5-6" Drop with VW KYB's Converted to Coilovers?

[Advancedynamix]

Also, I'm running 150lb 12" springs on the front of my car now and they ride nice. There is lots of adjustment for more low and I don't need any filler springs because these will drop it on the stops if I back off the preload. I'm not setting it up mega low for now though, because I want ground clearance for my cross country trip, and I want it to ride nice. I'm getting too old for 6000 miles on the bump stops. Haha

[SiliconSoul]

Nice!

[Advancedynamix]

Nice! That's a good fitment.

[theastronaut]

Ordered the front springs (125/10"), rear struts, front rio mounts, and everything to rebuild the front suspension. The rack seems tight enough, it only has 127k so I'll leave it alone for now. The front racelands still haven't shown up, I may have to file for a refund with PayPal since the dude isn't responding to my messages...

I went ahead and rolled the front fender's inner edge flat and pulled them out about 3/4" per side. Also slotted the holes in the struts to let the spindle lean in for a little negative camber. I heated the bottom coil to drop the front about 1.5", with the heated part collapsed into the spring pocket so it's not stressed. That slightly firmed up the front. It rides better now actually, I didn't like the overly soft ride of the stock setup.

With the wheels and tires mounted it has way more grip compared to the 12's. No rubbing up front with the mild drop but it'll need more pulling and camber to clear at a lower height. I need to sell some more parts so I can buy the rear sleeves and springs, been saving up to build a shop/apartment so I can't spend much at once.

[Advancedynamix]

14x6 Enkei Turbines

There ya go!

[Advancedynamix]

I'm putting 120 lb 10" long springs on the front of my b6d swapped festy this weekend, so I'll let ya know how that works out. The 105lb springs feel good in the back. You can do all sorts of fun stuff with a good lathe, so this should be a fun project.
Since these cars are so light, they don't camber wear the tires much, especially with little to no toe. I drove across country with 3 degrees neg and didn't see any noticeable wear in 6000 miles of highway driving at 80mph. The front fenders will stretch a lot, more than an inch per side without noticeable panel fitment issues. The rear is limited by a spot welded structural reinforcement that is like an inch and a half above the top edge of the fender well. If you pull much more than 5/8th the spots start to really show up in the panel.
I'm excited to see what a body guy can do with one of these cars. Keep the updates coming!

[Festiva_Fred]

I'm running 150 fronts, 105 rears currently and love it. I have a B6D and e series, and it feels really good.

[theastronaut]

Nice Bug! And I'm excited to see more stance enthusiasm on here. I'm all about function over form, but being toothed on the stretchy cambered DTM, BTCC,and Can Am cars of the 70's, 80's, and 90's, I can't help but get excited over the current stance craze. I run -3.4 degrees on my street festy and it's not only comfortable and easy to drive, it handles great on the limit and will provide better fuel economy when my car is dialed in. Even with 3.4 degrees negative camber, I wear the outside edges off my street tires on the track. These cars grip like nothing else, and will easily embarrass a TSi when set up properly.
The rear kyb mk1 setup will drop 5" and still ride decent, but the car won't be optimized for performance that low because the angle of your beam, and you'd also need to shorten the shock shafts 2 inches to be in the correct range of the shock stroke and reduce the static sag, but it's doable.
Your wheels will tuck in with 3 degrees negative. I'm running 14x7 Turbines with 165/55-14 Achilles tires. I just installed them yesterday. I need to roll and stretch a little more to properly tuck, but it is nearly perfect fitment. Take care when rolling and stretching. The rear fenders take patience to get right, and if you rush it then it'll look horrible. Judging by your bug, you like your ride to look well built though, so I have faith.

Appreciate you commenting! I did all the work to drop the VW myself, had to cut and narrow the front beam 3" to get the wheels to tuck under the fenders and still have full turning radius. It has decent grip for how low it is, .79g with the back end losing grip way early because of the (temporarily) mis-matched tire sizes (195/50 front/165/80 rear, no longer running those, was just seeing what would fit up front). I expect at least .85-.87g once I get my wider 356 replica wheels finished with better tires, and a rear sway bar.

I actually found a pair of Raceland front coilovers for a MK2/3 Monday so they're on the way. I'll order the rear parts soon along with softer front springs. Does 125/105 pound springs sound good? Has the original engine/trans with no plans to swap.

I do metal/bodywork for a living so getting the fenders stretched out smoothly won't be a problem. I'm currently building the bottom 1/3 of a '40 Packard 120 Comvertible from scratch at work... festy fenders will be easy lol. We just bought a lathe at work but I need to learn how to use it so I can make my own spring hats, etc like you do.


Here are a few pics with the wheels and tires mounted. Needs to come down a looooonnng way.






These two are with a 150 pound friend on the back bumper. Won't take as much camber/pulling to clear as the front will.

[sketchman]

Nice. Can't wait to see this done.

[scitzz]

Love that bug!

[Advancedynamix]

Crappy picture I took this morning, it needs more low, but this is with 3" Drop with et25 14x7 wheels with 165/55-14 tires and -3.4 camber with .5 degree toe F/R

[Advancedynamix]

Nice Bug! And I'm excited to see more stance enthusiasm on here. I'm all about function over form, but being toothed on the stretchy cambered DTM, BTCC,and Can Am cars of the 70's, 80's, and 90's, I can't help but get excited over the current stance craze. I run -3.4 degrees on my street festy and it's not only comfortable and easy to drive, it handles great on the limit and will provide better fuel economy when my car is dialed in. Even with 3.4 degrees negative camber, I wear the outside edges off my street tires on the track. These cars grip like nothing else, and will easily embarrass a TSi when set up properly.
The rear kyb mk1 setup will drop 5" and still ride decent, but the car won't be optimized for performance that low because the angle of your beam, and you'd also need to shorten the shock shafts 2 inches to be in the correct range of the shock stroke and reduce the static sag, but it's doable.
Your wheels will tuck in with 3 degrees negative. I'm running 14x7 Turbines with 165/55-14 Achilles tires. I just installed them yesterday. I need to roll and stretch a little more to properly tuck, but it is nearly perfect fitment. Take care when rolling and stretching. The rear fenders take patience to get right, and if you rush it then it'll look horrible. Judging by your bug, you like your ride to look well built though, so I have faith.

[Festiva_Fred]

Sweet VW! :thumbright:

[theastronaut]

That's good to know. I'm used to driving low cars, my other daily is a '64 VW bug that's around 2.75" off the ground with an empty tank and no passengers. It'll knock reflectors off the road with passengers.

[Festiva_Fred]

Shouldn't be a issue getting it to drop that low on the coilovers.. But don't expect it to drive decently at all. I had my front this low when I first put my front coilovers on, and had lots of thread left to go down lower. DSC07245.jpg But I raised it 3/4-1 inch or so, so it was more friendly for daily driving, it scraped the shipping hooks on everything that low, I'm running 155/55/14 tires.