Hey Y'all,

I'm a bit of a noob at all this stuff, I am looking at buying a Rat Beetle, I have some "NSW Rego" concerns.

The car I am looking at is in SA, has a 4" narrowed front beam running No shocks, I am in NSW and am worried that when I get it checked for rego (Blue Slip) they will ask me to put shocks in the front. From what I have been told if this is asked of me, it will be a biggish job, as new mounting points will need to be constructed, or an original beam will need to be sourced and fitted.

Also its currently running with No bumpers, are there any laws in NSW stating that Bumpers need to be fixed ?

If anyone can shed some light on this topic for me, or has experience registering a beetle with similar mods, I'd be very interested to hear from you.

Cheers... Ben.

NO shocks!! I would not be driving that around without them. You will be putting you life and others in risk.

I know that shockers keep the wheel on the road, so I once tried it in an old rusted out notchback to see what happens. Nearly flipped the car vertically, ie. car looked like it was monoing and nearly flipped backwards.
I was going a mere 40kms/h. The car will bounce like a giant beach ball.

Get it fixed right away. Not sure on the bumper though. I would say you probably new one as its a safety item.

Hmm, interesting.

From what I have been told, I would need to have new mounting points constructed for the shocks and shocks fitted, dont suppose you know what sort of money I would be looking at to have work like that done ? I am thinking of bargaining the price to include getting the work done...

Is this common Practice to run with no shocks ? It was explained to me that if you run with a 4" narrowed beam, this was the only way to make it work.

Sorry for all the questions, just want to be clear before I make any decisions.

Cheers.

you lose the shock towers once you more than about 3" narrower
the ride is that crap when they're low and narrowed that running with no shocks isnt gonna make that much difference, there's no suspension give left anyway

Probably your safest bet is just find a stock beam to put in for your bluey, cos i doubt very much if anyone would pass a narrowed beam without an engineers cert

I would probably advise against buying it, unless it's really cheap and you can check it all out yourself first-hand. As you probably know, we don't have roadworthy inspections here in SA, so that car probably won't have ever been seen by a government rego official. If it's had modifications carried out by the previous owner, you have no way of knowing whether or not they are up to scratch and will pass a NSW roadworthy, plus the identity check inspection needed to transfer from state to state. Add in the hassle of transport costs, and I would think that it would be cheaper to find something in NSW already. Every time I go looking online for VWs for sale in Adelaide, they all seem to be in the eastern states anyway!

Hey guys thanks for your responses.

Waveman1500, yeah I wasn't 100% sure if there were road worthy checks in SA, now I know. You probably know the car I am looking at, The Blue rat Darren was selling a while back , Boris. Its definitely had the Mounts taken off, and had no shocks, so I can bet I'll get stung for that and probably need an engineers cert to say the reconstructed points are ok.

While I have you here, and because I am pretty green with this stuff, as far as Narrowed beams go, they are pretty much bolt on and bolt off, do I need to have an engineers certificate for this mod ? Or is it only if I have altered the chassis or body work ?

Sorry for all the noob questions, what ever I buy will be my first dub, wanna make the right decisions so I can get it looking and riding the way I want.

The easiest way to get the car registered would be to have it inspected with a stock beam on there, and then swap to the narrowed beam and hope that you never get pulled over for it. This is illegal but I'm sure that many people do get away with it. If you wanted to be 100% legal with a narrowed beam, then you would definitely need an engineers certificate. The theory that "bolt on" modifications are easy to do and hence must be legal is completely unsound. Open exhaust headers bolt on, and they're definitely not legal, the same goes for massive wheels with slicks and so on. Whether something is easy to install or not is irrelevant.

I have a strong feeling that it would never be given an engineer's certificate with a 4" narrowed beam though, you would have to get a new beam narrowed by perhaps only an inch or two, and thus keep the original shock towers. Realistically, the only reason to narrow the car's track is to allow it to be lowered to extremes, which is purely for looks. Engineers generally frown on narrowed track, as it increases the car's tendency to roll over and hence reduces safety, although this is countered somewhat by the lowering of the car. If you're running stock wheels at a legal amount of ground clearance (more than 100mm) then you shouldn't need a 4" narrowed beam anyway.

ok im going to make this easier for you look closer to home ie nsw
we have the strictest set of rules when it comes to registration.
if in doubt ring the rat teach support line and ask them, they deal with questions like this all the time.
also personally i wouldn’t be running no shocks on a car.

Benjicon,

Where in NSW are you? You know there is a rat for sale here it is in the cars for sale forum.

Here is a link to the RAT for sale

RAT for sale

Hey guys,

Wow.. thanks again for all the advice, All great stuff to know. I agree with everyone that it would be unsafe to drive with no shocks, I posted the question to make sure there isn't something I was missing, some work around that people do that was legal, cause I always see pictures of dubs with narrowed tracks that are slammed on the ground.. turns out I wasn't missing a thing , it isn't a smart thing to do unless you do it right..

Barls - Did you mean "RTA" tech support hotline ? or is there some guru of all Rats that I can call and he will enlighten me ?

Paulc1964au : Yeah I have seen that Rat, spent many a night pining over it ... like it a lot .. but out of my immediate price range, if its still avail in a month I might be able to talk with him.

I have along hard think about it all before I decide anything .. and will make sure any mods I get done will be legit in the eyes of the (NSW) law.

Cheers.

thats what i meant, bloody self correcting text.

I think the rat has been reduced in price worth calling him and making him an offer if you are interested