Help building 69 Ghia into autocross car

Hello all,

I'm working on turning my 69 VW Ghia into an Autocross car. I'm racing in the Reno SCCA SoloII club and hope to have the Ghia racing by next season.

I'm interested in improving the handling as much as possible and am soliciting ideas and experience.

So far I plan to rebuild the front end completely. Install adjustable front sway bar. Weld in torsion adjusters to provide 2 inches up and down. Caster shims. Camber adjusters. If I decide to lower the car any great amount I will use dropped spindles.

In the rear I would like to go with bigger torsion bars, adjustable sway bar, adjustable swingplates and rear disk brakes.

Upgrade the transaxle with a super diff or some type of limited slip.

The motor will depend on the class I race in. I'm comfortable I will be able to provide the proper powerplant once I get a handle on the class.

I would like to look at fuel injection kits.

I'm not sure what size to use for rims and tires.

I'm also unsure what SCCA class to go for.

Any input is welcome. I'm not overly interested in winning but I would like to make a good showing and have fun.

Theo

Reply to
Theo McCormick
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Sounds like all the right mods.My only additions or cautions would be a lightened flywheel,and a lengthend steering arm to quicken up the steering.Also don't go too big on wheels and tires.Quick side to side transitions are more important than ultimate grip.One case where oversteer can be your friend.FI is probably not necessary,apair of webers(or Kads or even Solexs from a T3 for smaller motors).And look for ways to lighten up like seats ,door panels,F/G this and that.Enjoy.Steve

Reply to
Ilambert

I agree with the above and add one more suggestion.....spend some time getting sharp, crisp throttle response and a motor that pulls well in the lower RPM ranges, even at the expense of some net HP further up the rev band....nothing will kill your time more than a stumble getting back in the throttle....you will constantly be playing catch-up.....

Sneaks

Reply to
Sneaks

Two suggestions.

1) Don't let anyone talk you out of FI. Properly set up, FI gives wonderfully smooth response and is impervious to sudden side-to-side Gs (unlike many carbs ... just ask the off-road guys).

2) Castor shims. After you get the ride-height and fore-aft rake that you want, try it with and without the shims. Leaning the beem back helps get back some directional stability that is lost when the front end is lower than the rear. That is good for going fast in a straight line, but may not be as good for autocrossing. It's kind of like the difference between a Cessna (very stable) and a fighter plane (intentionaly UN-stable).

Max

Reply to
Max Welton

It shuould be lowered, so get the dropped spindles now. You will need about -1.5 - 2.0 degrees front camber. This will will require bending the front trailing arms. You want 6 degrees of caster, 1/16" toe-in. You should also install a quick steering arm and adjust the geometry for minimum bump steer.

Not sure where you would get bigger torsion bars. I doubt you will need rear disks. I'm not aware of adjustable front or rear bars that will bolt on to any VW without machining. I'd go with Koni shocks,

-2.5 degrees camber, 1/16" toe-in.

Limited slip would be very nice coming out of corners. Super diff not needed. If you have any sort of engine work, you will need a rear transaxle support.

Don't know about those.

I used 7 X 13 Minilites with Formula Ford slicks. The small diameter lowered the car by about 2 1/2 inches and lowered the effective gear ratio.

A lot of regions have a "street prepared" or "open street" class where you can do anything you want as long as the car is registered for the road. If i were doing a Ghia, I would mount a set of DOT-legal race tires (Hoosier, for example), and the biggest engine I could afford. That would give me a nice dual-purpose sports car with no need to change to race tires before an event.

Get the rulebook and start planning. :)

That's the spirit! Have a ball!

Paul

Reply to
Paul Hamilton

The fuel injection is tempting but $1,800 is a little steep. I sure would like to try it.

I installed camber and caster plates in my WRX for autocrossing. Camber makes a huge difference but the Caster is much less noticeable. In the Ghia I was thinking the caster would provide more dynamic camber?

Theo

Reply to
Theo McCormick

Paul,

I edited in some thoughts. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I did find 15% stiffer front torsion leaves at CBperformance.com. Swayaway makes bigger rear torsion bars. WhiteLine manufactures the adjustable sway bars (aircooled.net has em) I purchased one and it looks great. It uses a 'link' that fastens the end of the bar to the shock mount. I think it has 4 adjustment holes.

I'm a little hesitant to lower the front if it limits my front tire size. I am willing to cut the fenders if needed though. Thanks for the specific alignment numbers!

How would you go about bending the trailing arms to increase camber? With a press? I purchased some aftermarket camber adjusters for a ball joint front end. I have no idea what range of adjustment this will provide.

Does anyone have a source for Koni adjustable shock that will fit a Ghia? I didn't look too hard but I could not find an online place to buy them.

I have to admit I don't really understand what a super diff does... I thought it was a 'poor mans posi' or is that something else? I had a super diff in my old Baja with a 5:14 ring and pinion. It worked great. I did find a manufacturer for a limited slip diff. Quaife...I have no idea what they cost or how they work.

A number of people have suggested I use 13x7 wheels for race compound tires. I would love to find some used.

Thanks,

Theo

Reply to
Theo McCormick

Hi all.I 'm not anti-fuel injection at all,in fact thinking of trying to get hold of a Subaru setup to play around with ,maybe it can replace the Weber problemissive antique on my bus.It's just that the systems for ACVW's out there now are too expensive and racer oriented.An affordable set-up(are you listening Holly) than is almost a direct replacement for a carb would be a wonderful thing.Steve

Reply to
Ilambert

HI.For parts like heavy duty rear gears and bars think THING/181 shops.There is much interchangability Ghia/181.5:14 gears are a blast,but not too practical .Short wheels/tires lower the car and give a lower gear ratio(effeftive) at the same time.Corvair rims on adaptors were the hot set-up.LOL.Seen any latley?Steve

Reply to
Ilambert

.........Hi Steve...............What's wrong with taking an L-Jetronic Bosch system off of a '75 or newer bug? There are plenty of them around for not much money. Just find a running rustbucket that can donate an operable FI system. There's no 02 sensor for direct closed loop mixture control but aside from that it's still a good upgrade for street use on any engine that isn't bigger than a 1776 and doesn't rev past 6k (I'm just guessing there). If you want more power than that, there's always the option of swapping a waterboxer airflow meter and injectors into the L-Jetronic system........once again, I'm guessing that it can be done but I'm not sure. An air/fuel ratio gauge would be needed to have any idea how to tune/adjust it for optimal performance. The type4 Bosch system used on late 70s buses would also be useable on a type1 if you really wanted to get creative with substituting L-Jetronic components from a type1 where needed.

Reply to
Tim Rogers

Bingo. The trailing arm front suspension does not decrease the camber on the outside wheel. Therefore, you need both static negative camber and the dynamic camber that comes from caster.

Caster will not make your car less manuverable -- it will just increase steering forces. VW came stock with way too little camber for decent handling (or even pleasant rode feel, in my opinion) because they wanted even the weakest people to be able to parallel park the things. Sufficient castor gives you wonderful road feel, as well. I suspect that it makes the internal friction of worm-and-roller less of a factor. In any case, it can be indistinguishable from rack an pinion.

A better aviation analogy would be YAK-52 versus Beechcraft Baron. The YAK requires much heavier control inputs, but has a vastly higher roll rate. It is much like an autocross car with a lot of caster.

Paul

Reply to
Paul Hamilton

Hi Tim.I agree that L-Jetronic components were /are O.K.It's just that something more modern and available would be nice.Alas probably very expensive also.Your example of cannibalizing a rust bucket leads me to believe you are a left coaster(lucky).Here in the east,used up means electronics are a big question mark,at least to me.Steve

Reply to
Ilambert

How about that. Thanks!

Max

Reply to
Max Welton

..................I live in near Binghamton, NY.

...........If it weren't for the rust buckets, there wouldn't hardly be any acvws left around here. There are usually a few 70s era bugs for sale in this area but you wouldn't want to slap the quarter panels too hard on some of them because it would knock loose the bondo. Years ago, one guy south of here in Pennsylvania got mad at me for taking out a magnet while I was looking at his $3000 super with a real fresh paint job. He didn't have a chance to get too wound up about it before I was in my vanagon and on my way home.

Reply to
Tim Rogers

Yeh.I was looking at a nice,too shiny bus once.Door wouldn't shut, the third slam and a pound of plastic falls at my feet.Run away,run away.Anyway you must know your way around the electrons.I've never had any luck.It's all smoke and mirrors.Steve

Reply to
Ilambert

I agree totally. $1,800 for a FI kit is a little steep. But I sure would like to try it.

The FI on my Subaru WRX is impressive technology. I'm not sure you could get it to work on a ACVW.

Theo

Reply to
Theo McCormick

I did find a web site that specializes in recycling the ACVW Bosch FI. The prices were OK. Perhaps I should check it out again.

Theo

tune/adjust

Reply to
Theo McCormick

Hi.It is most certienly nice.I was thinking along the lines of the earlier(mid-90's) system.Like engine set-ups(flat boxer 4 cyl.) lent me hope that maybe something was adaptable.But as I become more familiar with the Subaru,it looks less likely.Still,with all the FI-ed fours out there.If Kia can do it so well,come on aftermarket.Even a crude TPI to center manifold?Triggers seem to be a Major problem.Again,I'm far from an expert,but an optimist.Steve

Reply to
Ilambert

Hi Theo.Good site.Your approuch seems to make sense.Sometime the obvious route-ect.Steve

Reply to
Ilambert

...............Could you post that link? I'd like to see it.

Reply to
Tim Rogers

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