Shine rear swaybar dimension & metallurgical advice needed +(ATTN: Ron P.

[vwtype53 at yahoo.com (Ben)]

--- Allyn <amalventano1@tds.net> wrote:

> > Just like the Shine bar, the Ron and Ben bar 
> > reduces the tendancy of the rear axle to twist.  I can't say 
> > for certain, but Ron and I were thinking that our bar is, in 
> > theory, doing practically the same thing as the Shine bar.  
> 
> I realize a flat section (even 'c') may not be as tortionally rigid as the shine bar, something
> must be considered - that bar is 1"
> diameter, where the 'c' channel was 2.5" wide.  I'm half tempted to say that the 'cheapass'
> solution may be closer in practice than
> we might be inclined to guess.  Another point is that I'm not impressed at all with the way the
> shine bar mounts.  The ends of the
> bar are ground down to a 1/2" square shape that fits diagonally into a pair of blocks, which are
> in turn clamped together by the two
> bolts going through either end of the axle beam.  This type of mount can potentially allow for
> much greater play when compared to a
> piece that attaches directly to the axle beam.  That 1/2" end had to be placing enormous
> leverage within those blocks.


Exactly.  The Cheapass bar may not be quite as torsionally rigid as the Shine bar, but it's a
whole heck of a lot easier to fasten a flat piece of C-channel to the flat underside of the axle
beam than it is the round Shine bar.  Plus, the Cheapass bar is lower profile.  ;)

Just keep in mind the end goal here... to increase the torsional rigidity of the rear axle.  Go
ahead and crawl under the back of you Scirocco and look up at the rear axle for a while.  Now look
at those pictures again of the Cheapass bar and Shine bar... the goal is the same here.  Mounting
*anything* in that location attempts to make the rear axle more like a solid member.  You could go
crazy here and instead of using C-channel or round bar you could weld in a hefty steel beam in
place with cross bracing, etc.  In the end, you are simply stiffening up that rear axle and
preventing axle twist, and thus reducing body roll.

I'm just trying to keep my explanation simple... but definitely read Dan's post for the technical
theory of this suspension talk.  Very well put Dan!

Ben



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com