Ok so with my subaru conversion mostly complete, read, engine in and running, I have been stripping the rest of my donor legacy. Taking off any parts that can be either sold or reutilised elsewhere and it got me thinking. The legacy was fulltime AWD so the rear axle not only had driveshafts etc it was also basically a trailing arm set up. Taking the arms off and the various brackets that support it (unfortunately unable to remove the subframe but wouldn't be of any use anyway)
I was originally hoping to use the rear calipers as a conversion but turns out that the handbrake is a drum style set up rather than on the caliper itself so couldn't use that without the whole thing...fast forward to it in pieces in my garage and I have been taking some measurements. From the centre of the hub (beetle) to the centre of the torsion beam is (at a rough measurement) 16 1/2 inches. The same dimension on the subaru rear trailing arm is approx 17 - 17 1/2 inches to the centre of the rubber mount. Physically I could get it all to fit, albeit a bit further back than beetle (possibly) but not by much. I could make shock towers and a 3rd bracket system to mount to. The hardest bit would be finding a way to get subaru outer CV joints to fit onto my beetle driveshaft...or find a way to use the T3 hubs that I currently have, with through bearings like the standard beetle A arm design (if that makes sense), rather than the hub which sits within the bearings on the subaru trailing arm <- this would be preferable as I am using wheels with a 4 x 130 PCD
Its not something I'm looking to do right away, more whether it would be possible, read, daft :lol:
I know plently of people on here have done crazier things so this is pretty tame. However it would give me different suspension with what I currently own already (rather than fork out for expensive porsche parts) and since the beetle is a baja the ability to uprate shocks etc if needed.
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Thoughts, suggestions, positive or negative :lol:
I was originally hoping to use the rear calipers as a conversion but turns out that the handbrake is a drum style set up rather than on the caliper itself so couldn't use that without the whole thing...fast forward to it in pieces in my garage and I have been taking some measurements. From the centre of the hub (beetle) to the centre of the torsion beam is (at a rough measurement) 16 1/2 inches. The same dimension on the subaru rear trailing arm is approx 17 - 17 1/2 inches to the centre of the rubber mount. Physically I could get it all to fit, albeit a bit further back than beetle (possibly) but not by much. I could make shock towers and a 3rd bracket system to mount to. The hardest bit would be finding a way to get subaru outer CV joints to fit onto my beetle driveshaft...or find a way to use the T3 hubs that I currently have, with through bearings like the standard beetle A arm design (if that makes sense), rather than the hub which sits within the bearings on the subaru trailing arm <- this would be preferable as I am using wheels with a 4 x 130 PCD
Its not something I'm looking to do right away, more whether it would be possible, read, daft :lol:
I know plently of people on here have done crazier things so this is pretty tame. However it would give me different suspension with what I currently own already (rather than fork out for expensive porsche parts) and since the beetle is a baja the ability to uprate shocks etc if needed.
Thoughts, suggestions, positive or negative :lol: