason

Tacked up suspension went in. Turned out it was about 8mm too long front to back, so it has to be shortened. Also, the upper back A-arm pivot was moved forwad 30mm. In the original position, quite I bit of body would have to be removed from the inner fender well. At 30mm forward, the arm should clear the body. There will still have to be a small notch removed from the inner fender well for the tie rod, but it should be much smaller than wheat was needed for the arm clearance. The center section of the suspension JUST goes in with mm to spare, but it fits and bolts up great.

Jason

That's all well and good but I think we need to make sure it fits in my Ghia so that we're sure that all the T-1 cars will be able to use this suspension set-up :laugh:

So let me know when it's been fully welded and I'll arrange for the shipping o.k.?

All kidding aside...It's good to see you still making progress. Have you thought about a test procedure to evaluate the change in handling/ride/cornering capability etc?

got any pics of it mounted in? seems like it's progressing nicely, btw are you a ME student?

rip

I've never looked at a Ghia, but suspect it will fit no problem. I believe that all the frame mounting points are the same as a type one, then as the wheelwell opens towards the back, Ghias are wider and the pans more square instead of tapered.

No, I'm not a mechanical enginerd, I'm a dentist, a tooth engineer. I had the design done by someone who's built a lot of road race and off-road racing suspensions, so that's where the engineering enters the picture. As well, I have a pretty good sense of force distribution, but I would always overbuild, I don't know the limits on things.

Jason

Still making small tweaks. Just eyeballed the axle centering on the wheelwell, and it looks like it could be too far back just a smidge. So, the 8mm that the center section was too long will probably come off the front plate and more the whole works forward by 8-10mm. Poor Walt already had the jigs made up for the arms, so he'll have to make those changes and my wallet just got a little bit lighter.

Jason

Back on the road again. The 10mm is coming off of the front plate so the whole works will be sliding forward 10mm. Walt will start working on it again tomorrow. I'm gone to Canada for the weekend and when I get back he might have something ready for me.

Jason

Walt says it's done, so it looks like I might be bolting it up this weekend! I can't wait! I'll get some pics.

Jason

Yeah new pix!!
sweet let us know how ot gose..
peace Troy

I did promise pics. Whadya think?

It's just tacked up right now, and I have to have a new shock tower made, because for some reason, I have only 30mm of travel up from ride height, but I have 150mm total travel. So the new shock tower will move the shock up.

More here:

http://www.geocities.com/volkdent/Fr...ssemblyPartial

Finally figured out how to get pics on here!

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/214806.jpg

Very, Very nice. :eek:

Sweet!! :haveadrin
You'v really put lots of work into this
Looks sweets as hell Would love to have asetup like that..
Peace Troy
Now To Fixup the rear :righton:

:agree: :agree: :agree:
looking awesome, keep us updated on when this is for sale

Looking really good Volkdent! :agree: :agree:
If you don't mind my asking what are you using for the actual moving parts at the A-arm pivot points (or rather what kind of bushing materials)?
I've got a set of Chassisshop A-arms I'm using for my own conversion project and they use a type of plastic bushing material (that rides agains a steel sleeve that the inner bolt tightens up against) that is claimed not to need any lubrication. But these arms are also made for drag racing, not necessarily a whole lot of road mileage. I don't like the slightly loose fit between bushing and steel, I'm brainstorming an alternative.
Jeff

Lookin Good Jason,
Now setup that R/P and see what you get... :rolleyes:
Also, I don't think you can transfer pictures from a Yahoo photo album...
Pete

Thanks Pete, I guess I'm going to have to put pics on the samba or something.

GS Guy, the bushings are from Energy Suspension, they are graphite impregnated polyurethane. They are designed for the eyelets of rear leaf springs, but work perfectly for this application. They actually squeeze the pivot, so their is no sloppiness at all. To the contrary, it is actually stiff to move the arms up and down.

Jason

Here's some more:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/214807.jpg

So the big question: how does it drive?

The last caller had it all wrong... :laugh:

The real question isn't how does it drive, it's how long till I get to drive it? :D

Excellent work! I'm sure I speak for all when I say we can't wait for the testing reports. Have you decided what the criteria for the test(s) will be?

Things like the slalom test that the magazines use as well as skidpad test and maybe the figure-8 test that one of the magazines use?

Thanks again in advance for all your hard work and I want to be in line to purchase one of the kits (if that's how you are planning to sell it) for my 1970 Karmann Ghia.

Great job!

Jason,
I've noticed that you have no caster adjustability built into your first article. Do those ball joint spindles already provide for a fixed angle. If so, At what angle?
I'm only curious because on my offroad setup is adjustable to -10 deg.
Pete