Reeling It In
Original text by James Sly
Amendments and additional notes by Jan Andersson (in brown)
Reeling It In
Way back in the early days of VW tuning, Joe Vittone at EMPI came up with the idea
for a camber compensator -a spring to limit rear wheel travel. The device was patented,
and there was even a lawsuit against General Motors for using the device on the 1964
Corvair, another swing axle car well known for it's handling manners. Bolted on the
Inch Pincher, along with a front EMPI anti-roll bar, the camber compensator helped
Dan Gurney drive the Beetle to victory at one of the early Bahama Speed Weeks.
No doubt about it, if you wanted your beetle to handle, you bolted on a camber compensator.
During the last couple of years of German VW swing axle production, a "Z-bar" device was
used to help control the swing axle's ill manners. This can be found on
almost all "late" model Beetles, at least the European models. Difficult to retrofit, the Z-bar
is effective, but it also affects ride quality. Finally, VW went to the full IRS suspension.
(The US models, and the Supers in Europe)
If you've got an older car or bus with a swing axle, a camber compensator can transform
the car's handling. We're not talking about just making your car handle better, we're
talking about making it safer. Airflow has a lot to do with why a Beetle feels unhappy
on the freeway, as we explain in the "aerodynamics" article. (140kb image). A camber compensator also helps this situation. We installed Sway-A-Way's updated version
of the camber compensator on the 1964 Beetle shown here and were blown away by the improvement
this simple modification offered. You need one on your vintage Beetle - it's that simple.
- Jan Andersson -
Comments, questions and all that crap to: [email protected]
