Hi All

Now I know that Queensland (where it is always sunny and 25 years behind the rest of the country) likes to be a bit different from the rest of Oz.... :-). I need some advice from any Queensland folk that have experience in the below... (keyboard warriors need not reply)

I'm restoring a 63 Beetle, and as part of putting an 1835 engine in the back decided to put a 2" narrowed beam with a 0 offset CSP disc brake kit.

NOW that she's in the process of going back together, I have consulted a couple of mod plate engineers who have both told me that any narrowing of the track in Queensland is illegal and can not be mod plated. Looking at the particular rules and regulations seems to support their statements...

What/how have others done it... at the end of the day I don't want to be on the hook if something goes bad/someone gets hurt/hit a Ferrari (probably deserve4d it tho) and the assessors pickup that the car is illegal and not roadworthy. Lets face it, at the end of the day if an insurance company can get out of paying claim they will.

Any advice would be welcomed.... as my current thoughts are to ditch the narrowed beam and put everything back across to the standard beam... but that isn't going to give me the height adjustment I potentially want to lower the vehicle..

Cheers
Matt

I removed a narrowed beam from Ghia, In Queensland any narrowing of the track is illegal, as far as I know it is across all states, I cannot point to the actual legislation but my engineer assured me that is correct, also legally you can only lower the car 1/3rd the bump stop clearance, if you lower the car so it requires the removal of the bump stops that would also be illegal, There is a trade off with the ride and handling when you lower the car, the further away from horizontal the front trailing arms are the worse it will ride and handle, so a compromise is required if you want to maintain the drivability, after I installed the standard width beam into the Ghia it's handling and ride improved very noticeably, All of the above apply only if you want to insure your car and register it legally. I have four cars that are all modified and have done the engineering and declared this to Shannons in the disclosure on my policies.

4.2.9 Passenger Car Wheel Track
The wheel track of passenger cars (or derivatives) must not be increased by more than 25mm
beyond the maximum specified by the vehicle manufacturer for the particular model. This
means that the rim offset must not be changed by more than 12.5mm.
Reduction in wheel track must not be performed without approval of the relevant Registration
Authority.

^^^^^^^^^^ lifted straight from NCOP from transport main roads website.


good luck with getting the nod of approval in writing though