raising frame head?

[vujade]

any one raise the frame head of their type 1 standard beetle to lower the front end?
Ive seen this done many times in the mags bud never seen the tech behind it.

Is it worth the effort?

It seems like if used in conjuction with dropped spindles you could get about a 4 inch drop without changing stock ride, then throw in an adjustable beam to dial in the drop exactly.

What do you think?

[cj011]

personally that is one of the best ways to go in my opion. i have read that the frame head is simply cut off and what ever dimension box tube is placed under it and welded all together. seems to be pretty straight forward, just got to make proper measurements. you are right about the suspesion geomety, with a 2 inch box tube and drop spindles, your looking at a four inch drop with the same angles as stock. so even under heavy cornering or launching, the front suspension should still be within its limits of design.

[vujade]

I think we should do a tech article on this modification.... if anyone has done it let me know. I would really like to do it to my 67!

[Alex]

It sounds good but here is what I think......
CB dropped spindles is easier and cheaper.
Also if you cut the frame head you have to make sure that it will be welded back on straight. If you think of using 17" rims....you can not lower the car that much either unless you want to hide the tire in a much wider fender. Si would it worth the effort for an inch or two? You can also get good shocks to compensate for lowering. If you still have a stock ride but the car is low you might have problems with tire clearancing in the fender when hitting bigger bumbs on the street because of bigger travel.

Just some thoughts.

Alex

[vujade]

Well Alex that sounds good but, I have about 5 inches of clearance between my front fender and the top of my tires.
My current tires are 24" tall & the bottom of my fender is 29" to the ground. I would like to lower my car to the top of the tire (about 5 inches).

The 225/40 tires on the 17" rims on my Nissan 300zx are only 23.25" tall this would make the gap between the fender and tire even taller then it already is when I go to low profile tires on my bug. So if I could lower it 2.5" with dropped spindles & 2" with a framehead drop, then I could dial the exact drop in with an adjustable front end. My goal would be to have as much stock suspension as possible.

[Alex]

That does sound like a lot of gap. Well....with the dropped spindles and an ajustable front beam you would be able to cover that. If you are thinking of getting that setup anyways.....I would mount it and see how it feels and looks before cutting the frame head of.

This is just my thought of it.
If it is not an issue for you to weld and get it straight then by all means go for it.

Just giving you some food for the brain.

Alex

[vujade]

thanks Alex!

Ive never been one for fender gap on a car. I hate actually! LOL
My 300zx has about 2.5" inches of gap & I cant wait to lower it.

[CPRcubed]

The idea sounds simple enough, but what about the little details? Stuff like fuel tank clearance, tie rod clearance, steering shaft angle and clearance, body attachement points, etc. would all need to be addressed prior to just chopping it off and rewelding. It would seem for the GL, dropped spindles coupled with adjusters would get there nicely (we are talking handling and performance over being "slammed" aren't we?). Cheers!

[airwerks]

Been thinking about this for a while, on my project bug the tires smooch the headlight buckets when turning. mabye move the pan head back as well as up to fix the angle going into the gearbox?? poss probs with inner fender rubbage then.

For gas tank clearance just make a frame of square tube to fit between gas tank and body-longer bolts and done.