Just a quick question, has anyone done anything to retain a reasonable ride quality when they have slammed a type three? coming from a minitruck background, we do things like make up lower profile bump stops and cutting/welding notches in the chassis + drop spindles. Is there anything similar or even anything else that anyone suggests when lowering these.

Thanks.

- Liam

How low do you wanna go?
Only a small drop, setup well can still ride comfortably (tyre choice is important also)

If you want to go very low, there's limits to how far the wheel can travel, even with mods to suspension and wheel sizes. Loose travel and there's not much you can do.
Do a few searches, there's plenty of lowered type 3's in old posts.
:thumb

Well, i have three stages in mind. First will be a static drop and as low as it can go, this is the stage that will be the worst on the road and am looking at hints with this one to retain a certain degree of ride quality.

I am thinking about something like this for the first stage, if not lower.



Second will be an airbag set up, no doubt a fair bit of work will be involved to get it to this stage.



Third will be a body drop to get it sitting on sills... but thats way down the track.


I will go digging through some old posts. Thanks Andy!

[ Edited on 24-4-2006 by Liam_81 ]

Yep, air bags are best that low! The last two, just from the look of them, probably have narrowed front + rears to stay inside the guards and be able to turn etc, and some clearencing inside the guards. Not sure if a body drop is suitable on a type 3 though?

The first stage is easy, just adjust torsion bars and your there, as for ride quality, how good or what are you after? It will no longer be a plush stock ride, but it may ne too soft for you anyway? VW bump stops are quite long, so easily removed and shortened or even just ride on them.
I don't know if your likely to hit anything if they are shortened.
You need to consider wheels, tyres and offsets too as I'm sure you already know.

Basically, this will become my town runabout and used for transporting my mountain bike, surf and snow boards. So I would like it to be comfy for long trips, but if this isn't possible, then i will just put up with it as my daily hilux is sitting on bumpstops and i am used to the rough ride. Sounds like the bump stops can be shortened to allow a little bit more travel. When i find one, i will have a good look underneath and see whats going to hit and sort it out.

Down the track the wheels won't be a problem as i will be getting some custom made billets through the guys at showwheels so i can get the correct offset and size made up to suit the ride height.

Mine is lowered but drag the muffler on occasions.

Nice! If you can forward me some pics, that would be appreciated.

Is it possible to have it raised so that doesn't become a problem? Or even get another muffler or exhaust system that is suited to lowering.

is the car gonna be driven regularly?
think on practicallity terms
my beetle shits me no end having to always negotiate carparks and speedbumps u soon master the art of straddelling lol
im raisinf my bug back up bit, i know i'll loose looks and handling but you can see how rooted the bottom of my exhaust is and just to be able to carry passengers and not be riding on the bump stops would be a pleasure again:bounce

Joel

Haha, nice work.

If you remove the bumpstops in the beetles, would that give you more travel? or would it end up just being metal on metal. I know a friend of mine has lowered his a hell of alot, he has done something that makes it a smooth ride. It is an early model though, so there may be some differences between early and newer models. I can find out if that will help you?

this is the one

talk about syncronicity(sp?)
there is a short nose sqaure around here that is slammed and running on riveras
i had to fly down town this arvo and at the bottom of my road was the poor thing sitting on the shoulder with its front suspesion all collapsed
was getting loaded onto a car trailer when i came back through

good quality shocks make all the diff
i have konis in mine normally but the rears are off at the moment cuase they need new rubbers
the monroes i got are shit and probably the main reason i have problems

thanks anyway though
Joel

if you ever see it again, try and sneak some pics of it

talk to empi on the forum,. one of the guys he works with has a fantastically slammed notch heavily tubbed on airbags, a great looking job he has done on it.

this is the one at normal ride height, not dropped on the bags yet

nice, fat tyres on the back!!! Would love to see it layed out.

Quote:

Originally posted by Liam_81 if you ever see it again, try and sneak some pics of it

G'day i'm about to drop the spindles on my type 3, but i was just wondering exactly what a 'body drop' is.
Thanks people
Matt

Quote:

Originally posted by Liam_81 if you ever see it again, try and sneak some pics of it

There's a bit of info on lowering Type 3's on the kustomcoachwerks website. To lower the front of a Type 3 they recommend putting a Type 1 beam in. Very nice slammed notch on their site too.