I'm just getting into my long overdue fugitive project and was after some advice on suspension setups and what people have done and also what not to do!
Mine is a fugitive 4 with swing axle rear end. The front is very high and I'm planning to try and add some weight up front with the fuel tank and battery, but it's going to need sorting out. I have seen that Knighty reduced the number of leaves in the torsion beams which seems like a good thing to do. Does combining that with sway aways give the chance to set the height a bit better (I know there will be all sorts of steering issues - advice welcome)
As for the rear end it is sitting very high at the moment and as a result the camber is way off. I'lll be putting my pinto in the back which should help lower it a bit but i'd be interested to know what others have done with their swing axles to sort them out.
All advice welcome!!

up front I also have an adjustable beam fitted - you will need this for sure too.......plan to fit a pair of bump-steer bushes.......since fitting mine, I think this is an absolute must for any lowered VW or fug, on a safety basis alone.

at the rear I have fitted adjustable spring plates, as indexing the torsion bar splines - it just went too low........but wait till your engine is installed as a pinto is very heavy and will pin down the rear quite a bit.

aim for about 1 to 2 degrees of negative camber front and rear and it will handle a treat

Jimbo,
Your set up looks pretty standard at the moment...what do you want :P

At the front, if you want 2 inches + drop then weld in two sway-a -aways, personally I wouldn't cut the leaves. If you want 2 inches drop then buy a pair of dropped spindles, this has the advantage of leaving everything else standard, including the steering tie rod angle.

At the back I agree with Knighty, don't do anything untill you know the final weight, you may find the Pinto does the job for you :D

Cheers for the advice, I think I'll leave the back end well alone for the moment, though I might have a look at the state of the bushes and replace those at the very least.
At the front I know I want it lower than it is now, but I don't want it to go too low, I guess maybe a few of inches. I was thinking of getting the sway aways and some lowered dampers from GSF, what else would I need. Sorry if this sounds daft but I've not actually done a lot on the suspension stuff on a beetle as I left the GP buggy's well alone (it rides high but is really nice and stiff so it resists roll etc well)

Would I be right in thinking that if you removed the centre fixing for the torsion leaves they would be free to rotate but still retain the arms laterally and then you could switch to coilovers (albeit with a different upper fixing) and then you can play with the spring rates all you like, the 'only' complication being steering geometry going awry.

I've posted some info on the progress I've made so far in the gallery section.

Jimbo,
That would only work if you took out the leaves altogether and had a solid bar between the trialing arms, with nothing fixing the leaves in the middle as one side is forced up as you hit a bump then the other side will be forced down.... :(

I've looked into this and quite frankly its not really viable.

So I'm afriad you are left with what works....

For a 2 inch + lowering job; weld in two adjusters such as sway aways. set of adjustable shorter shocks and a bump steer kit, and personally I would add an up rated front antiroll bar 19mm (3/4inch)

After that I would insert a set of castor shims behind the bottom beam (3 degrees of extra castor), and set the concentric bushes on the top ball joint to give the max camber (roughly 1 degree). This will give you a front end that will turn in nicely with little or no washout or the dreaded understeer :D

Hope this helps :P