309 Gti Beam Or Uprated Torsion Bars For My 1900 Beam?

[Stu 18]

Howdy all,

 

I pulled my 309 GTI beam apart the other week and its fubar'd, trailing arm shaft is well seized into the tube so ive pulled the bits off that are any use and binned the rest.

 

Ive been looking for a 309 beam of any description for ages and come up with nowt.

 

Sooo.. do i sell of the bits from the 309 beam and get a set of uprated t/b's and a bigger arb, or do i perservere and get the 309 unit sorted. My 1900 beam is good, has no camber and moves freely.

 

Im currently running 309 front bones and shafts, billies, -40mm generic springs, back is on stock dampers at the mo but i intent to replace with a set of '6 shocks when i sort the beam out, along with fitting it up with a Grp A mount kit.

 

Answers on a postcard...

[James_R 3]

205 beam with bigger bars ideally

 

309 rear beams seem to spoil the tail happy turn in feel of the 205.

[Baz 421]

You just have to go faster before you feel the tail happy-ness, same as a 309...

 

If you're running the 309 front setup, then go for the extra track width at the rear too. Also depends on your driving style for your given use aswel though really.

[taylorspug 7]

Go for the bigger bars, the extra track width spoils the balance. And thats coming rom someone whos running a 309 beam.

[Baz 421]

Go for the bigger bars, the extra track width spoils the balance. And thats coming rom someone whos running a 309 beam.

 

Not trying to disagree with what you're saying dan, but you run ZX arms, which again makes it a different kettle of fish!

[taylorspug 7]

Well yes it does you're right there Baz, the ZX arms do make a big difference and i can totally see where you are coming from. But i cant help thinking if id run the ZX arms on the 205 beam with bigger bars i would have been alot better off and it would have taken alot less work to get the car to turn in properly again. Ive now got my Gaz setup with eccentric mounts on the front, 175 lb springs, 309 'bones, and due to the extra meat on the bells of my discs, pretty much the same track width as a 1600. Its not far off where i want it. Got a 24mm bar ready to go in the beam which im hoping will improve it further. Obviously i dont have a LSD either, which would probably help.

 

As a sidde note me and Maxi had our cars side by side the other day, his having a std 309 beam, and its amazing how much you can notice the difference of the ZX arms, my wheels are near on 20mm further recessed from the top of the arch than his, running at much the same height!

Edited June 25, 2008 by taylorspug

[James_R 3]

ZX arms on a 205 beam is pretty mental, turns in faster than a std 205 and holds the corner, that said I'm moving to 2.5 deg -ve camber arms now.

 

As for going faster and the 309 beam is the same isn't true, bigger bar'd 205 beams handle totally differently to 309 beams.

Having driven std 205's, 205's with std 309 beams, bigger bar'd 309 beams, bar'd 205 beam'd 205's I chose the last option,

Dan comments are echo'd by Sandy and Miles

 

Esp since bigger bars have become more available and affordable recently.

[taylorspug 7]

Esp since bigger bars have become more available and affordable recently.

 

This was pretty much the reason i went for a 309 beam when i built my car (2 and a half years ago now!). Im very much weighing up the option of selling my 309 beam on with std arms and building a 205 beam with bigger bars. Its a well specced beam with solid mounts, 24mm ARB and fresh bearings, so id pretty much cover my costs for a new set of bars.

 

Id personally only want bigger tbs aswell, id be keen to keep the std ARB as i like the way it handles uneven/bumpy roads.

[James_R 3]

Yeah, I'd agree, I ran my car with a std 19mm ARB in the back on the road and at the ring, the 27mm makes the rear not ride well on uneven and high high speed corners (24mm bars) 28lbs fronts

[taylorspug 7]

Out of interest, wheres the best place to get uprated bars from?

[James_R 3]

I'm nto sure on the "best" place, but I've had 3 sets of TB's from 205Parts and about 7 ARB's done by them now, no complains although I spose its also down to how much of a rush you're in.

 

I've got no complaints at the quailty of them though, there was a small issue initallywith the ARB splines being a few thou too small so the end plate was "tight" on, but that wasn't never anything major and has been sorted now. I covered about 20,000miles on 2 sets (24's on my 205 and 25's on my 306) the 3rd set are still not build in to a beam yet and had no issues with them

 

As for rear arms, Bridgecraft Engineering (crf450) think you can have 3deg's in any directions on the rear arms now, and good price too, but for a road car a little overkill maybe