I was certain that the Audi 4000 springs were a drop in replacement on
the Rabbit. I perhaps the springs varied in diameter from year to year,
or perhaps according to the country. Sorry that the spring mounts on the
Rabbit needed to be changed. :-( Not such "good" advice, considering
the extra work.
The Cabriolet springs are slightly stiffer than stock Rabbit springs,
but not quite much of a boost as the Audi 4000 springs. The Cabriolet is
heavier by about 200 lbs, with the added weight of the top and the
additional sill car supports, and thus needs slightly beefier springs.
You can take a _lot_ of weight off a later model Rabbit by simply
swapping the bumpers for lighter aftermarket bumpers (or perhaps early
model bumpers?) The stock bumpers weigh a bunch because they were a US
retrofit for impact resistance.
I should note, that if you can find a Scirocco parts car, they have rear
disk brakes, which are an improvement over the drum Rabbit brakes. You
have to also snag the brake proportioner when you get the rear end
suspension beam, and fashion a small bracket for the actuator arm to
grab the body.
Again, very sorry that the Audi springs were not the perfect match for
the Rabbit. :-(
Bill D.
On 6/17/2020 3:33 PM, Mr. Sharkey via EV wrote:
Great tech advice as usual, Bill.
Contacting a wheel repair place here in Oregon (Eugene area is the
closest), I find that straightening the three slightly deformed 14x6"
factory alloy wheels that I intended to use is $150 each. I about
choked on that price, then I found out what a set of these wheels goes
for on fleabay. Even bent up,corroded ones in this style are asking
$90+, and one seller had the gall to ask $650 for five that were all
bent. Just the center caps are asking $110!
Woody's pricing is in line with what I was told here. Perhaps with the
"Dube Discount", the cost of shipping would be a wash. I'll give him a
buzz tomorrow.
BTW Bill, Last time you imparted tech wisdom my direction it was to
recommend Audi 4000 rear springs to get my ride height back to
something resembling "normal". It was a struggle, but I located some
in Germany for the Audi 80, and had them shipped. Now I have to get
busy and buy some Audi shock absorbers, and fabricate top mount hats
for them. They don't fit the Rabbit spring perches, larger diameter
(and closer to those fat tires on the 45mm rims...). Kind of makes me
sick how many of those Audi 4000's I used to walk past at the wrecking
yard 20 years ago on my way to the rows of VW's I was parting away at.
What I wouldn't give for just one of those now-long-crushed
bloatmobiles today...
Earlier in the week, I took a box of miscellaneous shock and spring
hardware from several Rabbits that I parted out, and an old set of
still-useful Rabbit shocks and built a 1-3/4" lift section in the
lower spring mount. Got the car's tail off the pavement at last,
although I still have to suffer the mushy, overloaded stock springs.
The new temporary 195/60-14 tires would have gotten the side walls
shredded on the first trip to town if I hadn't done something to raise
the body.
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