car lowering

Easy.......you can't.  The suspension geometry won't let you.

If it's already sitting "about right", then dropping another two inches will squat the rear wheels something fierce. 

Time to break out the sawzall, tinsnips, assorted tubing and flat stock....  Then you can "Zee" the frame....  Of course this will probably leave the fan shroud sticking out of the deck lid opening.....

Details, details,details.....   

What Gordon said; along with the extreme negative camber, the car now will have very little suspension travel and will be constantly hitting the bump stops for a pretty rough ride. You can put in heavier torsion bars so the car won't be bottoming out the suspension quite so often, but there's just not enough movement left for a really comfortable ride.

In a Beetle- guys will use a rear trans mount plate that raises the mounting point up (I believe there are mounts made for 1 or 2") and this lowers the rear of the car around the trans/engine assembly and allows the drop with full suspension travel. As you can guess, this creates other problems; it's a steel piece and there are no rear rubber trans mounts incorporated (it's mainly a drag race part and solid mounts to the car for more vibration and noise, but cuts down engine/trans movement), it raises the engine in it's space and I think (with the 2" raise) you now have to run the shift rod on top of the frame tunnel. The fan shroud from the Brasilia is shorter and fits without hitting the engine lid (would probably work in a Speedster) but whether the carbs/aircleaners will still fit , I don't know. The exhaust will also have to be custom made to clear the bodywork as well. 

Probably the best solution is what Paul (Mango Smoothie) has done- convert to irs and bag it.

Hope this helps. Al

you could do a 1" tranny raise without too much effort.

be careful of your engine compartment heights (air cleaners, fan shroud, etc)

IRS is not that more work than a tranny raise.  more parts, and more cost though.

bags - that is a different ball game ($)

irs would be a stretch for me-I have a beck chassis-geometry would be more math than my brain can handle!

Yeah, putting IRS on a Beck would be quite an engineering process.  The frame is VERY different in the rear than a VW pan, and was designed specifically for the swing-axle suspension.  That's not to say it can't be done, as I know Beck is working on some projects in that area, but probably not for a DIY-er.

thanks carey-great info for everyone out there!

how would these not add negative camber on a swing axle?

Mango,

You are absolutely correct.  Pre-coffee post I guess.  You'd have to move the gearbox up in order to avoid the camber change, and you won't be able to do that in a Beck unless you have 34ict carbs (IDF and IDA are too close to the deck lid already) and even then you'd have to watch how close the doghouse was getting to the inner deck lid (or open it up for the doghouse)

Removed the errant post, here it is minus the camber statement  ;-)

http://www.red9design.com/type1.htm

scroll down to EZ Rider spring plates.  About $200US  1", 1.5" and 2" drop available.

I've never used them, I just know they are available...

Does anyone have a pic of the rear suspension of a Beck; I've never seen what they do...Al

The suspension is standard swing-axle, but the frame to which it is attached is very different.  The main frame tubes (3" mandrel bent steel tubes) run at the outer edge of the body under the doors curving inward just in front of the rear torsion tube.  The torsion tube is like a cross member.  After attaching to the torsion tube, the side tubes then head straight to the rear of the car just inside the rear wheels.  At the same time they angle upward at least 6-8" and then head straight back, serving as the upper shock mounts.  There are several cross-members in that area, giving the frame better torsional rigidity that the standard pan, whose resistance to twisting aft of the pan itself is all within the center tunnel.

In the picture below, the rear of the frame is to the left.  The thick tube at the back of the tunnel is the torsion bar tube.

Thanks for the pic, Lane. One thing I don't get; with no frame horns for a rear transaxle mount, how is that area supported?

It uses a rear cradle, much like the original 356, and then that cradle is triangulated back to the chassis, similar to Kafer bars.  Much less flex than frame horns.

A lot of the VW you see in NE have rused out frame horns - I can see where with 2-4 times stock HP they aren't going to survive! See attached photo of rear hunk with rusted horns I bought several years ago from Portsmouth, VA.

It's hard to make out any detail on the rear rails, but it doesn't look like there's anything that would prevent welding in the two inner pivot brackets for the irs trailing arms. Actually, they'd be a lot easier to put in without the frame horns in the way. But without a closer inspection, it's hard to know if the trailing arms would have a clear arc of travel. At first glance, it appears like it'd be a very simple conversion, you'd just have worry about the track width of the rear wheels to make sure they still fit under the body.

I think Justin may be right.  Looking at this and the picture above makes it look relatively easy - for some of you guys with skills, that is.

Once IRS, it would be very easy to flip in a 901 5 speed! No pan to grind on for clearance.

No, the trailing arms will hit the 3" main rails on both sides where the tubes start to turn upward.  From this point back these tubes both support and act as; the rear shock upper mount,  brace between rear shocks, rear body support, and transaxle down support.  Converting this chassis to IRS requires a complete redesign of the chassis from the back side of the rockers rearward.

raise the trans & engine, no clearance issues with carbs.....thats what scoops are made for