Difference between 1302 and 1303 upper strut bearing.

[ChadH]

So.. I'm looking for camber plates for the '71 Super. It doesn't look like there's a lot of options out there, but I found these from the UK.

https://silverproject.eu/en/shop/vw-2/c ... rrency=USD

They're listed as just fitting the 1303. Also, I've ordered Topline 1302 MaXX Extreme struts for the car.

http://toplineparts.com/lower-your/maxx ... 71-73.html

As far as I'm aware, both the 1302 and 1303 use the same 3-bolt mounting pattern on the strut tower and the strut itself just uses one bolt through the top bearing. It should all work together, but I want to be sure I'm not missing something before I ship parts from the UK.

[Marc]

I haven't done much in the way of Super suspension mods, but IIRC the difference between the 1302 and 1303 strut bearing assemblies is that the 1303s were redesigned so they could accept the bearing used in the MK1 Rabbits, and they made the big hole in the fender slightly larger...so IF the camber plates are truly designed to 1303 specs you may have to open the holes up a little for them to fit.

[ChadH]

Makes since to me. It doesn't sound like a problem, since I'm fine with a little hacking on the bodywork.

Thank you

[Dan Dryden]

I'm sure I saw something about this on SBO.
I think the main thing to be careful about is not to cut out the spot welds at the top of the strut towers.
I think one of the welds is very close to the area you need to widen / cut.....
Or if all else fails, add new spot welds!

[ChadH]

Cool - I'll do some searching over there. My problem is I've found the SBO site to be very slow to load, so I get frustrated with it.

I'll definitely be mindful of replacing lost reinforcement and spot welds. Maybe there's even an opportunity to add some caster - if needed.

[Marc]

Found it: http://www.superbeetlesonly.com/forum/t ... op-mounts/

Looks like you need to trim at most 4mm away all the way around the hole and that should only compromise one of the six spotwelds.

[4agedub]

Maybe there's even an opportunity to add some caster - if needed.

I'm using the silverproject plates, but ordered them for caster adjustment and not camber. With the caster adjusted to max it's at about 6 degrees.... which in my opinion is still too little.

[ChadH]

Thanks everyone!

Random thinking out loud.

Looking at what 4agedub has done has me thinking...it seems possible to create a plate (much like his), but weld it directly to the top of the strut tower. I could use the plate to relocate the 3 mounting holes and large hole to the rear (to gain some caster), then install the camber plate to have adjustable camber. This would also help solve the issue of lost reinforcement from opening up the hole and losing spot welds.

Here's where I need to bring some beer over to the neighbor with a waterjet in his garage

Sorry, I guess this is turning into another tangent from my build thread. I guess it's reserved for boring pictures of cleaning and painting parts for now. It's still be months and months before I can actually get to this fun stuff.

[Marc]

Only thing I dislike about that plan is the potential for embrittlement of the sheetmetal adjacent to the welds (I'm assuming you're thinking of welding along the perimeter of the new plate). You might consider cutting some panels shaped to fit on the underside of the fenderwell (to further stiffen it and distribute the load over a wider area) and then plug-weld it all together.

[ChadH]

Well, actually looking under the strut tower reveals there's not much room to move the plate backwards anyway.



So much for speculating on mods without actually looking at the car.

[Marc]

Yeah, that's why I proposed fabricating some panels to go in from below - the majority of the load is going to be upward, a plate scabbed onto the top side might be weak.

[ChadH]

I'll probably just open up the big hole and add a couple spot welds, fitting the plate in the stock location. A plate on top, like 4agedub's would be do-able, but I won't weld it in.

Getting added caster (if needed) might be more practical by installing one of Topline's swaybars that add caster by using a shorter swaybar..or maybe even by carefully grinding the shoulder on the stock swaybar.

I sometimes need to do a reality check. There's lots of cool stuff I can imagine doing, but successfully pulling them off is often different.

[Marc]

...Getting added caster (if needed) might be more practical by installing one of Topline's swaybars that add caster by using a shorter swaybar..or maybe even by carefully grinding the shoulder on the stock swaybar.

That's the more conventional way to gain caster on a Super. Topline also sells eccentric swaybar bushings that're offset to pull the bar forward - they're claimed to bring the caster back within normal limits with a stock swaybar and suspension lowered 1½=3". You could probably fabricate front brackets which would similarly shift the bar forward.
http://toplineparts.com/caster-fix-bush ... y-bar.html