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Newbie Danny of Nipomo Ca. posted:
Bob Z posted:

Looks great, is that a ball joint front suspension you are using ?

 

 

Sorry Bob I am a novice at this. I did not inquire with VS if a ball joint is used or even its purpose/advantage/disadvantage to tell the truth.

Vintage Speedsters (when it was owned by Kirk) used ball joint front ends. Here's a picture to show the difference:

Link-Kingpin-and-Balljoint

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Last edited by Robert M

Thanks I've looked at all the websites and in fact contacted some of the manufacturers by email. They all seem very helpful but I was wondering if you guys on this forum and any opinion on the better builds. Beck and VS seem quite good. Tube frame vs VW pan? Some have tops and side curtains others do but at a high cost . Both necessary for Florida

Mag9 posted:

Thanks I've looked at all the websites and in fact contacted some of the manufacturers by email. They all seem very helpful but I was wondering if you guys on this forum and any opinion on the better builds. Beck and VS seem quite good. Tube frame vs VW pan? Some have tops and side curtains others do but at a high cost . Both necessary for Florida

@Mag9

Start a new thread Mag9 and ask away. The guys here on the forum will be happy to share all they know. Post every question you can think of. Share where you live, options you desire, budget if you will and any other pertinent questions you want answered. Most of the guys here love to spend other people's money. LOL

Last edited by Robert M

My only advice (and what do I know?) would be that few people going into this “hobby” actually know what they want in their car at first blush.  It is usually best to find a used car that has been sorted well (they show up semi-frequently on here) with most of the options you think you’ll want and go for it.  Drive it for a year or two, get used to its’ idiosyncracies and then decide if you want to stick with it (maybe with a few upgrades) or go for another car with exactly what you’ve now found you really want.

JB356SR posted:

Just curious, I noticed in the chassis picture the stabilizer bar is touching the inner front bumper bracket. I was wondering if you are going to notch out a space for the stabilizer bar?

Can you please explain the purpose of notching out a space? In the picture I don't think it is definitively touching though. It may be a mute point because I think the body has already been dropped/attached to the chassis and engine installed just recently. Again, I am a newbie here so please forgive my ignorance if something seems obvious to you and not me..

 

Newbie Danny of Nipomo Ca. posted:

Thanks, I am going to quiz Justin at VS Arizona to get his two cents to see what he does in this scenario (to my car being built) if any..

Danny, I optioned a front bar from VS on my 2013 build and ended up with what looks like the same bar you have (EMPI) - installed exactly the same way.

Note that when the car is sitting on its wheels, there's about two inches of clearance between the bar and the bumper bracket, but that clearance goes to zero when the car is on stands and the front wheels hanging.

The result is that when you hit a bump, the bar bangs into the bracket on the rebound. This, in effect, limits your front suspension travel. It looks like Justin may be copying one of Kirk's build techniques, maybe unaware of the problem it causes.

A good thing to get sorted before you take delivery.

 

 

My sway bar on my VS was plug and play with no mod needed.  It has worked perfectly for 52,000 miles.  I posted all about it here with brand and stock number.

I wouldn't feel safe without both a front sway bar and rear camber compensator installed.  I'll bet a lot of VS are running around without either.  I am always amazed at the low number of wrecks of Speedster replicas that have occured.  I drive mine like it was my BMW bike---knowing that every other vehicle is out to get me!  Which they are.

Last edited by Jack Crosby
Gordon Nichols posted:

I don't understand your post, Robert. 

“brackets to compensate for the sway bar” ?

I was on my phone so not as complete a post as I should have made. 

I'm sure Kirk, and now Justin, use a jig to make the bumper bracket that mounts to the beam. They should redesign their jig so when they build the bumper bracket it'll be in the configuration that it needs to be in so the anti-sway bar doesn't hit the bottom of the bracket.

My Fiberfab Speedster came with the sway bar not only touching the bumper bracket but it was acting like a torsion bar and holding the entire weight of the front of the car. I removed the sway bar and the front end dropped over an inch in ride height. The front end would actually bounce when a bump was hit. I removed the sway bar right before I sent the car to have the Suby conversion done. The front radiator air intake scoop is now in the way. I may plan to have something custom made.

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