How do I make my 70 non-super more 'road worthy'

VRSICK · Post by **VRSICK** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 7:35 pm

K, so the project is finally complete (Although i'm having some engine and tranny issues) complete for shows atleast. If i'm not planning on driving the car, its complete. BUT, heres the thing...

I don't drive more than 100 miles on the car all year pretty much, its in perfect shape (ie paint, etc) but I want to drive it around more, and do some pimpin. The problem is, its just TOO DAMN RUFF. The previous owners I can't get ahold of anymore, but I do know they modded the car somewhat, cause when we got the car it had Koni Reds on it.

I just came back from H20 (Thats a water cooled VW show in Maryland, if you didn't know) and felt like my car should handle more like these MK2 gtis, and MK3 gtis, rather than just straight STIFF suspension. I wanna make it look mean, but also handle like it can take a bump, and not make my fillings fall out of my mouth. Maybe like how the water-cooled have the PSS9 coil over kits, or something. I'm down to do some custom stuff, but I think I wanna do some kind of independant suspension of some sorts. I'm just going off on a rant right now, but if anyone has any input that would be great.

Thanx in advance.

volkswagen50 · Post by **volkswagen50** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:35 pm

Any idea if the sorsion bars have been changed? Is the car lowered at all? If so are the bump stops cut down to match? If you want a nice ride, stick with stock type shocks with more rebound than compression, but not much. To make it handle at the same time, remember that most handling means during turns. So add some serious sway bars. Sway bars do NOTHING in a straight line unless only one tire hits a bump or hole. SO usually you don't notice them until you turn, then the big bars will make you smile. If you can afford them, get ones from Whiteline. AC.net has them.

Replace all those rubber bushings too. Stock for soft, and poly for handling. Especially the rear torsion bars.

Good luck.

Bruceg · Post by **Bruceg** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 2:38 pm

If the car is too low at the front it will ride harshly and tend to under steer suddenly. You can’t really lower these cars more than an inch or so and still drive them aggressively on a bumpy road. Dropped spindles are the way to go.

Koni reds (specials) are a good shock for the street. They are adjustable and may be set too stiff. Go to the Koni site and get the adjustment procedure for those shocks. You have to take them off the car to adjust them.

Ozzie · Post by **Ozzie** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:05 pm

Take off the front shocks, drive it around, report back.