vw super floor pan

[reverend69]

hi everyone

im new to this site and sorry if this has been answered before but im trying to figure out if a 71 super body will fit a 76 super floor. im trying to restore a vw 71 super and was give a 76 with a really good floor (with some other good parts)

Thanks

[19super73]

If you were given a good '76 floor and you live in NA, then it is a convertible (super) which means it will or should be reinforced. The strut towers will not work (early set up with a late body), you will have to change the strut set up to a later 2 bolt set up for everything to mesh.
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1970 Campmobile [url=https://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-47260.png]Click to view image[/URL]
1970 Fastback 1600 TL
1971 Doka [url=https://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-14845.png]Click to view image[/URL]
1973 Super Beetle
1973 Westfalia [url=https://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-31892.png]Click to view image[/URL]
1974 412 Variant
1975 La Grande Bug
1984 Vanagon

[reverend69]

I live in Australia , I will check the strut bolts and let you know if they are the same. But besides the front shockies should it all fit?

Also the body that it came on is not a convertible.

[banditwolf]

I think it would.
You will also have two VIN # then. One on the tunnel & one on the dash.
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1973 Super Beetle l 1981 Trans Am

[reverend69]

where is the vin on the dash. i will have to speak to a blue slip guy cause im gonna end up with two vins and a different engine number

[Joel]

That would be throwing a few people on here off, Aus did not get factory convertible beetles and there was no dash vins either.

Firstly make sure the floorpan you have is for a super, a lot of people think the 76 beetles were supers when they were not and have different suspension.

75 was the last year of Supers here, but if it is one of them the steering will be rack and pinion so you would need to mod your body to take the rack or convert to steering box (which is a downgrade)

Also remember the cars identity goes off the floorpan not the body so your car would be classed as a 76 (or whatever the floorpan happens to be) so make sure the floorpan chassis number not down as stolen or anything silly before you spend too much $$ on it and it would also need to meet the ADR of a 76 bug which means a charcoal canister and padded dash is needed.

[reverend69]

thanks heaps. sounds like its going to be a lot easier to stay with the all 71 parts. and suspension looks the same in both beetles but in saying that im not 100% sure. how would be the easiest way to tell because that was the main reason i got the 76 was it had a good front suspension and so i could cut body panels out of it.

thanks

[Joel]

If its a superbug after 73 it has struts but they are different so you would need to swap the whole front suspension over.

if the models are correct you would have 2 very different bugs, yours would be an Sbug with the flat windscreen and dash where as the other would be an Lbug with the big curved windscreen and big plastic dash.

[Joel]

Have a read of this it will help identify what you have

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=97238

[reverend69]

did any of the normal beetles come out with a coil over front end ?

[Joel]

Nope only 71-75 Superbugs.

[reverend69]

well they are both super bugs than. i once the rain stops i will go get the vin of the other one and look it up

[banditwolf]

Oh, I had no idea about the Vin. Sorry about that.
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1973 Super Beetle l 1981 Trans Am

[Joel]

No sweat, VWs were made for so many different markets that there is just so many variations you would never keep track of them all.

[glutamodo]

This reminds me of a bit of trivia - from what I've read, there actually "were" 1976 Super Sedans... sort of. In the USA, the La Grande Bug (the only version of Super that was sold in the USA in 1975), turned out to be more popular than VW anticipated. VW initially ran two production runs of 1303s for this USA demand and it wasn't enough. Since they hadn't gotten the Super Sedan re-certified for sale in the USA for 1976, they instead ran them under an "extended model year" and produced a final run during the 1976 model year - while their chassis numbers still showed 1975, they actually had 1976 colors and engine numbers. VW later did this again to stretch the 1979 convertible model year into almost 18 months.

[reverend69]

so when you decode the vin you end up with a 1975 super for my parts car

[allsidius]

OK, if you replacement pan is a 75, the good news is that it should have rack an pinion steering.

The good and bad news is that your old seats won't fit, but much better convertible seats or modified Golf seats with separate headrests will fit your new pan.

The bad news is that the strut towers of your 71 will not fit the suspension of the 75. The easiest option would be to install 71-73 3-bolt struts, cast track arms and sway bar (don't know if this is different). Joel knows all about this.

The earlier suspension allows further lowering and is generally accepted as the better design. The newer design features cheaper-looking pressed steel track arms and two-bolt vertical flange at the bottom of the strut, vs cast track arms and 3-bolt horizontal flange for the older design. The reason for the redesign was to include negative tracking radius, which was to keep the car on the road if you were braking while one wheel was on dry asphalt and the other on wet grass or ice. I don't think anyone relies on this advantage too often today, when driving their enthusiast car. On a brand new car, it's probably mandatory.
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[Joel]