Lowering the front and rear suspension

[Greg Spreeman]

I know I've seen them here before but, a quick search gave me way too many hits. Any good threads on lowering the frint and rear suspension on a '64 C?

[Doug McDonnell]

Lowering the rear is the hard part. Having a workshop manual will help but this is about as good as it gets for how to: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24968 and for the front: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15122. Both by Greg Scallon. You might want to consider new bushings in the rear while you are there. Either stock or the harder ones Willhoit sells. Easier to do a Google search. You won't have to go through 6 pages of links that way.

[Cliff Hanson]

In addition to reading Doug's link I would measure the rear wheel camber before jacking the car up to see where it is and compare that to the factory specs. I don't think you want to end up with any more negative camber for a road car than about -1.0*, or you will have to much tire wear. Even that is probably to much as the spec for a 356C is +0.5* to +2.0* camber. The 356B is +10' to +1.5*. A specific camber setting is what you are really shooting for, not just ride height, which will come as a result. So start with the rear and then adjust the front accordingly.

The torsion bar splines are different in number between the two ends, so making a minor change is done by rotating the inner end in one direction ONE spline and the outer in the opposite direction ONE spline. This changes the angle of the spring arm about 50' or 0.8*(9.0* on the inner and 8*10' on the outer, so you would rotate the inner end clockwise and the outer end CC on the right rear wheel. I think this will result in approximately a 1* camber change due to the difference in length of the spring arm versus the axle tube. This may change the toe-in of the rear wheels so I would leave the forward bolt and washer tight and start from there. You will have to have a wheel alignment shop check the toe-in and caster after you drive the car and lower the front end to match how much the rear was lowered. The camber or caster of the front is not adjustable and only the ride height and toe-in are adjustable.

More negative camber on the rear will result in less tendency for the rear to jack up in a corner when letting off the throttle and therefore less oversteer. Handling will likely be improved by going to a larger diameter front torsion bar such as the 17.5mm that Willhoit sells as that reduces body roll and keeps the tire patch in better contact with the road. This will also result in more of a tendency toward understeer. What you need is a little front negative camber but you can't have that without special parts or machining of the front suspension. My 356 SC is set to about -2* negative camber both front and rear with a 19mm front sway bar and it handles pretty neutral and very well, but will obviously wear the tires quicker than a less aggressive setting.

[Martin Benade]

If you are not driving vast numbers of miles every year, 2 degrees negative will not do anything that crazy to your tires. I have always had that much negative camber and never thought it was a problem.

[John Brooks]

Go get a good digital level first, be sure is has a magnetic "V" grove on one edge. Replace the torsion bar bushings before you start. Count the clicks as you unwind the torsion bar, both the same amount it's easy, but if you have not done it before it's hard. The best part is being new, you will do it several times before you get it correct.

[Daryl Bruhl]

Another option is to run 5-6" after market wheels which allow you to run 50 0r 60 series tires, a free inch or two. Once you get it lowered keep in mind the bumper guards will drag on steep angle driveways and speed bumps. Back in the day we had to cut the front tubes and run 13-14 inch wheels to get the Cal look on our VW's.
KTF 63 super 90 SoCal Daryl

[Martin Benade]

My muffler drags before my bumper guards on my stupid steep driveway.