Manx Club

Hi everyone,
First off I love the Manx... I have two that I am redoing. One is going to be my street hot rod and the other is going to be the fun off road toy. My question is what would be a good or the best setup for a street only style hot rod that will handle daily driving and stiffen up the front end. Any and all input would be very great full. Sorry if this was asked already.
Thanks in advance.

Most folks are looking at a way to soften it up a bit, so I am at a loss as to why you want to
stiffen up the suspension on the front of a Manx.

If you want stiff, make sure that all of the spring leaves are in the front torsion tubes,
Keep the anti-sway bar on the front, use gas shocks, and be sure to have the air pressure
in the front at 30 to 32 PSI.

Hard sided light truck tires (4 or 6 ply) will also help you stiffen the front up.

Joe

Chicago Joe wrote:Most folks are looking at a way to soften it up a bit, so I am at a loss as to why you want to
stiffen up the suspension on the front of a Manx.

If you want stiff, make sure that all of the spring leaves are in the front torsion tubes,
Keep the anti-sway bar on the front, use gas shocks, and be sure to have the air pressure
in the front at 30 to 32 PSI.

Hard sided light truck tires (4 or 6 ply) will also help you stiffen the front up.

Joe

To stiffen the front end sure, do exactly what Joe says, but I can virtually guarantee that after a trip around the block you'll be wanting to swap to oil shocks, passenger car tires running around 12-14psi, removing some torsion leaves and ditching the sway bar. Just remember how much lighter a Manx is than a Bug.

I find if you use the adjusters and leave the stock Springs in you can adjust the tension to sit were you want and ride good.
You end up with one set in tension and one set neutral tension. For the street I wish I could stiffen the rear more. I will maybe adding after market torsion bars. Also no front sway bar and a Miata rear bar works pretty good.
I have not been able to go fast enough to see what end gives out first. No push or over steer yet.

Just my opinion

Thanks for all the input. I have gas shocks front and rear. It does not want to corner to well, wants to push out/slide feeling every time. I was thinking of adding the sway bar to keep it tighter in the front when turning sharp. I was thinking of changing the rear shocks to a coil over style, to adjust the rear a bit. I know its a 1970 VW but I should be able to get it to not feel so loose. I was looking for any info/help before I go the trial and error route.

If it pushes it to stiff in front. Either soften front or stiffen rear. That's why I use a rear bar.