Post by zbhover on Dec 21, 2011 21:31:51 GMT -5
Hello everyone, this is just a quick email to let everyone know that I just put some new pictures up on the V8 Beetle website. I finally got the pictures of my finished homemade traction bars up, and I also decided to widen the car a little more and I put some pictures of that up too.
You can see the traction bar update at: www.v8beetleresource.com/chassis20.html
And the Pictures of the wider body are at: www.v8beetleresource.com/vwbodywork6.html
You can also see the rest of the project at: www.v8beetleresource.com
Below are a few of the pictures from the updates above.
Here are all the pieces for the tube part of the homemade traction bar. The tubing is 3/4" id x 1"od, the heim joints have 3/4" threads and 3/4" bore, and the nuts are from www.boltsdepot.com One end has left and threads and the other has right hand threads, that way when you twist the tube the traction bar gets longer or shorter for adjustment.
Here I have the tubes all welded up and and ready to be installed. I don't have jam nuts on them yet though, the regular sized nuts left very little room for adjustment so I need to get some 3/4"-16 jam nuts. The nut that is welded onto the middle of the tube is a stainless nut, I used a stainless nut there so when the paint gets scratched off of it from adjusting the homemade traction bars they won't rust.
Here I have the front traction bar bracked mounted on the spring hanger. There is a 9/16"x3/4" bushing on the outsides of the leaf spring hanger that the bracket rotates on, and a 3/4" bolt above the leaf spring with a 3/4"x1" spacer on it that will push down on the leaf spring as the axle rotates.
Next cut a couple more 3/4"x1" spacers to keep the heim joint centered in the front bracket and mounted the bar to the bracket.
When I welded the rear mounts onto the leaf spring plates I welded wide enough apart that the heim joints just needed a washer on either side of them. The DIY traction bars are now done, well except for the jam nuts to lock the tubes into position, I'll throw them on when I take everything back apart to primer and undercoat.
I can really see how these will work well, just turning these traction bars by hand I can lift the front end of the car up about an inch. I can see how they help to keep the springs from wrapping up, and lift the front end on acceleration and transfer weight to the rear. I'll probably adjust them so they just bearly make contact with the spring to start with.
Our Convertible beetle body WAS widened 8", when I did that it was just a number that sounded good to me at the time......... LOL I left plunty of extra bracing inside to widen it more if I wanted so I have been thinking about it for a while. Finally I decided to widen the car 11" over the rear axle, and 9" at the dashboard. I really like the wide look the car has to it, and I also dropped the body about another 3/4"
There are a few reasons I went wider, and also why I went 11" in the back and 9" in the front. First of all I wear size 14 quadruple wide shoes, so I'll need all the foot room I can get....... LOL Also I'm not a small guy so some more elbow room will be nice too.
I'm also planning on putting new wheels and tires on the car when its done, and was going to get wheels with a different offset to fit 8" widened body. With these "mock up" wheels on the car I have really got to liking the stance and track width with the car has now, but the tires would be too wide for the body the way it was. With this new "pie" shaped widening the body will now fit the trackwidth I have now.
I'm also planning on ditching the soft convertible top for a hard convertible top. It will be a composite folding top, and will fold up behind the seat, a lot like the soft top did, but since it will be hard it will take up more room and have to tuck down behind the seat. With the back of the car being a little wider than the front I will have more room for the top to tuck behind the seat. Hey...... It all makes since inside my head.... and Yes I may be a little bit crazy.....
Thanks to everyone who is following my project!
You can see the traction bar update at: www.v8beetleresource.com/chassis20.html
And the Pictures of the wider body are at: www.v8beetleresource.com/vwbodywork6.html
You can also see the rest of the project at: www.v8beetleresource.com
Below are a few of the pictures from the updates above.
Here are all the pieces for the tube part of the homemade traction bar. The tubing is 3/4" id x 1"od, the heim joints have 3/4" threads and 3/4" bore, and the nuts are from www.boltsdepot.com One end has left and threads and the other has right hand threads, that way when you twist the tube the traction bar gets longer or shorter for adjustment.
Here I have the tubes all welded up and and ready to be installed. I don't have jam nuts on them yet though, the regular sized nuts left very little room for adjustment so I need to get some 3/4"-16 jam nuts. The nut that is welded onto the middle of the tube is a stainless nut, I used a stainless nut there so when the paint gets scratched off of it from adjusting the homemade traction bars they won't rust.
Here I have the front traction bar bracked mounted on the spring hanger. There is a 9/16"x3/4" bushing on the outsides of the leaf spring hanger that the bracket rotates on, and a 3/4" bolt above the leaf spring with a 3/4"x1" spacer on it that will push down on the leaf spring as the axle rotates.
Next cut a couple more 3/4"x1" spacers to keep the heim joint centered in the front bracket and mounted the bar to the bracket.
When I welded the rear mounts onto the leaf spring plates I welded wide enough apart that the heim joints just needed a washer on either side of them. The DIY traction bars are now done, well except for the jam nuts to lock the tubes into position, I'll throw them on when I take everything back apart to primer and undercoat.
I can really see how these will work well, just turning these traction bars by hand I can lift the front end of the car up about an inch. I can see how they help to keep the springs from wrapping up, and lift the front end on acceleration and transfer weight to the rear. I'll probably adjust them so they just bearly make contact with the spring to start with.
Our Convertible beetle body WAS widened 8", when I did that it was just a number that sounded good to me at the time......... LOL I left plunty of extra bracing inside to widen it more if I wanted so I have been thinking about it for a while. Finally I decided to widen the car 11" over the rear axle, and 9" at the dashboard. I really like the wide look the car has to it, and I also dropped the body about another 3/4"
There are a few reasons I went wider, and also why I went 11" in the back and 9" in the front. First of all I wear size 14 quadruple wide shoes, so I'll need all the foot room I can get....... LOL Also I'm not a small guy so some more elbow room will be nice too.
I'm also planning on putting new wheels and tires on the car when its done, and was going to get wheels with a different offset to fit 8" widened body. With these "mock up" wheels on the car I have really got to liking the stance and track width with the car has now, but the tires would be too wide for the body the way it was. With this new "pie" shaped widening the body will now fit the trackwidth I have now.
I'm also planning on ditching the soft convertible top for a hard convertible top. It will be a composite folding top, and will fold up behind the seat, a lot like the soft top did, but since it will be hard it will take up more room and have to tuck down behind the seat. With the back of the car being a little wider than the front I will have more room for the top to tuck behind the seat. Hey...... It all makes since inside my head.... and Yes I may be a little bit crazy.....
Thanks to everyone who is following my project!
