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Tue May 09, 2006 5:09 pm

bunker108 wrote: I want to lower my 65 front and rear on the stock 15's...so I shouldn't need a narrowed front end right? Or maybe 2in at the most??

Probably 135's in front and 165's in back.

How narrow to go is determined by how low you want to go. The Dirty Virgin(pictures on previous page) has a 6" narrowed beam with dropped spindles. The panhead/beam is about 2" off of the ground. I would'nt go with anything less than 4" narrowed...but thats me!

Tue May 09, 2006 5:51 pm

Heath...thanks for the updated pics...now that is dropped like a MoFO!!! :shock:

To double up on Bunker's question how low could I go without narrowing my beam running the same setup (stock 15 inch rims with 135's up front) before I have to start hacking away at sheet metal etc.

I have yet to consider the rear end but I guess that is the next step.

(Sorry didn't see Dirty Virgin on the thread anywhere)

Wed May 10, 2006 8:28 pm

krazkayaker wrote:
(Sorry didn't see Dirty Virgin on the thread anywhere)

I believe that is the all OG beige oval.

Tue May 16, 2006 9:36 am

high i was looking at a puma beam on cbperformance an I am not going super low so 2 inch narrowed should be enough, but my question is do those beams have shock mounts on them or do I have to weld on my own

Tue May 16, 2006 9:51 am

They do have shock mounts.

Tue May 30, 2006 1:25 pm

Sprø Norsk wrote: Stevie Fierce wrote: i just did this to my spring plates last night and am currently re-assembling everything. it just seems SOOOO unsafe! any thoughts?
i guess im taking my chances........ and when the rear wheels go flying off, im gonna put whole spring plates back on. yeah, im cool.

alot of people notch thier spring plates. do not sweat it. it is a good was to get more travel out of a dumped car.

I don't get notching spring plates, sure you can dump you car & now instead of the spring plates bottoming out, your exaust & other important parts can smack the ground. I've also seen a plate break, under stress. My brothers Manx had spring plates with VERY small sections taken out by the PO (don't know why) & one day we were out smashing around & climbing hills & one of them just snapped right where it was notched. We were in the middle of a pretty nasty hill climb, but fiberglass buggies are light, & it's worn out 1600 probably only put out about 45hp.

Tue May 30, 2006 10:27 pm

shane red wrote:

I don't get notching spring plates, sure you can dump you car & now instead of the spring plates bottoming out, your exaust & other important parts can smack the ground. I've also seen a plate break, under stress. My brothers Manx had spring plates with VERY small sections taken out by the PO (don't know why) & one day we were out smashing around & climbing hills & one of them just snapped right where it was notched. We were in the middle of a pretty nasty hill climb, but fiberglass buggies are light, & it's worn out 1600 probably only put out about 45hp.

As long as you radius the cuts, there shouldn't be any problems with breakage. Also, I've got notched springplates, and I'm down 3 splines, and my exhaust doesn't drag, and neither does anything else that's "important". Well..unless I hit railroad tracks..but that's another story all in itself..

Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:19 am

what is the width between the fenderwell? to give me the minimum distance between shock towers

Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:59 pm

will a 6 inch beam with drop spindles have and trouble rubbing on my headlight buckets? if so how can i get around this without cutting up my fenders? its a 1960

Thu Jun 01, 2006 4:39 pm

JustinJurgens wrote: will a 6 inch beam with drop spindles have and trouble rubbing on my headlight buckets? if so how can i get around this without cutting up my fenders? its a 1960

Get smaller tires. Go for the 165/45/15s.

Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:03 pm

HamburgerBrad wrote: what is the width between the fenderwell? to give me the minimum distance between shock towers

About 30 1/4"

Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:05 pm

JustinJurgens wrote: will a 6 inch beam with drop spindles have and trouble rubbing on my headlight buckets? if so how can i get around this without cutting up my fenders? its a 1960

Depends on how low you go. Do you still have the wire tube fenders. Wire tube fenders have a little more room between the head light buckt and the tires. I roll the Dirty Virgin low with stock headlight buckets. The tires do rub on them when I turn sharp, but its very driveable

Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:12 pm

Franz wrote: JustinJurgens wrote: will a 6 inch beam with drop spindles have and trouble rubbing on my headlight buckets? if so how can i get around this without cutting up my fenders? its a 1960

Depends on how low you go. Do you still have the wire tube fenders. Wire tube fenders have a little more room between the head light buckt and the tires. I roll the Dirty Virgin low with stock headlight buckets. The tires do rub on them when I turn sharp, but its very driveable

i dont have the wire tube fenders anymore......i think. did 60 come stock with them?

Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:06 pm

Franz wrote: HamburgerBrad wrote: what is the width between the fenderwell? to give me the minimum distance between shock towers

About 30 1/4"
perfect. thanks

Fri Jun 02, 2006 11:18 am

Stock wire tube fenders, and 175/65 14" tires. They're only 22 1/2" tall, and rub when there's a sharp turn, or I have a fully loaded car with more than one passenger.

Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:41 am

Franz wrote: Welcome to the single adjuster club! :P

Do you guys think it would be a good idea if I took off the bottom adjuster and run it that way? Would just the upper adjuster suffice and do its job?

I was worried that the upper adjuster would become loose because it didnt have the lower adjuster to support it!

Franz, any feedback? What do you all think? Would it be OK? I need to do this until i find a little higher profile tires 8)

This is how im running right now

Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:50 am

I'm missing my bottom adjuster completely, and have been since shortly after I got the car on the road. No problems whatsoever, and I believe it can even act as a sway bar, but you'd have to ask Franz about that one.

Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:01 pm

Germanpride wrote: shane red wrote:

I don't get notching spring plates, sure you can dump you car & now instead of the spring plates bottoming out, your exaust & other important parts can smack the ground. I've also seen a plate break, under stress. My brothers Manx had spring plates with VERY small sections taken out by the PO (don't know why) & one day we were out smashing around & climbing hills & one of them just snapped right where it was notched. We were in the middle of a pretty nasty hill climb, but fiberglass buggies are light, & it's worn out 1600 probably only put out about 45hp.

As long as you radius the cuts, there shouldn't be any problems with breakage. Also, I've got notched springplates, and I'm down 3 splines, and my exhaust doesn't drag, and neither does anything else that's "important". Well..unless I hit railroad tracks..but that's another story all in itself..

You are three splines down with notched plates & your exhaust doesnt drag when you hit bumps? I find that hard to believe, my car was only 2-1/2 notches (one inner two outter) my plates were stock & if I shifted hard into 2nd sparks would fly on flat pavement. My header flange was nearly half gone when I sold my car. Not to mention the collecter was completly smashed & so were the pipes feeding into it on the bottom. I had to reweld just about every part of that header several times, I repaired numerous cracks in it. It was an S&S header, I had a bugpack header before that & it was completly destroyed beyond repair after getting stuck in a narrow inclined drive through at jack in the box in Davis, CA. My muffler was also destroyed, it was smashed & had holes in several places.

Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:07 pm

Germanpride wrote: I'm missing my bottom adjuster completely, and have been since shortly after I got the car on the road. No problems whatsoever, and I believe it can even act as a sway bar, but you'd have to ask Franz about that one.

Did the missing adjuster end up lowering your bug even more? or is it at the same height since it ripped out of your beam?

Thanks DUDE!

Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:14 pm

shane red wrote: Germanpride wrote: shane red wrote:

I don't get notching spring plates, sure you can dump you car & now instead of the spring plates bottoming out, your exaust & other important parts can smack the ground. I've also seen a plate break, under stress. My brothers Manx had spring plates with VERY small sections taken out by the PO (don't know why) & one day we were out smashing around & climbing hills & one of them just snapped right where it was notched. We were in the middle of a pretty nasty hill climb, but fiberglass buggies are light, & it's worn out 1600 probably only put out about 45hp.

As long as you radius the cuts, there shouldn't be any problems with breakage. Also, I've got notched springplates, and I'm down 3 splines, and my exhaust doesn't drag, and neither does anything else that's "important". Well..unless I hit railroad tracks..but that's another story all in itself..

You are three splines down with notched plates & your exhaust doesnt drag when you hit bumps? I find that hard to believe, my car was only 2-1/2 notches (one inner two outter) my plates were stock & if I shifted hard into 2nd sparks would fly on flat pavement. My header flange was nearly half gone when I sold my car. Not to mention the collecter was completly smashed & so were the pipes feeding into it on the bottom. I had to reweld just about every part of that header several times, I repaired numerous cracks in it. It was an S&S header, I had a bugpack header before that & it was completly destroyed beyond repair after getting stuck in a narrow inclined drive through at jack in the box in Davis, CA. My muffler was also destroyed, it was smashed & had holes in several places.

Stock exhaust, also, what size tires? I'm still running 165s, and they rub before the exhaust hits.