Shortening Pan

Check You Tube...You need to be sure both chassis sections are joined back together perfectly level.

I did mine 30 years ago - the hard part was finding straight 2x4" at Lowes.  I carefully measured and scribed marks then cut and remeasured.  I also measured diagonals.  I did see one You-Tube that put angle iron along floor pan sides to heel it flat.  My floor pans were long gone. though.

This is from early build manual --- manual I got with mine used the 2x4".

thank you!  trying to wrap my head around everything tubing wise in the channel, relocation of E brake, heater control, etc.

I appreciate all the help!

@kcracing28 posted:

thank you!  trying to wrap my head around everything tubing wise in the channel, relocation of E brake, heater control, etc.

I appreciate all the help!

Now is the time to consider relocating the e-brake under the dash. After the body is on the chassis it is exponentially harder.

I know you're trying to make your plastic fantastic Speedster more P like by relocating the emergency brake under the dash, but why bother?  It's not a Porsche and will never be.  Celebrate what it is- not a car that is irreplaceable and driven from the garage to the trailer to the show field and back (and the general public never sees), but a really fun tribute to one of the coolest cars ever made that you can drive any where and not have to worry about it should something happen.  You'll be able to do handbrake turns and if you have a drill press (and a whole bunch of extra time- it will astound you how long it takes!) you can do this-                                                 

That's a piece of art to hang on the patio😂  thanks for sharing.  I just need to get cutting and go from there.  I've seen tubes cut or used such as heaters etc. thank you for the input everyone!

@kcracing28

Before you start cutting things up and especially before you start messing with the tubes inside of the tunnel, take a close look at the rear of the pan where the tubes exit.  Each tube is attached to the frame with small spot welds.  Carefully break those welds (I used an angle grinder or a Dremel and a HD cut-off wheel) and then when the pan is opened and the chevron-shaped section removed you just push the front and rear halves back together and let the tubes slide out the back.  After everything is welded back together, spot weld the tubes back to the frame and cut off the excess.

Using the 2 X 4's to get everything straight and level works (so does steel 2" angle iron if you're OCD), just take your time and measure everything, like, 25 times, then tack weld it every few inches and then return and finish weld it.

There was a good picture posted here of the inside ot the tunnel - best I could find on web-

How to Shorten a VW Pan (lightner.net)

@ALB  You know.......    Each time I see that religious e-brake handle I think that on the very first time I pull up on it, it's gonna take on the shape of a Hockey stick forevermore.

But I'm wit'cha in your perforation compulsion, because I remember the beautiful lightening job done on the brake levers (and lots of other stuff) on my 41-year-old racing bicycle, now retired and serving as my winter training Rocinante (work horse).  It served me well, even through a few panic stops, Holy brake levers and all....  And I just reset the odometer and for 2020, with all the nuttiness going on, I racked up 783 miles on the trainer (1208 out on the road on the other bike).

Man those look heavy...

Gordon, don't listen to Ed. I fondly remember those Dia Compe levers as well. They were on EVERYTHING in the 70s. I don't have my old Motobecane or Peugeot bikes anymore.

“In the 70’s?”, Danny?   I’m not that.......

Oo.....    Wait a minute.   Yes, I AM that old.  Started riding in Earnest, a town just east of Worcester 😉  in 1969 on a Schwinn Paramount racer that eventually got stolen in Boston when I was in college.

Lots and lots of miles behind these old legs.

I think Gordon still rides in earnest.  He is the most earnest rider I know.

Ahhh....   "The importance of being Earnest".  

One of my favorite plays by Oscar Wilde.  Almost like a "Who's on First?" storyline.

Huh. That series was, as ol' Bernie Shaw used to say, "one of Wilde's?"

Is Bernie Shaw the one with the mittens?

My god this is the perfect place for the Bernie Meme (and the only place he's not yet been dropped).