Hi, got a design i want to run with but need to ask some questions before I lay down my hard earned on a bug that may not suit. I have built muscle cars before but never a beetle. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Want to have a rake - leave the rear almost standard but want to be able to drop it if the need/want arises, how do you drop the front end as low as possible without compromising steering/handling toooo much- cost?

whats the widest tyre/wheel combo that fits under the STANDARD rear?

whats the best motor/model for reasonable power customising?

As a general guide, here's my individual opinion:

The best way to lower the front is welding in "beam adjusters" to the front axle, this will give you the adjustment you want, although if you want to go low, then keeping narrow tyres up front will help with clearance. This may fit in with what you want if you're going for "bigs and littles". You can also get the beam narrowed if you want, or buy a pre-narrowed beam, to allow you to go even lower without hitting the guards. There are plenty of other people around who are better qualified to talk about lowered beams, as I've never had one.

The biggest rim which you can fit under stock rear guards is basically a 6" rim, with perhaps 195-205 section tyres. Wide rear guards are available in fibreglass if you want to go wider though, and they're not expensive. In terms of grip, you don't really need more than 195mm of decent tyre on the street. I like 14" wheels with 195/70R14s on a 6" rim, although I wouldn't mind going up to 15" perhaps. Most of the alloy wheels currently available for the Beetle are in 15"x5.5".

The best engine to tune or rebuild is the 1600cc twin port, these came only in fairly late beetles (after 1971 I believe) but they are readily available second-hand. A 1300cc or 1500cc engine have essentially the same crankcase and internals as the 1600cc, except for the pistons/cylinders and heads, which are easily interchangeable. The cylinders slide off like on a motorbike or aircraft engine and are cheap to buy, so it's fairly easy to overbore all the way from 1300cc up to 1916cc on a stock stroke engine with a little bit of machining.

The choice of model depends on what you like the look of best. In my opinion, the best all-round Beetle is the 1500, which was made from 1968-71 and came with 12V electrics and front disc brakes. If you prefer the look of the earlier cars then they can be converted to 12V without too much trouble. The semi-auto beetles and the Superbeetles (S and L bugs) came with a superior design of independent rear suspension which is less prone to camber change and hence is less likely to roll over. Earlier "swing-axle" cars can be converted to "IRS" but it requires welding and the IRS suspension parts and transmission.

Welcome to the world of VWs!

thanks heaps for that....

Costs

For a front lowering job by a shop it would be about $400 I would think, always cheaper if you are pretty handy with welding and tools etc...

I think a good thing to remember on the front when it's so raked is the caster of the beam as you don't want the front beam on such an angle which can cause a whole host of problems regarding handling

my 2c