944 Spring Plate info?

[TouringBubble]

I had a conversation with someone online a while back about swapping to 944 spring plates on my IRS car. He explained that the toe adjustment was a little different and that they had camber adjustment built in. We also discussed 944 torsion bars and such, but that's not important. I can no loner find this conversation ...

So, I ended up buying a pair of 944 plates after the vendor finally got back to me, but I can't for the life of me find info about how or why they are better. Does anyone have info on these? Did I buy something useless? I don't see anything on the plates that makes sense to be some type of camber adjustment.

[Steve Arndt]

The big nut in the middle has a cam/eccentric built in. The slots in the plates allow this cam pivot/scissor the plates relative to each other. This gives some extra margin of adjustment. It slightly alters the angle of the rear of the plate relative to the pivots.

[Steve Arndt]

http://www.944online.com/cgi-bin/forum/ ... 1279459113

[TouringBubble]

Ah, okay. I did see the eccentric on the plate, but I didn't consider it for ride height adjustment. That is a nice feature. So I was told incorrectly about the camber adjustment I guess?

[Steve Arndt]

Changing ride height also changes camber. The arms travel on an arc.

[TouringBubble]

Ah ... got it. I also hadn't considered that.

So, my minimal understanding tells me that raising the ride height would decrease negative camber ... sound right? So, to get the most negative camber from it, I'd want to lower the ride height via the plate and set the ride height via indexing of the torsion bar?

[Steve Arndt]

Found some more info;

http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic ... 8&t=135681

[Mike T]

I have done some research recently into 944 spring plates and here is some information I found.

There are early and late spring plates. The early spring plates bolt to VW IRS semi trailing arms, The late ones will not.

This thread page 2 shows what one guy did to his shock tower web to clearance for the 944 spring plate adjustment bolt heads.

http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread ... 572&page=2


This thread page one shows the "scissoring" of the spring plate to the semi trailing arm to effect a camber adjustment.

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/view ... ?tid=90803


Mike T

[yellow73kubel]

Bit late here..

The early spring plates that Mike T. mentions are pre-'85. I have a set of these along with the matching trailing arms, torsion springs, and anti-roll bars on my Thing.

In addition to the ride height eccentric, the 944 spring plates feature two slots that are used in conjunction with an eccentric tool (Porsche P221) and a hole in the trailing arm to set the toe and camber accurately. This is a huge benefit compared to VW's "tap it with a hammer and hope it works" alignment method, which will drive the most patient mechanic insane. Even Porsche shops charge by the hour for rear alignments.

As the linked pictures show, the webbing is an issue. If this is a race only car and you know what you are doing, the webbing could be boxed from the back side and trimmed out to accommodate the adjuster. My dad and I decided that cutting the webbing wasn't safe enough for my purposes. I chose to weld the two plates together, which was an easy job with the MIG.

I wish I had some better pictures of all this, but it is a straightforward swap.

[Bruce2]

As the linked pictures show, the webbing is an issue. If this is a race only car and you know what you are doing, the webbing could be boxed from the back side and trimmed out to accommodate the adjuster.

I can confirm this is necessary.
About 15 years ago I installed 944 adjustable spring plates onto my Beetle and clearanced them like in the pics of the Volkzone topic posted above. Last spring while touring around in Guatemala on their crappy roads, one of the shock towers broke right off due to the clearancing.

[FJCamper]

Hi TouringBubble-

Do take a look at the Aussie "sissoring" spring plate arrangement like Mike suggests.

Raising the ride height increases positive camber, lowering it increases negative camber.

In the photo above, we have "944" diagonal arms on our endurance racing Blitzwagen, with adjustable spring plates. In our case, we lower the rear to increase understeer, raise to increase oversteer. And it doesn't take much.

The Aussie mod with bolts is stronger, as these adjustable spring plate kits have a weakness -- the jackscrew. The screwtip pounds out over time. The photo shows the best replacement we've found for ours.

FJC

[Mike T]

Thanks for that screw part number FJCamper.

Your semi-trailing arm looks a bit "scissored" in that picture. Intentional or just put the full weight on it before tightening the bolts?

Always enjoy your posts.

Mike T

[ONEBADBUG]

[quote="FJCamper"]


The Aussie mod with bolts is stronger, as these adjustable spring plate kits have a weakness -- the jackscrew. The screwtip pounds out over time. The photo shows the best replacement we've found for ours.

Frank, if you drilled holes through both plates just above the adjuster bolt, then clamped it down with a 1/2 -20 bolt and nut, it would stop the movement on the adjuster.
Steve

[FJCamper]

Hi Mike,

The springs plates are indeed sissored in the photo. At that point, unadjusted for ride height.

I had just forced the original jackscrew out, which was a long, misearable story, and on trying several candidate screws, settled on the Wilwood.

Hi there BadBug! I understand what you mean, but I'd need slots instead of bolt holes. We do a lot of adjusting.

FJC

[Steve Arndt]

Frank, if you drilled holes through both plates just above the adjuster bolt, then clamped it down with a 1/2 -20 bolt and nut, it would stop the movement on the adjuster.
Steve

The bolt head will hit the shock tower casting on the inside. That doesn't work.