Base Model Rear Beam

[Jarrus 3]

ok so title was a bit vague but i didnt know what to put so read on,

 

i want to get me some 21 mm rear torsion bars and a thicker arb of some description,

i was going to get me a 1.9 gti rear beam but im.not paying 200~ quid for a beam that done shed loads of miles and is in unknown condition to.swap the bars into, so is it worth just using my base model beam and just swap the bars into that,

 

also i have gti6 brake on my car at the moment, i have some braided lines which were for.my 306, are they likely to fit the 205?

 

my car is a 1994 mardi gras 1.8 turbo diesel

 

cheers

 

Brett

[Anthony 1,002]

No problem adding larger torsion and anti-roll bars to your existing base model beam **

 

Obviously you would be well advised to rebuild it before hand if not already done previously, as most base model beams are pretty tired as well these days, and the process of disturbing it when fitting the bars and then the increased load on the bearings will finish a typical used beam off in fairly short order.

 

(** - your beam will be fine on a TD, but you need to be careful on extreme poverty spec models without ARB's, as some of them have trailing arm shafts too small ID to accept the ARB end plates. It's rare, but they do exist and hence need checking before hand)

[welshpug 1,655]

As it happens anthony, the last three donor beams i have used had larger bore shafts than i've ever seen!

 

Arb's fitted fine.

[Anthony 1,002]

As I said, it's rare, but I've seen it on a few beams. It's only ever base models without an ARB, and then only a small percentage of those.

 

Believe me, you don't quickly forget building up a complete beam with a pair of mint shafts from a low mileage base model beam, and having it all built up other than the ARB, then finding that the ARB endplate doesn't fit, thus necessitating stripping it all back down again...

 

As you say, quite often base models with an ARB (such as the OP's TD) have the shafts with the large ID which will take a ~30mm ARB. I don't think I've ever seen one on an original GTi trailing arm shaft, as they usually have the type that are limited to ~26mm or so.

[Jarrus 3]

ok cheers lads, i should mention that my car has only done 78,000 miles and had one previous owner with FSH, so im pretty confident everything will still be ok,

 

i guess i could give the beam refurb guide a look over when i have a minute

[Anthony 1,002]

All the more reason to refurb it IF it's still in comparitively good order, as it'll be much cheaper to do now than if you leave it until the shafts and tubes are scrap.

 

I say if, as mileage is unfortunately no guarantee that it'll be anything other than a lump of scrap metal once you've pulled it apart.

[dcc 855]

Meirion and myself stripped a 50k base model and a 187k base model, the higher miler beam was in better condition. the 50k wasn't worth the £20 to keep it.

[Jarrus 3]

ok Anthony, you mention something about my beam possibly being able to take a 30mm arb,

 

how would i know if its able to?

 

Cheers

Brett

[Anthony 1,002]

Measure the ID of the shafts.

 

It's slightly academic anyway, as you'd not want to run anything near that big on a roadgoing 205. 25mm is about the biggest I'd suggest in road trim.

[Jarrus 3]

ok cheers for the advice