Hydraulics on VWs

["John Jaranson" <jjaranso@ford.com>]

To add to the thread getting started on hydraulics for suspension (not
hydraulic lifters in the engine), I have also give some thought to how this
could be accomplished on a VW.  I share the rational with Toby Erkson, that the
hydraulics could make for a more streetable custom car, rather than worrying
about hopping beer cans and the like.

My thought (for the front of a beetle at least) was to use the weld-in torsion
adjusters (BugPack, etc), but modify them to allow the hydraulic unit to adjust
and hold the setting rather than the toothed plates and set screw.  One would
probably have to give up the spare tire well to fit the hydraulic unit and it
probably would be too hard on the suspension to make the car hop, but for on
the road adjustment of ride height it would probably work fine.  I suppose one
could do a similar thing with the fixed end of the torsion bars in our T3's and
you could do something similar in the rear (never really gave the rear much
thought, though).

I never tried to do this in practice, but could provide a couple of rough
sketches if any one is interested.
Just my 2 cents.