Ghia Road Course Setup

[FJCamper]

Hi Bruce,

On our deep-sump 2.2 engine we do not have a windage tray. My emphasis on windage trays is for engines without added sumps, like our "Mexico" engine used for the photography here.

FJC

I HAVE RESTARTED THIS "OIL CONTROL" SUBJECT IN THE VW SPEED SECTION, AS IT DEALS WITH AN ENGINE RATHER THAN CHASSIS OR BRAKES ISSUE -- FJC

[rich74310]

Hi FJC,

I wonder if you can help. I understand that you are abit of a wizard when it comes to suspension settings. I have a buggy that is ment for road use and not going anywhere near sand and i need some basic suspension settings to get me started.

This is the spec. Its a shortened buggy

Coil overs all round
Uni Ball rear arms
Six point kafer bar
10 point cage tying the chassis and all suspension together
Caster-camber bushes
Caster shims
Cb dropped spindles
Urethane bushes all round

Total weight 650kg

I have moved as much weight forward and as low as i can get it. The battery is infront of the front beam. Fuel tank in the front. Anything that is behind the driver i have tryed to get over or infront of the rear wheels. Likewise with weight across the car ive tryed to balance it from side to side. Ie driver on the right so the turbo is mounted left etc. Hope this makes sense.

Hope you can help

Regards

Rich

[FJCamper]

Hi Rich,

I'm supposing your Buggy is "hot street," and your have some sports car use in mind for it.

All your mods sound right. That's the good part. The trouble you will have is your short wheebase, which means you should not have too stiff a suspension, and you have to compensate with wide tires. The rest is all driving skill.

Your power-to-weight should be excellent.

How does the Buggy handle right now?

FJC

[rich74310]

Thanks for reply FLC1.

It is going to be for fast road, ive bolted a 2007cc efi turbo lump in it!!!

I have 185,55,16 tyres on the front and 215,60,16 on the back.

As for driving it i havent got that far yet. Just needed some advice on toe in-out degrees spring rates etc

Cheers

Rich

[FJCamper]

Hi Rich,

What springs do you currently have? I'd start them off at full soft.

The tires should work.

Keep alignment to stock for the moment. We have to see what kind of behaviour you get and adjust from there.

Be careful about abrupt lane changes at first. Too much roll stifness and you're up on two wheels, regardless of wheelbase.

Crank the spring stops all the way down, air up the tires to 18psi front and 24psi rear, have the alignment checked to make sure it is stock spec, and go for a drive in a wide open area

You'll soon know at what point you'll spin, and which end is breaking loose first. A tightly-sprung short wheelbase buggy can spin like a top when provoked.

What we're after is the ability to steer with the throttle so as to drift through the corners rather than stick.

Be careful -- or at least get it on video.

FJC

[rich74310]

Hi FJC

I have 150lb springs on the front and 250lbs on the back.

Cheers

Rich

[Jadewombat]

I have moved as much weight forward and as low as i can get it. The battery is infront of the front beam. Fuel tank in the front. Anything that is behind the driver i have tryed to get over or infront of the rear wheels. Likewise with weight across the car ive tryed to balance it from side to side. Ie driver on the right so the turbo is mounted left etc. Hope this makes sense.

Hope you can help

Regards

Rich

Why did you move the battery up front? Most cars you want everything near the center of gravity, which on stock VWs (bugs, ghias) it's just behind the front seats. I've done everything I can on my car to get the weight away from the corners and more towards the center (also why some cars run in-board disk brakes, etc.) but I expect a lot of replies to me here with the lengthy explanation of unsprung weight out at the wheels...

[FJCamper]

Hi Jade,

Up front, you want weight as far forward as possible, even beyond the axle.

All other weight you can move around should be within the wheelbase.

I understand you're seeking a weight concentration within the wheelbase, which is why midengine cars are midengine, but midships weight is not enough to guarantee handling. Note that F1 cars typically have 40/60 weight distribution (or 45/55, approx).

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/manda ... 22062.html

What central weight does is lower the polar moment of intertia, and the car wants to spin around its middle axis in different ways, on the same turns at the same track on each lap! Even with the variable of tire grip and suspension settings.

A front or rear weight bias helps handling predictability, and the average driver is better off with predictability.

FJC

[rich74310]

Cheers FJC for reply. I will start with basic settings and go from there.

Hi Jade the reason why the battery is up front is a power thing to keep the front wheels on the floor when the power is put on.

The engine has over 200bhp and when the boost cut in will just lift the wheels. What you have to rember is that its a buggy and wieghs 600kg ish

Cheers

Rich

[DORIGTT]

Hey FJC,

What are the general views of Koni vs. Bilsteins? I don't see much mention of them but they've always made great equipment. Plus, I hear (I'm calling next week) that the Koni Reds aren't available anymore.

If a 2" drop is preferred, I take it that I should raise the front with adjustable front beam due to my having 2.5 drop spindles eh?

You mentioned moving the engine/trans assy up, but what about forward towards the cg?

What recommendations for the pedal cluster for 'severe duty'?

[Ian Godfrey]

I have a set of orange koni and a set of billys, the konis are adjustable and not as harsh as the billys. In some corners the gas pressure of the billys made the nose 'sit up', bit hard to describe, but the car was less planted during transitions. All in all i prefer the combo of the Konis with stiffer torsions.

[FJCamper]

Hi DORIGTT,

Both brands are excellent. As Ian says, gas shocks tend to raise the front ends of our lightweight vehicles.

But since you asked, I am biased toward Koni having used them sucessfully since the early 1970's. The problem is, the oil/adjustable Konis I used have all but vanished, and we're using new gas-charged Konis now. I just installed some Yellow gas Konis on the 1973 Super we're running in Chumpcar on the rear, and they slightly lifted the heavy end!

I have used our old original Koni oranges with a Puma front suspension on a two-inch drop and they worked.

FJC

[DORIGTT]

Too bad Koni doesn't know that we could still use them.

What about the other items on my Christmas list?

[FJCamper]

Hi DORIGTT,

Sorry about the delay in reply. We just finished a short but successful test day at a local sports car track with our swing axle Ghia..

You asked about moving the transaxle more to the center of the car. To do that, you have to move the axles as well, and all you end up with is a shortened wheelbase. The advantage the VW chassis has over the 356 Porsche chassis is a longer wheelbase, making the weight distribution easier on the VW. Remember, Porsche has to lengthen its wheelbase on the 911's to improve the weight distribution and get the ballast out of the front bumpers.

The best solution we've found on severe-duty pedal assemblies is a kit that has a very strong roller pedal (no sidethrust), a clutch pedal extension that moves the lever arm about an inch to the side, and connects a standard clutch cable to the pedal shaft with a bolt and roller mechanism to make it operate smoothly and never, never, slip off. Plus no more broken clutch arm hooks.

I know there are other good solutions out there, but we've been running this on our 1973 Super road racer at Daytona and Sebring and it has been bulletproof.

http://www.unique-parts.com

FJC

[DORIGTT]

Hey FJ,

In moving the transaxle forward, I would think the wheel base wouldn't have to change if we're using 930 cv joints which allow greater angles without binding. I'm already using a 915 which has the large diameter cv joints so I would think it wouldn't be a bid deal. The off road guys go pretty wide and long with the rear arms which result in the use of 930 cv joints.

Thanks for the info on the pedals!

I love the sharing that goes on here.

Oh, I also just ordered a set of Koni shocks from eshocks.com and will have them in 4-6 weeks (or sooner).