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Thu Sep 12, 2024 1:03 pm

Bobnotch wrote:
That's a damn good looking car you have. 8)

yep - a kit car based on a type 3 is pretty rare. If you don't already know that car is going to handle, ride, and drive better than any bug based kit car - by far. There's rumors of a LaDawri on a type 3 chassis :P

Tue Apr 22, 2025 11:12 am

I notice what appears to be a hole in the front beam. This is a type 3 front beam. I think it may be a rust hole. Any suggestions on how to fix or is this not an issue. Thanks.

The suspected hole.

Tue Apr 22, 2025 1:18 pm

Definitely not supposed to be there. I would bet there is more rust that you can't see or lots of thin spots.

Is that all fiberglass in the background? :shock:

Tue Apr 22, 2025 1:56 pm

squaretobehip wrote: Definitely not supposed to be there. I would bet there is more rust that you can't see or lots of thin spots.

Is that all fiberglass in the background? :shock:

agreed

Also - yeah it's a squareback based Bradly GT Kit car. it's freakin awesome

Tue Apr 22, 2025 2:52 pm

Erik G wrote: squaretobehip wrote: Definitely not supposed to be there. I would bet there is more rust that you can't see or lots of thin spots.

Is that all fiberglass in the background? :shock:

agreed

Also - yeah it's a squareback based Bradly GT Kit car. it's freakin awesome

I did not look at the first page. :lol:

Thu Apr 24, 2025 8:10 am

So, Last week, I got it out of storage. I am planning (we'll see how far I get) to pull the body off the chassis. I'll address the motor mount along with the brakes. Clean up the chassis rust. I want to lift the body by 3" or so and then drop the suspension 3". Hopefully, that will give the cramped cabin a little more space for the knees and keep my head from rubbing on the tee-top.

I will probably need to cut the rubber bump stops off of the suspension to lower it.

Is the front beam material thick enough to weld the hole? Maybe some epoxy would be better.

Has anyone used a "soda blaster" for cleaning up the rust? I might give that a try. I hate to think about replacing the beam. Looks expensive, even if I could find one.

Fri Apr 25, 2025 12:12 pm

TeeSquare2000 wrote: So, Last week, I got it out of storage. I am planning (we'll see how far I get) to pull the body off the chassis. I'll address the motor mount along with the brakes. Clean up the chassis rust. I want to lift the body by 3" or so and then drop the suspension 3". Hopefully, that will give the cramped cabin a little more space for the knees and keep my head from rubbing on the tee-top.

I will probably need to cut the rubber bump stops off of the suspension to lower it.

Is the front beam material thick enough to weld the hole? Maybe some epoxy would be better.

Has anyone used a "soda blaster" for cleaning up the rust? I might give that a try. I hate to think about replacing the beam. Looks expensive, even if I could find one.

You might be able to do the body lift with some box tubing (2x3), and longer bolts. As for lowering the suspension, why not just re-index the torsion bars? It might be easier than trying to lower the entire rear sub-frame, and then trying to figure out how to make the shift linkage work. As for the rust hole, I'd try pumping the lower beam with grease and see if any comes out of the hole. That beam probably needs to be greased anyway. Beams are available (I've got a spare), but they cost a bunch to ship (they're heavy and bulky). You might want to look for one in the Samba classifieds, or on Craigslist (semi-local). As for a soda blaster, you might want to try a wire wheel first to remove the heavy industrial rust first, then hit it with a soda blaster. You could weld the hole closed , as that part of the beam is fairly thick (14 gauge I think). I'd lightly grind it first before welding though, just to get a good weld on it. I hope this helps.

Wed Apr 30, 2025 2:33 pm

Thanks for the input. I got the body disconnected and shimmed up 3" so I can check the inside height. My head used to touch the top and I pretty much needed to lay down to drive it. With 3" extra, it's way better. Once the body is off, I am going to address the mess that is the chassis.

I know it looks way too high right now. It should be lowered like 2.5 to 3" with the suspension.

It's not that bad from what I see so far. I will get a wire wheel and knock the rust off before soda blasting. The brakes need work and the engine mount needs a re-think. The engine could use some cleaning up.

I know I have seen some charts on "re-indexing" the torsion rods for both front and back. The bumper stops will have to be removed as well to lower it.

I'm not really a welder but I think I can spotweld the hole.

I appreciate that I have people willing to give good advice here. I'm not very good at forums. Should this be a new post? Or, should I keep it in this one for the mods?

Thu May 01, 2025 10:00 am

I'd just keep adding to this one. Use it as a "build thread" if you want.

I think dropping the front 2 inner splines drops it about 2.5 inches. Two outer splines drops it around 2 1/4 inches I think. It's been a while since I've done an outer spline drop. Anything over 2 splines requires the use of short shocks and removal of both rubber bump stops (just the rubber bits, unless your roads are so bad that they're constantly hitting them). I prefer an inner spline drop, as the end of the bar is usually greased, and comes apart easily. I've found the outer end is usually rusted on pretty good.
Dropping the rears requires more work, and if you want maybe look at adjustable spring plates to help dial it in. Keep in mind most of it IS very similar to a bug when dropping it, meaning you might have to do both an inner AND an outer spline change to get what you want. I ran into that when I dropped the rear of my 71 Notch.

Thu May 01, 2025 10:13 am

Wow, great looking car you got there!

Some interesting engineering for sure to get that type 3 chassis to work.

Looking forward to your progress with this.

Fri May 02, 2025 9:15 am

Squirt as much oil into that front beam as you can and avoid major potholes. I had to rebuild my beam and it was a PIA. My guess is that there are loads of beams rotting from the inside out on the road.

Fri May 02, 2025 9:49 am

The body has been removed. It took 4 guys to lift it off. Doesn't look too bad.

Fri May 02, 2025 11:50 am

You might want to remove the carpet, and look at the welds along the tunnel where the pans were welded on (looks like someone changed the pans to bug pan halfs). I'd also look over the welds on that angle iron frame work around the engine, especially where it's welded to the rear body mount on the sub-frame.

I will admit someone got creative in using old VW parts to build that pan assembly. They must have had an old rusty type 3 to donate it's pan for a title, and them modified it with bug pans, but kept/re-used the front beam and rear suspension assembly. When they got to the engine, they really got creative.
To lower the rear, you might have to cut some of the support braces out for the suspension to move upward once it's lowered. Just some random thoughts for you to think about. :wink:

Tue May 06, 2025 8:26 am

@Bobnotch

I removed the carpet and this is what I've got. Looks like T1 pans on a T3 chassis to me. But, I don't have much experience yet. I'm really thankful that I have this forum and you guys for a resource.

Everything looks pretty solid on the pans. The tunnel is kind of ugly but there appears to be some matting over it in places. New carpet will cover the ugliness.

Next, I am going to hit it with Ospho Rust Converter and then some Rustolium. I know that there are some strong opinions on rust converter products. I'm not going for a show car. Some say to stay away from POR-15 but it seems to be used with good results...hmmm...

Tue May 06, 2025 12:24 pm

TeeSquare2000 wrote: @Bobnotch

I removed the carpet and this is what I've got. Looks like T1 pans on a T3 chassis to me. But, I don't have much experience yet. I'm really thankful that I have this forum and you guys for a resource.

Everything looks pretty solid on the pans. The tunnel is kind of ugly but there appears to be some matting over it in places. New carpet will cover the ugliness.

Next, I am going to hit it with Ospho Rust Converter and then some Rustolium. I know that there are some strong opinions on rust converter products. I'm not going for a show car. Some say to stay away from POR-15 but it seems to be used with good results...hmmm...

Yup, bug (T-1) pans welded to the type 3 tunnel. Looks like a late tunnel too, as it has FI fuel lines in it. Yeah, that mastic stuff on the tunnel is some sort of heat/sound deadener, and really makes a mess when welding near it. Yes I've done that several times (my 71 Notch, and my 64 T-34 Ghia). If you have room, and time, you could sand blast it, or pay one of those portable blasting companies to blast it with soda, then seal it up afterward. My self, I like to seal the pan with epoxy primer on BOTH sides, the paint it with good automotive grade paint. I live in Michigan, just south and west of the base of Lake Huron, so it's always humid here, and things rust quickly (especially bare metal), even out of the salt.
But you can use whatever you're comfortable with. I've tried POR 15 before, and I've tried Master Series, and I prefer the Master Series over the Por15. It just holds up better, especially in salt use. I hope this helps.

Fri May 16, 2025 8:05 am

So...I have problems. I am attempting to lower the suspension by 3". I was able to get the right side rear spring plate popped out. The torsion bar is seized into the spring plate and it took A LOT of force to get it broke free. The inner splined end came out but I cannot get the torsion bar out of the spring plate.

The left rear, I am not able to break the spring plate free at all. Inner and outer splines are really seized. Is there a retainer that I am not aware of? All of the videos I have watched, the torsion bar is not held in by anything. After removing the spring plate retainer (four bolts) usually it just comes apart.

I have tried using heat where the splines are. I have also tried soaking everywhere I can with PB Blaster. I shot a lot of PB into the hole here. Not sure if that helps...well I am sure because it did not help.

I tried hammering a pickle fork between the spring plate and housing. That is how I got the right to pop out but the left is really in there.

Without just going "Cave Man" on it, any ideas?

And, to top it off, the right popped out with so much force that I have no idea which spline it was on to begin with.

I will search the forum on how to properly position the torsion splines, so I think I can figure it out. Assuming I can get the torsion bar out of the spring plate.

Fri May 16, 2025 9:24 am

A friend of mine said that beer would help. And, it did but not the way I thought. :D

Fri May 16, 2025 2:36 pm

Yeah, the rears are the hardest to remove, mainly because they sit on the stop, and keep things from moving. I know I've used a crow bar to get them off before, so sometimes you have to get "mid evil" on them due to rust. No clips that I know of, but rust is a big possibility. Sometimes heat and a BFH might be needed.

Fri May 16, 2025 11:08 pm

I'd think that using dropped pans might be better/just as easy as raising the body and lowering the suspension.

Sat May 17, 2025 9:54 am

PB Blaster overnight, heat on the inner spline block, BFH and a 1"ish pipe through the torsion tube to hammer it out from the inside. It worked! Both rear torsions are out. Now, I need to free them from the spring plates.

I think I can cut the very end off the spring plate cylinder where the torsion tube attaches. Then I can smack it out from the outside. After it's all apart, I can get to reindexing the angle I want. I don't have a starting point but I should be able to get close and then adjust once the body weight is in place.

I should be able to "pot" the end with grease and put a cap over the end when done. I will show a picture when (if) I complete.