Thread: New at this, need HELP!

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Well I can't be of much help without a picture or two of your kit. All I remember is that the whole front end with torsion bars unbolts from the unibody (four bolts as I remember), but I definitely replaced the whole front end on a '66 and it came off as a single unit after removing the gas tank and disconnecting the brake lines. Since the hump is the spine of the pan and the main strength, it is not a good idea to cut it although in my other VW dune buggy the pan was cut across the floor of the back seat area and rewelded. Send a picture or a copy of the kit instructions. If your pan is rusted (usually in the back seat battery area) you can buy square steel bars that fit into the groove around the outer edge of the pan to strengthen it and then weld in a patch panel in the battery area. It sounds like a neat project but that is all I can say without a picture.

In edit mode I checked several pictures of front ends in the Speedway catalog and there are a number of "spring behind" front end kits and of course a number of T-buckets run with the tie rod in the front of the axle. The question is what was intended by the kit you bought? If you are trying to adapt a hot rod front end yourself I can only "imagine" a flat plate that would bolt to the holes where the torsion bar unit used to be with a spring perch welded (and braced strongly with angle reinforcement) for a spring-behind front end. Maybe the tie rod will be low enough to clear the bottom of the pan??? The flat plate would spread the load and maybe fit the old holes easily. On the other hand maybe your kit was intended for a certain installation and so you could call the people who designed the kit. In any case I would need a picture to comment further.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientis/teen rodder