The 2008 Club AGM will be held at STONELEIGH show.

1300hrs Sun 4th May.

By michael dykes (club secretary)

There cannot be an easier car to lower than a Type 3, in part thanks to splined ends on the torsion bars. You can finely adjust the ride height without the recourse to any special lowering device. Now the Secretary recently acquired a suspension levelling tool, at his expense, so that should make the job even easier. Covin club members wishing to make use of the kit should contact the Club Secretary.

However, caution first about the Type 3 front end. Like a Beetle, the Fastbacks, and Variants have torsion bar front ends, but unlike Bugs the Type 3 front suspension consists of two pressed steel tubes running across the car, the upper one containing an anti-roll bar, the lower a pair of torsion bars which run diagonally across the car, actually crossing in the middle and anchored at one end. The nearside lower trailing arm is connected to a torsion bar, which is anchored on the offside, and the offside one bolts up to another torsion bar anchored on the nearside.

The outer end of each torsion bar is splined where the trailing arm fits so lowering is a simple case of removing the lower trailing arms and refitting them one, two or three splines. Move the offside arm clockwise, the nearside one anticlockwise.

The beauty of this is that at any time you can raise or lower the suspension at will. All you need is basic tools, a trolley jack and some axle stands. It only takes about an hour or so to do both sides once you have worked it all out, so you can always experiment if you want. Obviously if you lower the front of your car, the effective distance between the lower shock mount and the top one is going to be reduced. It is therefore imperative that you fit shorter shocks if you are to stop the dampers from bottoming out all the time. In many cases you will have had to trim the bump stops to allow the suspension to settle fully (riding on the bump strops is not good), as the shocks are going to be perilously near to maximum compression. Most suppliers of custom VW parts offer shorter shocks for Beetles, but the Type 3 owner usually has to use a pair of Mini shocks with re-drilled bushes.

Any alteration to the ride height is going to affect the steering geometry. You will soon discover the meaning of "bump-steer". You must get the front end of your newly lowered COVIN re-aligned by a reputable tyre company or else you risk wearing out your new and expensive tyres in double quick time. In most cases you will need to get the toe-in reset as most dropped cars tend to wear out the inside of one front tyre.

As for "bump-steer", this is brought about by the track-rod arms adopting a somewhat non-standard attitude in relation to the steering box and Pitman arms (the curved arms sprouting from the spindles!) As the front suspension compresses, the track rods try to pull the Pitman arms in towards the car inducing a fair degree of toe-out, causing the steering wheel to 'kick back and the car to feel a little squirrelly in a straight line. To cure this you can buy a bump steer kit, which allows you to refit the track rod ends into the Pitman arms from underneath as opposed to from on top as per standard. This simple cure-all allows the track rods to sit at the standard angle, thus allowing them to move up and down with the suspension without affecting steering geometry.

The rear suspension of all types of air-cooled VW remains essentially the same regardless of whether it is a Type 1 or 3, the only variations being that early cars ran swing axle back ends, later models four jointed creations. Both types rely on a pair of torsion bars running across the car, one for each trailing arm. Both ends of the bars are splined, the inner ends locating into the chassis; the outer's carrying the trailing arms. Lowering the rear end can be a simple case of removing the trailing arms and rotating them by one or two splines on the torsion bars. Take extreme care not to pull the torsion bar out from the chassis by mistake, you must remove the trailing arm only otherwise you will end up in all kinds of trouble trying to lower the car equally both sides. The problem is, the inner and outer ends of the torsion bars have a different number of splines, thus allowing for extremely fine adjustment at the factory. Take the whole lot apart and you can have hours of fun trying to re-establish the original position of the torsion bars!

The secret is to mark the original angle of the trailing arm in relation to the rebound stop casting. If the trailing arms comes off complete with torsion bar then all you have to do is loosen the torsion bar slightly then pop it all back in place at the original angle and then take off the trailing arm. The basic principle is the same for both early and late cars, all you have to do is unbolt the outer end of the axle assembly and hold it clear of the trailing arm while lowering. But in the case of the four-jointed rear suspension you also need to unship the inner end of the semi-trailing arms that run diagonally forward to the torsion bar housing on each side.

Be careful to mark the original position of the trailing arms in relation to the axles though if you want to avoid the hassle of having the rear end re-aligned. The only other thing to realise is that you will have to trim the bump stops slightly to give adequate suspension movement. On extreme lowering you may have to slightly cut away the shock absorber mounting too.

If you're in any doubt whatsoever about your capabilities in this department, do not attempt to lover the car yourself. Take it along to someone like German Car Company, Volksparts, Kingfisher Kustoms etc and have them do it. Costs are around the region of 150 pounds for both front and rear end lowering, and you get peace of mind.

Regards from Michael Dykes

(Club Secretary)

CALIBRATING THE SPEEDO

One area of building your COVIN that is often overlooked by our members is speedo calibration. With the advent of Single Vehicle Approval testing, it is even more important to have an accurate indication of your vehicle’s true road speed.

If you have changed the wheel and tyre size from that of the standard donor car, or fitted a different head to speedo drive combination, you will need to have the instrument professionally calibrated as it is unlikely that a true speedo reading will be indicated when driving. This work can be carried out easily by one of the specialist companies such as Speedy Cables who operate a very efficient mail order service and for a modest charge they will reset it for you. Not only that, they will also recondition it at the same time and your instrument will be returned to you in pristine condition. It should be noted, however, that while all Smiths and some V.D.O. speedo's may be reset, not all instruments are capable of recalibration. It is therefore advised that the instrument specialist is contacted in order to verify that your speedo is suitable for modification.

Having checked, to affect the above, your final nominated company will need some information from you about your car and ask you to perform the following, simple task, to enable them to accurately calibrate your speedo as follows:

1.   Place the kit car on a flat surface.

2.   Measure the distance from the front passenger side road wheel centre hub centre to the road surface, (COVIN speedo drive is taken from this wheel as per the original VW Type 3 donor vehicle), note down the measurement and mark the bottom of the tyre with a piece of chalk.

3.   Drop the speedo cable down below the dash and clip a marker to the inner cable. (A paper clip does the job nicely).

4.   With the help of a friend, push the vehicle forward 6 full revolutions, at the same time recording the number of turns or part thereof of the inner cable.

5.   Note this down and repeat the operation several times to ensure accuracy. (Hence I mentioned a friend).

6.   Parcel the instrument up with the information and post it to your nominated vendor, not forgetting to include your name and address.

For COVIN members who wish to use the services of Speedy Cables. They will forward an invoice for payment. On receipt of such payment they will then send you your nice pristine re-calibrated speedo. This is a very simple solution to a problem that is often unadvisedly ignored by some builders. You can’t say that you have therefore not been duly advised.

All COVIN members who wish to avail themselves of the excellent service provided by Speedy Cables should address all correspondences to the following address:

The Instrument Department, Speedy Cables Ltd, The Mews, St Paul Street, Islington, London N1 7BU. Alternatively you can contact them on the following telephone number: 0171 2269228, or Fax them a message on 0171 7049542

The above information has been duly endorsed by Speedy Cables representative     Mr Andy Barraclough, and permission has been granted for the inclusion of the above article in the COVIN Owners Club Magazine.

Article acquired by Michael Dykes Club Secretary)

THE BBC CALLING - COVIN

I was only speaking to Darren on club related matters on the evening of the 26th March 2003. Darren mentioned that BBC Top Gear had contacted him. Well what was I to think?

To my surprise when I returned from work the following day I received a facsimile from BBC Top Gear.  The program is well known and wanted to do a feature on Kit Cars of which the COVIN was selected. However, in light of having such a feature and no manufacturer to back up the TV coverage it was deemed a non starter. Obviously as your club Secretary I demonstrated the clubs ability to survive with a active membership. Moreover, our conversation turned to the COVIN News, our club magazine. To this end issues 17 and 18 have been sent to them.

Proof of the pudding is in the fax, so come on club members lets us have your articles for the next issue of The COVIN News.

Article produced by the (Club Secretary) Michael Dykes