Project Euro Trash Episode 2
If it isn't one thing it's another. Whoever came up with that statement nailed life right on the head. The same phrase rings true with modifying cars. (That's the beauty of overly vague statements.) Once you begin, you realize everything else that needs to be done in order to make the current mods work better. Our last installment of Project EuroTrash was basically getting the car road worthy, and luckily for us, that included installing coilovers. We believe in taking suspension mods in steps, driving the car, then figuring out what else needs to be done and go from there. There are a few reasons for this; one is that we have a small budget, but the more important reason is that we like to do what works--no more, no less. This doesn't always involve throwing a ton of new suspension parts at the car, but sometimes it does.
Unfortunately, some of the...
Unfortunately, some of the A/C lines were in the way of installing the camber plates. The good news is with the motor swap we probably won't hook the A/C up anyway, so it just sped up the inevitable.
Shortly after we tossed the coilovers on the car, a few issues emerged. With the stiffer suspension, the car started showing signs of body flex and inconsistent grip levels under hard cornering. What were these signs you ask? Well, under hard cornering, the wind noise would become louder. This basically meant that the car was flexing to the point that the top corner of the doors would pop open slightly and more air would get by the door seals. Another unfortunate mishap from our rubber bodied Mk II was that it cracked the windshield because of the flex. Although the original crack was done to a rock chip, it did prove that the car's body was flexing too much, so something had to be done. Another issue we were having was the inconsistant grip, the stock 14s and balloon tires weren't cutting it. They had little-to-no consistency when cornering, and they didn't handle surface changes very well. This added up to a slightly unpredictable car with a tendency to snap into oversteer if you hit the wrong bump while cornering hard.
The first thing we got rid of were the stock wheels and tires. In order to really understand what needed to be done to the suspension, we needed to get the grip levels up to par. We didn't want to spend too much money right away on wheels because with our luck we will need the money later. We decided the best thing to do would be to pick up a set of wheels that can play more then one role. The wheels we chose were the Flik Blast C wheels and Falken Azenis tires in a package from Edge Racing. The wheels are most rewarding because they weigh 11 pounds and cost way under a grand with sticky tires. Oh, did we mention that when the wheels and tires showed up they are already mounted and balanced, so you just have to put them on the car? If we didn't, they are. We also picked up a set of lugs and studs for the car, which makes things a lot easier when pulling the wheels on and off. No more propping the tire on the foot while you try to line up lugholes crap. That's right we said it, "crap"; we hate stock VW lugs.
It was pretty exciting watching...
It was pretty exciting watching Vic from Euro sport cutting out the stock strut tower cups to make room for the camber plates. Once this occurs, though, you can't change your mind. Next, the drill came out to pop in some holes for the plates to mount to.
Now that we eliminated the tire variable, it was time to play with the suspension to try to limit the body flex. The car seemed to show some signs of understeer and a slow turn in. We figured we would start with stiffening the rear of the car up and eliminating some of the rubber pieces in the front end of the car, and we wanted to play with camber settings. We all know that rubber is put into suspension to allow for some give so that the car maintains a comfortable ride. Well, we aren't interested in that comfort crap; we want better performance and adjustability. So we went to Euro Sport Accessories to have a set of camber plates and a rear strut tie bar put in. Warning: Camber plates are intended for race use only so they will make the car much stiffer and they may also require some maintenance from time to time. They eliminate the entire factory strut bearing assembly and they are a permanent modification. The top cup of the strut tower is removed and drilled to accept the plates and spacers. The factory strut bearings are replaced by a spherical bearing setup and the kit affords you some more camber adjustment in addition to what you already have, which makes it all worth it if you take the car to the track. The camber plates also add a bit of consistency to the car by eliminating the flexing rubber bits that were allowing the camber and caster to change through hard turns. We also added a rear strut tie bar to limit the amount of flex in the rear. Unfortunately with the camber plates in place, a standard strut tie bar doesn't fit in the front. In the future, we will have to have one made for the car. However, we'll take care of that once we have the new motor in place, because it too will most likely be a permanent mod.
Not long after we received the suspension parts for the car, the stock front motor mount became too weak to drive on, and had to be retired. Luckily for us, Virtual World Parts has a pretty good selection of stock motor mounts, so we picked up a non-hydro mount along with a few other parts for the brake swap we are going to do to the car. (After we gather all the needed parts, of course.) But I digress, so back to the suspension.
In order to get proper travel...
In order to get proper travel out of your suspension, you need to put on as many spacers as possible. We used three on Project EuroTrash, but four would have been OK, too.
The '91 Jetta GL's came with a factory front sway bar and a joke of a rear bar that lives inside the rear trailing arm. We called up ABD Racing to order up some new sway bars for the car knowing that it needed them. We picked up the 25mm front bar and the 28mm rear. We did manage to get the rear bar on in time, but when we went to install the front bar, we noticed a number of other parts that needed to be replaced. We decided to hold off on the front bar until we can get the new ball joints, tie rod ends, and control arm bushings.
Overall, we accomplished quite a bit to the suspension tuning this month. The new wheels and tires made a world of difference in ride and handling. The camber plates stiffened up the front end a bit and gave us more flexibility in camber adjustments for the track while the rear end of our project car came together with a 28mm rear sway bar and upper strut tie bar. The car almost rotates too quickly now with just the rear bar on, so we do plan on adding the front one in the next installment, along with replacing the brakes and some of the random bushings throughout the car.
TECH FACTS:
Euro Sport camber plates, $99.95; Euro Sport camber plate 1/4 aluminum spacers (6), $90; Euro Sport rear stress bar, $65; OEM non-hydro front motor mount, $85; ABD 25mm front sway bar, $180; ABD 28mm rear sway bar, $180; 15x6.5 et40 Flik Blast C wheels, $356; 205/50-15 Falken Azenis tires, $252
PROJECT COST TO DATE:
$2,977.94
 This is how the camber plates...  This is how the camber plates secure themselves to the body of the car. It is important to mark where the holes need to be drilled to make sure there is plenty of material to secure the six bolts. |  Once the camber plates are...  Once the camber plates are in place, you can re-install the front suspension. The three bolts on top are used for your adjustment. Make sure these are tight. You also need to realign the front end once everything is back together. | |