Hi all. I assume this has been covered before but I just thought it might be useful for someone who wants to have a go. Just so you know, I've never done this before, and know bugger all about VW's.
I do, however, know how to weld AND have a welder capable of doing structural welds.
I know the basics of what has to be done to narrow a beam and fit adjusters, so me being me, figured the best way to learn is have a go. It's not rocket surgery.
I was going to show how I did my own beam for Sid Vicious the volksrod to be, but he's only getting adjusters, not narrowed. So the beam in this thread is for Jack, the cool little '68 semi auto beetle.
First thing was to clean most of the crud from the top and bottom beams. Fun job that was : )

OK, forgive me if I point out the obvious, but I like to make things fairly idiot proof. I need to, for myself : )
To take the torsion leaves out, you need to remove the grub screw and lock nut from the centre of each beam. This is all that's holding the leaves in when the trailing arms are removed.

Once the grub screws are out you can slide the leaves out of each beam tube. I slid them out about half way and wiped most of the grease off, then taped the leaves together to not only make handing easier but so I could write on the tape - top beam - lower beam -left or right. Again, I like to make things idiot proof, or as I like to call it - Tim proof : )
Seeing as I've never done this I didn't know if there was any difference in the top or bottom leaves, so that's why I've labelled them.

One thing I did learn when I pulled the leaves out is that they're not symmetrical. There are 3 divots drilled into the leaves. One at each end for the trailing arms and one in the middle. One end of the leaves has the trailing arm divots on the same side as the centre grub screw divot, but the other end has the trailing arm divot 180 degrees out. I can't remember which side was what, but because I've labeled the leaves top, bottom, left, right, my useless memory doesn't have to try to remember anything : )

This is one of the trailing arm divots, for locating the trailing arm on the torsion leaves. Because this beam is getting narrowed, I will have to cut each end of the torsion leaves off. This means I will have to re-drill these divots at each end of the torsion leaves.

OK, here's a pic of the 2 leaf packs. You can see the centre divot, and the right side trailing arm divot but the left hand divot is on the other side of the leaves. I didn't know any of this until today, so I'm just going to assume - hope - I'm not the only one who doesn't know anything : )

I've heard of 2 ways to narrow a beam. One is to cut the beam at each end, so as to leave the centre section and mounting brackets untouched.
The second way is to cut the mounting tabs off and remove the width from the centre of the beam.
Seeing as I was adding adjusters anyway, the second way seemed to make a lot more sense, rather than cutting the beam in 3 places.
The first thing I did was make up a jig that fitted snuggly onto the 4 mounting bolts holes on the mounting tabs and sat on the edges of the shock towers. This will make refitting the mounting tabs easy as pie......mmmm........pie......

I think you all know now that I'm new at the VW thing, so don't laugh when I say this next bit. I was given this beam already removed from the car to modify, and I haven't pulled the front end out of Sid yet, so when I made the jig for the mounting tabs, I added this little tongue thingy to line up with that bracket that is for....OK......I don't know : ) Maybe a steering damper??? I don't know!!!!
Anyway, I added a piece to the jig to allow me to re fit this bracket the same distance away from the mounting tab that it is now and at the same angle.
It's kind of embarrassing not knowing what parts are for what, but , meh! : )

Next step is to cut the beam mounting tabs off. I just used a 4 inch grinder with a 1mm cutting disc. A plasma cutter will do the job too if you're lucky enough to have one. Try not to butcher the mounts too much as you will be putting them back on later.
Also, be careful not to cut into the beam tube too much. If you do, just weld it up and grind it down, same as if it were a diff housing on a solid rear axle car.

Measure 5 million times if you have to. Don't worry how many times you measure things, unless you only do it once.
The grub screw holes are in the centre, so that's a good starting point. I then figured out how much I wanted to narrow the beam all up, not just one side, and then added onto that the width of the beam adjuster, and marked half of that figure each side of my centre mark.
I also marked some lines along the beam to help me align the adjusters later on so I could figure out what angle to put them in.

One thing I've learnt in the past building hot rods and playing with 9 inch conversions etc, is that this plastic damp course is the best tube marker in the universe.
You can use masking tape to go around a tube, but it will nearly always have a wobble in it. All you need to do with this stuff is wrap it tightly around the tube in line with your mark. You only need a piece a foot long at most. If it overlaps perfectly in line with itself, then it is a perfectly straight line around the tube. It is too rigid laterally to have a bend in it in such a short distance. Grab a texta and draw around the edge of it and hey presto, a perfectly straight guide to cut along.
Again, I just used a 1mm cut off wheel to cut the beams.

Well here's the deed done. Hope I know what I'm doing!!! Well, no, I have no idea : )

OK. Here's the section of the original beam I cut out. I was given some really good advise from people on this site (you know who you are, thank you all very much) when I posted a question about how much to narrow a beam. One thing to consider is that there is limited room between the body and the shock tower. I think it might differ from model to model, but you're better off asking someone else about that : )
I was told there was 31mm of clearance on a ball joint front end between the shock tower and the body work. I had a quick measure on Sid and it seems spot on. If you want to go narrower, it's just a case of making a recess and welding it into the body for the shock tower to sit in, or remanufacture a different tower altogether.
So, this beam will be narrowed 60mm all up. I added to that the 51mm width of the beam adjuster and 1mm each side of that for welding penetration, so cut out 113mm from each tube.

To assure the beam stays straight it needs to be supported when it's welded. The easiest way to do this is with some angle iron and some decent clamps. I used two clamps on each end of the angle iron to make sure there was no movement, but I'm sure a single one would have done the job fine.
Obviously, make sure the beam tubes are clean and that they're sitting flat on the angle iron.

You can see here there is a gap on either side of the beam adjuster. This is to allow maximum penetration for the weld. I could have also bevelled the edge of the tube, but in this case I felt the gap was sufficient to get the required strength.

Here I've tacked the beam adjusters into position. Before I did that, I removed all the hardware from the beam adjusters and replaced the two adjuster bolts with old random bolts. This is just to protect the threads on the adjuster bolts in case of welding spatter. Plus, the adjuster blocks are alloy, so best kept cool.
OK, so I marked on the beam tubes before I cut the centres out where the top of the torsion leaf pack was. From there I was able to determine where to position the adjusters.
I set the adjusters at their highest setting, then fitted them in place so they were a fraction higher than it was before. That way I know nearly all of the adjusters travel is down. Just the way it should be, but still leaving some higher adjustment should it be needed in a rally or something : )

With the gaps in the tube between the adjusters, you will be able to get a pretty good weld in there. I'm no fancy lala welder boy or anything, but these will do the job.

I did the welding in sections, moving from side to side alternating welds to spread the heat rather than "hot spot" one area and risk bowing. I also was able to rotate the angle iron around the tube to get it out of the way for the next bit of welding. This little inch or so long welds are the only welds I did without the angle iron in place. I quick check with a 1metre steel ruler shows it's all good and straight. Phew : )

Now it's time for the funny little jig I made earlier. I marked the centre of the jig when I made it and lined those marks up with the adjusters to position the mounting tabs. I then took a few measurements from side to side to assure they were in the right spot before I tacked them on. That little jig worked a treat.

Here's my embarrassing little bracket of unsure use : ) In all seriousness, I should go and look at Sid and see what it's for, but I was so busy today doing this AND my proper job, I felt taking the 20 metre walk was time not spent well : ) Anyway, I tacked it into position using my jig as a guide and will weld it fully once I've discovered what it's for and if it's meant to be where it is. I used the beam mounting tabs as my guide.

Well that's the frame all finished except for that little bracket needing final welding and I'll probably give the welds a bit of a quick sand/clean up just for fun.
I didn't get a chance to cut and re drill the leaves due to real work, but I'll try and get that done tomorrow.
Next step will be fitting it into Jack so I can shorten the steering arms to suit.
That's it. Feel free to comment on everything I did wrong : ) It was pretty easy and straight forward and with some care could be done by anyone as long as the welder/welding skills are adequate.

One other thing, this is all I needed to do the beam. I could have made the jig for the mounting tabs much simpler but figured I'd be using it again one day anyway, so made it fairly accurate and strong enough to survive in my shed : )
Anyone want a beam narrowed or adjusted???
Again, a big thanks to all who gave me advice.
Cheers.

the tab is indeed for the steering dampner.

what a mad thread!



good stuff.

Tim,

Where do you buy those wizzbang hose clamps from? Are they whats called T-Bolt clamps?

Cheers

Brendan

Hi guys glad you like the thread.
I bought the clamps from Porters engineering in Nambour. I've used the same style of clamp for years on a floating caliper mount I made for my down hill mountain bike and I bought those clamps from the local auto store. Not sure what they're called. They're similar to a T bolt clamp only instead of a nut on a T bolt that pulls the clamp shut it has a bolt that goes through a steel block to pull the clamp shut. They're pretty strong. Radiator hose clamps would have done the same job though.

certainly is a mad thread - more photos than a japanese tourist
loved the step by step guide = if you hadn;t just done my beam and i wan;t hopeless i might try to do it myself

good job Tim!

Excuse the next couple of photos. They're a tad blurry. To mark where to cut the torsion leaves, I wrapped all the ends in masking tape so they were easier to mark out and will stay together better. Here I've marked the cut line at 30mm.

Once I cut the leaves a had to re drill the divot for the trailing arms. Because I'd taped up all the ends, when I cut them off the ends came off in one piece bound in tape. I used the old ends to measure where to drill the new holes.
I first used a 6mm drill to get the depth I wanted, then used a 12mm drill to make the divot. I sharpened the 12mm drill into a sharper point than a normal drill bit, so it was more like the original divot.

This pic of an adjuster the same as what's welded into this beam shows there are two grub screws in the internal adjuster block. I assume the little pointy one is to replace the original grub screw that was in the centre of the beam. I then had to think how to get the torsion leaves through there as the pointy grub screw was in the way and the leaves wouldn't all fit through.