@R Thorpe posted:When I picked up my new build from Vintage Motorcars I told Greg it felt a little unsure on the freeway, I took it back and he “ made adjustments” and it was better, upon checking he had added a set of Empi shims. In checking around the VW boys tell me they always add two sets of shims. My car tracks OK but to me it just feels a little light over 70 mph. I tried adding 70 lbs of lead, I had two 30 pound blocks I put either side of the battery, helps a little, I need more experimentation. The cars steering is very heavy too, my last car was a 1970 911, large gas tank two batteries in the wheel wells, the steering was like a feather by comparison.
You have found the greatest limitation to the sporting pretensions of these cars: the VW beam.
I've got one, as do the vast majority of people on this site (except for the IM owners who were more intelligent than I was in 2005)-- and no, it doesn't feel as "planted" as cars with A-arms or early Porsche 911 torsion bars do. Mine's been upgraded with a Golf rack and pinion setup (which helps the steering feel enormously, but does nothing for what you are describing).
The car feels lighter in the front as speed increases because the shape of it encourages air moving around (and especially under) the car to lift the front.
You might try dropping the car into the weeds so that the car's aerodynamics are not doing quite as good an impersonation of an airplane wing. This will help... a little. You might also try removing some leaves from the front torsion bar to lighten the springs up a bit. This does nothing for firming up how planted the car feels, but it does make the car more compliant without resorting to adding weight.
Probably the best thing you can do for how the car feels is to get better tires. I feel like a one-note-Johnny-- but if you put Vredistein Sportracs on it, it's transformative. I'm a confirmed tightwad, and the idea of snooty tires on a glorified golf-cart was something I chaffed against. Until I actually tried it. Good tires really do change things.
It sounds like you already have caster shims, which help the car track more surely, but which also give you heavier steering. More will make it heavier still.
I can tell you with certainty that the front end will lighten up as you get moving, due to the shape of the car. It gets really light around 100 mph (even lowered aggressively), and you'll find yourself puckering pretty hard over a buck-ten. The 911 suspension cars I've driven did not feel so much like that. Actual 911s feel nothing like that at all.
The fuel is carried pretty high in most of these cars (again, the IMs with 911 suspension excepted) and all the running gear is in the back, so balance isn't all that great no matter how nice the front end is. I've found that (opposite most cars), you want bigger brakes in the back than you think you do (all the weight is back there, and the front gets light when you're hustling, so there's less braking power). It's pretty easy to lock up the front before the back feels like it's biting. I've never understood why people say, "drums in the back are fine. The majority of the braking power is in the front". This is 100% true in a normally configured car, and less true as the center of gravity moves rearward. It's not true at all with a rear-engined Speedster.
The bottom line is this: you can improve what you've got, but if you want to run with bigger dogs, you're going to need to make some substantive changes. I'd start by dropping the car as low as you can stand. Set the caster at 5+ degrees. Get the steering box adjusted as perfectly as possible (there are numerous threads). Get some good tires. Try taking out a couple of leaves. Other than that, learn to drive the car as it actually is, rather than as the modern automobile you are more accustomed to. @Sacto Mitch has posted at length on this.
Regardless, if you really want to move, you'll find yourself going on very long late-night searches for A-arm beam replacements (and find the results somewhat compromised as well).
Good luck. Forewarned is forearmed.