A couple of brief pics. You will get the idea.

i'd be real, real careful about creating a stress riser at the base of the notch... more radius and a polished edge would be sensible

who would want to notch their spring plates???

yeh a rounded edge would be a better idea

that would need to be strengthened or it would probably bend in the v cut under real stress

How do you strengthen spring steel, without weakening it? Round edge would prob help, but unless your running big power then this will give no probs, but whatever.

fair enough ,just thought it would create a weak spot at the "v" being a lot smaller than the rest ,thought it might twist or gradually stretch at the bottom,,it was just a thought but whatever

You are prob right to an extent, but the axles stop any sideways travel, and the up/down travel is minor in a slammed bug anyway. As i said, if you are running a big engine it could twist a bit, but thas the price you pay I guess. I know guys who run with this cut without any probs (my self included). I have had a few guys ask me for these measurements lately, so I thought I would share.

thats cool

I have always rounded them slightly when Ive done them, and yet to see one break. Many cars are running notched plates cut way further than these with no probs!!
Much improved ride too with that little extra clearance...

could you go the other way, for a raised car??

raised car???? never heard of doin that!

This is NOT bagging you hertz,

Is this legal? I am just wondering. Would it need engineering?

I reckon if it was finished off with radius etc you wouldnt see it.

This would give more suspension travel for those low ones that are not on the stops?

i run this set up but with rounded corners and 10.5 on toop instead of 10 1/4.

plus its your spring plates that fould before the bump stops.....well mine did cause i chopper 2 inches off the stops

Legal, let me think. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm dont understand what you mean. LoL.

If you raise your car by a certain amount - not road worthy - no insurance
If you have adjusters or modified front beam, or adjustable spring plates - not rodworthy - no insurance
If you dont have 100mm ground clearance at curb weight (vic) - not roadworthy - no insurance
If you have a non padded steering wheel in a car that came with a padded one - not roadworthy - no insurance
If you increase hp in the engine by 10% without engineering - not road worthy - no insurance
the list goes on...
If you want to get picky they can deny covering you for all sorts of things. I dont know of too many assessors that would know what a spring plate looked like originally.
If you look real careful on most of our modified vw's, there will be something that doesnt comply, unless you have gone through an engineer to approve all the mods, and left the car that way.

whether the insurance company picks it the problems or not depends on how much it is insured for, how bad the accident was, and how obvious the illegal mods are.

Shannons is a good insurance company and won't get very picky.

If the car isn't worth much, they will pay without looking into it too much.

If you kill someone in your accident, they will look a lot harder.

If the mod is a heavily notched spring plate it's easy to pick the mod if they have half a clue.

If the spring plate breaks where it was notched, and as a result you lost control and killed someone, then look out. Getting you insurance money should be the least of your worries.

10% power increase, no-one will notice. Although I had my 1916 blue plated. I also have a blue plate to cover brakes, gearbox, engine, seats and seat belts. I run a stock height type 181 front end to get my ground clearance. Because I have made every effort to keep the car 100% legal, I'm pretty safe.

I just wanted the people who weren't sure of the implications, to have some idea.

Can this be done on any swingaxle?

what car are you aiming to do it on ?

I can see no problems with a notched spring plate on a vehicle that will be driven on the roads only. I would not have a "V" in the notch, but a sinusoidal curve to reduce the possibility of a stress concentration in the "V".