narrowed ghia rear end

[Rocket Ron]

I found this on the samba what do you guys think about the engineering

Is it safe ? the two little upstands are to tie into a roll cage which should tie it all together nicely

[richie]

looks like exhaust tubing to me

cheers richie

[Zach Gomulka]

Those axles are too cute!

[Mike Lawless]

Looks exactly like my set up. Mines been running for a couple years now. The tubing I used in mine is 1 5/8", .095" wall cro/mo.

[Bruce]

Look at those modified trailing arms.  The guy who came up with that idea must've been a smart cookie.

Notice how the shock bracket on the TA has been moved away from the bearing housing/CV joint.

[Rocket Ron]

got this link if anyones interested

http://www.germanlook.com/Html/Tech/Tech12NarrowingIRSArms.htm

[Black Sheep]

Nice looks good to me , like the way he's made a jig up for reassembly of the a arm's , wish I'd thought of that when I did mine 

[Elnef]

where do you guys buy shortned torsions bars to fit a narrowed rear end like this ?

[Mike Lawless]

You don't buy shortened torsions. You use the short 21 11/16" (give or take) version and use a torsion arm that is normally used with the intermediate length torsion bar.

In my case, I just needed a bit more inboard tire clearance, so I still used the standard short axles, but put the 67 and later end castings onto the axle tubes, effectively moving the torsion mounting flange inboard by 1.25". I narrowed the torsion housing by that amount of each end. I used a set of the intermdiate torsion arms, but cut the hub out, positioned where it needed to be and rewelded the hubs back in.

I have an additional diagonal brace as compared to the photos. The builder actually patterned his set-up from mine.

Some details here

http://home.comcast.net/~mlawless29/rollcage.htm

[Rocket Ron]

You don't buy shortened torsions. You use the short 21 11/16" (give or take) version and use a torsion arm that is normally used with the intermediate length torsion bar.

In my case, I just needed a bit more inboard tire clearance, so I still used the standard short axles, but put the 67 and later end castings onto the axle tubes, effectively moving the torsion mounting flange inboard by 1.25". I narrowed the torsion housing by that amount of each end. I used a set of the intermdiate torsion arms, but cut the hub out, positioned where it needed to be and rewelded the hubs back in.

I have an additional diagonal brace as compared to the photos. The builder actually patterned his set-up from mine.

Some details here

http://home.comcast.net/~mlawless29/rollcage.htm

Mike what sized tyres did you manage to get under there and what size rim

Cheers Ron

[Mike Lawless]

Ron, I run a 6 x 26 M7H slick. The photos in the article, were the 215/65 x 15 DOT M&H on late 6" Fuchs. Before I needed a small wheel spacer to clear the torsion arm and with that I had 3/16" to the torsion arm and 3/16" clearance to the fender lip. It rubbed a little. Just enough to make the inside of the tire shiney.

With the new set up, no wheel spacer and I have a little over 1/2" to the fender lip and about an inch to the torsion arm. Plenty of room. Especially now that the inner fender mount that used to attach to the shock tower is moved inboard.

I got a desire to use 3" narrowed axles, convert it to IRS, (folts type 2 swing conversion now) and use a standard offset Chevy pattern wheel with 8" tires. But, it's working really well right now, and the Fuchs are as light as ANY race wheel and still look sexy. At least they look sexy to me!

[Rocket Ron]

Thank for that Mike

I've just had a look at you site really nice!!

I noticed you don’t appear to be running an engine support bar is that because you effectively have a trapezium bar type set up at the rear with the suspension set up as it is. I must be very stiff at the rear now.

You mentioned that you moved the fender shock mount to inboard. Is this to support the rear of the body?

Sorry all the questions but its really interesting   

[Mike Lawless]

There are adjustable tension rods that go from that top cross bar down to the tips of the frame horns, like a "Renn Kafer Bar" or like CSPs truss bar. And yes I wanted a bit more body support than simply relying on the pads that tie into the roll cage. I didn't feel good about eliminating the inner fender mounts so I fabbed up a mount for the inside of the fender. Not much.

Hopefully you will find all this helpful

[Rocket Ron]

Mike

Doesn’t your wife run the new efi set up from CB? How do you rate it?

I’ve just got hold of a CB efi turbo set up and I’m hoping to fit it into the low light ghia I have on an IRS pan. I’m hoping there’s enough room for an intercooler in there, somewhere. 

Ps Like the sound of the Chevy wheels and more rubber 

Still if its not broke .........

[Mike Lawless]

Yes she does. It's a pretty cool system. Fairly maintenance free. She's actually the one who does the "tuning". I just take care of the mechanicals. It's a little temperamental in the cold weather, but I have yet to install the Idle Air Control Valve that will make cold idling less problematic. We've taken it on some pretty long road trips and the thing performed flawlessly, even in LA "parking lot" traffic in the heat of summer. That was a 800 mile round trip including all the side trip we took while we were down there and averaged 32mpg.

I'm hoping you will post up pictures of your progress on your project. I'd be very interested!

[Rocket Ron]

here you go

I've had a bit of a clear out since the photo so there's abit more room in there 

[Zach Gomulka]

...I had 3/16" to the torsion arm and 3/16" clearance to the fender lip. It rubbed a little. Just enough to make the inside of the tire shiney.

With the new set up, no wheel spacer and I have a little over 1/2" to the fender lip and about an inch to the torsion arm. Plenty of room. Especially now that the inner fender mount that used to attach to the shock tower is moved inboard.

So if the axle is the same length, how did you gain outside clearance?

[Mike Lawless]

I no longer needed to use a wheel spacer for inside clearance. Eliminate the spacer, the wheel moves in!

[Zach Gomulka]

Duh!