Civilizing a Cal Looker
andrewlandon67:
Quote from: Jim Ratto on April 25, 2019, 17:57:27 pm
Seats will make the biggest difference and/or correctly setup suspension geometry
The sound deadening Wolfsburg West sells as OEM replacement isn't heavy and it does commendable job at quelling the thrash from the motor. Personally, part of the thrill (for me) is all hell breaking loose any time I crank the Webers open. I don't want the rough edges smoothed off as far as noise. I made changes to my car in last 5 years so I wouldn't feel like I have to fight the car to drive it.
This is a little more where I'd like to head. I can deal with engine noise for the most part, it's the clunks and rattles that really get to me and some of the whine from the gearbox as well. My rear shocks are rather worn out, so they'll probably get tossed while I'm getting all of this taken care of. Maybe I'll tweak the suspension a bit too, the ride in my car isn't exactly smooth and I'd like a touch more ride height all the way around. I've also decided on a bit of an unconventional muffler, so there will be one more thing to help drown out the valvetrain.
Quote from: Fastbrit on April 25, 2019, 18:50:56 pm
One of the most effective ways to quieten down a VW is to use modern sound dampening pads inside the rear quarter panels and doors. Those areas act like 'boom boxes', so anything you can do to stop the panels reverberating will be good.
Most of the interior in my car is original, and very little of it is holding together at this point. I think some extra insulation around those two areas, as well as new door cards should do a decent enough job. I might, depending on cost, also redo the carpet in the rear cargo area, since that is currently about as carpetlike as linoleum, and doesn't hang on to the firewall very well.
Thanks again for all the advice, guys!
Martin S.:
One change that surprised me to make the car more comfortable to drive was to get rid of the Berg rear traction bar. Even though I had the rubber version the engine vibration ran throughout the car. I now rely on the Berg mid mount, Berg gray rubber mounts and a cheap kafer cup engine brace with HD trans carrier.
Koni red shocks and koni red steering damper helped stabilize the car at speed quite a bit too but I found a deal on them otherwise probably not worth the $$$$$.
Torben Alstrup:
Quote from: Martin S. on April 26, 2019, 00:29:28 am
One change that surprised me to make the car more comfortable to drive was to get rid of the Berg rear traction bar. Even though I had the rubber version the engine vibration ran throughout the car. I now rely on the Berg mid mount, Berg gray rubber mounts and a cheap kafer cup engine brace with HD trans carrier.
Koni red shocks and koni red steering damper helped stabilize the car at speed quite a bit too but I found a deal on them otherwise probably not worth the $$$$$.
Yes. The Berg traction bar is just annoying.
Sound deadening. Kinda expensive, but worth every penny: Dynamat & Dynaliner plus blocking the C collar.
Koni´s. - They are DEFINITELY worth the money. If you wanna skimp a little, drop the steering dampener.
Proper alignment. Along with enough Caster on the front end. It is amazing how many people dsriving around with way not enough.
andrewlandon67:
Quote from: Torben Alstrup on April 26, 2019, 00:45:50 am
Quote from: Martin S. on April 26, 2019, 00:29:28 am
One change that surprised me to make the car more comfortable to drive was to get rid of the Berg rear traction bar. Even though I had the rubber version the engine vibration ran throughout the car. I now rely on the Berg mid mount, Berg gray rubber mounts and a cheap kafer cup engine brace with HD trans carrier.
Koni red shocks and koni red steering damper helped stabilize the car at speed quite a bit too but I found a deal on them otherwise probably not worth the $$$$$.
Yes. The Berg traction bar is just annoying.
Sound deadening. Kinda expensive, but worth every penny: Dynamat & Dynaliner plus blocking the C collar.
Koni´s. - They are DEFINITELY worth the money. If you wanna skimp a little, drop the steering dampener.
Proper alignment. Along with enough Caster on the front end. It is amazing how many people dsriving around with way not enough.
I've ridden in a car with Koni shocks on all 4 corners before, the difference they make is amazing. Unfortunately though, a full set runs about the same cost as what I've mentally set aside for this little project, so they'll have to wait. Doing some reading on Caster, I wouldn't be surprised if I needed another pair of shims on my beam. Although my car's not the lowest in the world, it's still low enough for that kind of thing to have an impact. I'll try and get an angle finder for those once I actually get the time to get to work with this project.
Martin S.:
As far as clunks and rattles go, they can be frustrating to find. You might wanna check the body to chassis mount points around the top of the rear shocks when you look at the back. There’s supposed to be rubber in there where it bolts together and that could be rattling as you drive (just a guess). Also on a swing axle the rubber swing arm bushings could be squished which can allow metal to metal contact.
The engine brace also can help the engine/ trans from moving up and down somewhat which could cause clunks and did make my clutch feel more solid, smooth, which makes for a more civilized drive.
For the alignment you can try and find a deal at an alignment shop. Tell them that you don’t need any work done, you just need the printout. With that you can see the caster as an absolute number which takes your stance into account, awesome! Also it will tell you if one of your rear swing axles is different than the other with both camber and toe. All just about impossible to know without the digital test. Then you can take the info into account when tweaking your suspension.
I just took a look at my printout and they didn’t fill out the front caster spec. Not sure why not. At the time I went on Lanner’s advice of pushing the rear axles all the way back in the slots. He said do this for lowered cars. Grind the slots larger to go even further back for really lowered cars he said. My printout said I had zero to 1/32” toe OUT and I was happy with the stability improvement and would recommend this as well.
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