Lazylongboarder's rear end(suspension, that is)
 

Hey Lazy, are you still thinking 993 rear end? Have you looked at the width compared to the Type 1 yet?

Jason

I'm curious about this too. Are you gonna be able to ditch the cross bracing and narrow it to fit? It looks like you have plenty of mounting points, you would just have to figure out how to get the rigidity back in there from ditching the crossmembers... and how to mount the swaybar.


Jeff-

I sent a couple of dismantler's a picture of the rear end with bubbles with arrows for them to fill in the dimensions of the setup so I can get an idea and measure out my chassis.

My original plans were to measure everything out to see if the front mounts are wider than the torsion housing. Hopefully not because I dont want to modify the 993 assembly. I've seen guys put this same setup in their early race 930's which have a similar rear setup to our dubs (torsion bars, trailing arms), I just can't find the article anymore. But anyways, from looking at the pictures what i'm thinking is i'll get the correct wheelbase (fore/aft), then try to brace the torsion housing, make some brackets to have it fit where ever it needs to go on the torsion housing. For the rear mounts i'll hang it from my cage. I'm tieing in the motor mounts to the cage as well. The struts are the only thing i'm worried about as far as alignment. The upper strut mount will have to be mounted to the cage.

From looking at the funcup racers, they're using supers with 1 piece front ends, meaning they built front strut towers. If they are doing that with supers I might think about putting 993 front suspension on as well. The only thing about that is finding a 1 piece wide enough. Oh well another day another VW dream.

If I can manage to get the cage to tie in to the motor mounts, rear suspension, chassis bracing and front strut mounts, I'll have one stiff chassis.

As far as narrowing the 993 assembly, I'm not planning on it. I don't care how wide it is as long as it can corner well. I don't want to deal with the headache of having to modify a sway bar, trying to get the rigidity back into something the guys at stuttguart have perfected (Crazy smart germans), and also i'm going to be using the same transmission that sits in the assembly.

If I can succesfully make this work, I believe It'll take care of the over steer problem that Dubs have, and this thing will corner like nothing else with 993 front and rear suspension.

Form follows function, not the other way around. I just want to make things work, i'll worry about asthetics later. But with a short wheelbase, wider than fat albert's badonkadonk track, 500 hp, 6 speed G50, and 6 pots, there is'nt going to be much to not like in my eyes. Maybe the cal-look haters will scorn me for putting a watercooled engine in, but the only evidence of that will be in my rear-view mirror :laugh: .

It's funny to me that Cal-look guys get pissy if you put a water-cooled motor in your air-cooled dub. But the majority of the drag guys are chopin' the whole front end to make way for a 1 piece, chopin' the rear end to fit the motor and deck lid and wing on, and we mind our own buisiness and by the way germanlook cars can turn!

Wish me luck

I love cal-look cars, that's what this car was first, but don't be hatin'.

Thanks a lot guys. I won't be getting the rear suspension for another couple weeks cause I just bought my motor.

Just carry a small tape measure around with you and the next time you see a 993, just run the tape under the car and see how wide it is. Then you'll know exactly what "stock" width is. Your only going to be able to offset the wheels so much because of the caliper clearance, which you can also take a peek at when your measuring. I hope your fiberglass skills are good, because your going to have to make the worlds widest widened fiberglass fenders. Think about the look being similar to Porsche's Moby ****.

Jason

Inspiration
 

Thought you could use some more inspiration. Check out the specs on Mr. Moby:

Porsche "Moby D!ck"

All i can say is that Moby **** is incredible. 845 hp! It's a circuit racer that runs a 8.9 in the 1320!

I got the rear suspension last week, and it's nothing short of inspiring, i respect anyone that's making their own suspension. I'll post pictures with the progress soon.

Russell

Ain't nobody here gunna hate on your car Lazy, ask Panel about the player hating he got from the vintage guys on the samba. Yes a prerequesite for a Germanlooker is its ability to turn.

Well, here the rear end next to my 74' IRS pan. I'm planning on fabbing some mounts to the torsion housing connecting the front "eyes" and then i'll hang the rear "eyes" from the cage...who knows maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. But i might as well try. Remember form follows function, not the other way around. If it works, it'll handle really REALLY well!

I just need to figure out what to do with my front end...JASON! HURRY UP!

Also a pic of 951 brakes compared with the 993's...

Russel, How's it coming?

I'm not sure if this has be brought up yet. (I havn't seen it at least.) but with all the work you're wanting to do to that vw Chassis to make it work with the 993 rear and possibly front set up, Wouldn't it be more time and cost effective, Time especialy, to just build your own chassis?

Just a thought.

The only reason why i haven't gone with a tube chassis is cause intimidated at the possibility of everything not lining up correctly. Sounds stupid, but as you can see by the pics i think the rear will line up with the frame horns perfectly. But you're right, a tube chassis is the logical choice. I just can't dump everything i've done to the chassis. Top secret: i AM dumping the rear 6 pots (to 4 pot 322 mm) and i'm trying to figure out a way to keep the fronts after spending a fortune on the custom job since i'm looking for a different front end and porsche spindles are radial mount.
It looks like a 964 front end may be the winner due to power steering (255's up front), macpherson struts, and the high speed stability.

Russ

Cool. Sounds like you've got a plan.

I was unsure about saying this too, since I havn't seen it said. But make sure you don't weld part of the rear suspension to the chassis, then use the rubber mounts on another part. Over time, the welds will break from fatigue (sp?).

You can always save the vw chassis to use for another, more streetable project. But I can understand where you're coming from.

When I have an Idea of how much I'm going to spend, or how crazy my Ghia will be. and Everytime I make a big step, I just move the bar up some more. :rolleyes: :laugh: At this rate, I'll be building it for a long, long time. But it'll be awesome when it's done.

Keep the updates coming. If I was closer I'd come give you some help.

Lazy: Do you still have the 993 suspension?

Could you fill in your dimension pictures?