An interesting photo of an original upside-down.

This picture came from a Canadian company's site, but I'll post it just to highlight the differences underneath our cars. This little guy is a completely different animal in most respects, but it's interesting to me that the front suspension pieces look like they're probably interchangeable (have this conversation with TC -- he first pointed it out to me). Yet, there aren't any frame horns in the rear.
Hmmm. The same front pieces, and something different out back? They must have come up with something ... better? Hmmmm. ...
You can see the frame head has been replaced on this car, too. It's shiny, and so are the gusset plates that form the footwell. The rest of the undercarriage looks like it's made of metal that meets at seamed joints, just like a Beetle ragtop. Unlike a coupe, where it's essentially a big, welded bubble with stuff attached to it, this guy has structural seams that look thicker than a coupe's do -- to my untrained eye.
I especially like the heater tubes running down the door channels and the reversed gussets that meet the beam. Neat-o-cool.
Giving credit where it's due, here's the site it came from. It looks like they do a lot of VW and Audi, with the occasional Porsche coming in for restoration work:
http://www.concept1.ca/

I hope you noticed how straight and square the tunnel center section is If Vs could find a way to duplicate that shape getting differnt more confortable pair of seats to fit in a VS would be short work..

^^ only way that I see around that is by going tube chassis or seriously modifying the center channel of a beetle pan.

Nice picture, there is a whole lot more going on there than meets the eye.

If your goiung to have to shortin the thing anyway.. I still think it would be worth doing that way. The only real issue are the handbrake cables . They would have to cut lose near the brake handle and re routed more centrialy at the rear. Then the fork Y can be trimmed awayad a wide fork frame like MY D has for the Automatic can be used .
That would also give ya room for any kind of tranny My frame horns on the Beetle are 1/2 plate stock (same mods) I learned more the second timea And Im pretty sure I could do a race ready super strong tumnel upgrade But only on a fresh pan off build.
Doing a pan on car conversion is much harder than having it hung out to dry in front of the shop,from a trailing arm.. It sure makes welding it up easyer..

I believe the car in the photo is an original 54-55. The lower spare carrier pan changed from flat bottomed (like the photo) to angled in 56. Looks like it's ready for new longitudenal covers (lower rockers) and a new pan.

Yelp I here by Dub Yhee Sir Rust-a_lot.

That is a shame that the germans didn't dip these cabs in rusolium or something to protect them . Almost all of them get it reguardless ,.. That makes me glad I went fiberglass replica . All the fun without the fuss..

"All the fun without the fuss"

Gentlemen, I think we have our motto.

"no fuss"... I get the no rust part. Just dont agree with no fuss

Cory,

I've had the SC apart down to the bare front beam. It's very much like the VW link pin except that it's structural on the 356. The beam is a welded part of the forward bulkhead and the shock towers strengthen the load bearing fender wells.

VW trailing arms are a bolt in since the have the VW logo and part number right on them. Uppers are unaltered, lowers have a badly welded bracket to hold the sway bar link. All four have a slide on metal shim to fit the inner diameter to the beam. The urethane "off road" bushing for the VWs can be substituted perfectly.

The rear has a different forward trans mount, and uses a "U" shaped engine support that bolts to the body above the trans to support the engine. The 356 "bell housing" has the same bolt holes as the VW with two extra on the sides for the rubber mounts. You could put the 356 trans into a VW by just using the four holes. If you raised the rear floor, you could mount a VW trans in the 356 and drill the bell for the extra two bolts, Easy Peasy.

The unsupported VW frame horns are a weak point in the system. The possibility of rustout in the fire wall and loss of strength for the "U" mount in the 356 is the weak point. The VW can be strenghtened and corrected with down tubes, the 356 would need backing plates and gussets since it's all sheetmetal construction.

The rear 356 shocks mount to brackets welded to the inner fender wells, in an area beneath the rear deck drip rails. Kinda prone to rust. The VW shocks mount to cast iron rear cantilevers which are a part of the torsion tube sub-structure.

What makes the 356 better in all ways than the VW is that it's a solid uni-body shell with every piece contributing to the strength of the piece to which it's attached. What makes the 356 much worse than the VW is that the uni-body shell is easily compromised and after fifty years, ALWAYS IS. There are no rust free 356s. Even a total restoration is entirely suspect.

However, the coolest part of everything is that a completely wrecked, burnt out, rusted, and then squashed 356 bare shell . . . is STILL gonna fetch close to $6,000. 'Cause that little piece of whatever is still intact and you can't find them, and the judges can always tell if you fabricated your own, and yours is rusted out.

Welcome to the world of REAL 356 Porsches. Don't TRY to figure it out. It's a world where the cars are known by their numbers. "I was working on #32466 this past week and . . . " and you're not aloud to paint them anything other than what's listed on the Kardex, and if it wasn't shipped with a radio, you can't have one in the car.

And then there's ME! Can I tell you how well I'm fitting in over at the 356 Registry Forum . . . ?!?!?

I'm still waiting for Wolfgang to fashion up some rust bubbles out of FG. I know exactly where to put them. I wonder if anybody in the replicar business has actually tried for "auhtentic" by casting up some rust bubbles around the door frames. I've heard it mentioned a few times. If you drove a replicar so fashioned to a Registry event, it would make 'em look twice before dissing you. ;-)

I like the way you think . . .

Thanks, TC!
I have rust on my fiberglass, by the way. A little piece of square box and a belt sander, the primer sprayed across a paper plate with the steel dust on it and Ker-POWEE! Six weeks of being left in the weather later, my car is rusty. One little spot in the back bumper area, just to keep 'em guessing. It's the spot by the right tail light.
Hehehe-hehe-he-he. Where's my Scooby Snack?