Too bad you can’t search on sold vehicles so we can see the ultimate transction prices!

Marc, Here is what I would suggest.  Take the shocks out of the front and measure the distance between shock mounts. It probably did not change unless you have adjustable air (as opposed to gas) shocks.  Now if you were to want to raise the body, you would either adjust the setting on the beam adjuster or add leaves.  If you currently have 10 lea…[Read more]

Royal is right about installing a taller shock. That will not help your clearance issues.
And based on what my friend told me last night about the amount of “lift” when you unload the suspension, I would say yes, five inches or so of comprlession is normal when the car is on the tires.
Mrlmd, I don’t recall, do you have an adjustable beam in your…[Read more]

I don’t think any leaves were taken out of mine. I’m just wondering if my shocks are too short or they have bottomed out although they don’t seen so by looking at them. I cannot find anywhere on the web what length they are supposed to be, I only know they are 15″ long as they sit in my car right now, and Paul says that distance should be 21″.

Marc, I suspect that you don’t want to hear this but I really don’t think that you want to “fix” your clearance problem by putting in a taller shock.  The reason that a taller shock would raise the front end would be that it was bottomed out meaning that it would be at the extreme of the compressed stage.  This would be like putting a steel rod i…[Read more]

Paul – sorry, I meant GR-2, not GS-2 (typo). What my question was supposed to be, is that if my lower to upper shock mount is supposed to be 21″, and I only measure 15″ with that shock, is that shock OK, does it compress that much sitting unloaded, or is that shock too short? Can you get a taller shock that is “soft”?There is no doubt that if I…[Read more]

 Roy, One other thing to remember,, Remove the same number of leaves from both the upper and lower tube.This will allow the suspension to still function as it was originally designed. If you remove leaves from only one tube,the front would indeed come down but it would have one stiff spring and one softer one.Also ,though it may necessitate…[Read more]

What Paul shows is just like what came on my ’55 TF1500.

While we all wait Rockyx’s result, here is something else to ponder.  Page 124 of Jud Purvis “Fix Your Volkswagen”, 1965, reads:
EASY WAY TO REMOVE TORSION BARS
To remove either or both of the front torsion bars, the front end of the car must be raised and supported behind the frame head.
1-Remove front wheels.
2-Remove outer tie rod…[Read more]

mrlmd…you’re not hi-jacking. This is all related to what Royal is trying to accomplish.I pulled those measurements from a variety of VW sources.
I’d prefer to take measurements off my own TD. But I don’t have access to it yet. It’s being held hostage. Nine inches off the ground, with no suspension changes and no added weight over the front end…[Read more]

Rockyx, I am very interested in watching the progress on softening your front end.  Please try to take some good pictures. Will be particularly interested in if you had to take the whole beam off and whether you could slip a leaf or two out when the others weren’t watching while working from just one side. Thanks, for taking over as the guinea p…[Read more]

I don’t want to hijack this thread, but want to ask Paul a quick question related to my earlier thread on car height and rubbing tires on the fender edge when making tight turns.Paul, you said in your first post on here that the car height should be 7.5″ off the ground and with a ball joint suspension, the distance between upper and lower shock…[Read more]

 Buzz, I believe your car is a FiberFab. Royal’s is a MIGI. The MIGI’s body is  farther to the rear of the VW pan ,whereas the FiberFabs sit closer to the front of the pan .That’s why the steering box is easier to see on his car. My London Roadster, which usee a Daytona MiGi body sits in the same position. That’s also why the grille is shorter th…[Read more]

When i first got mine i had a similar problem after removing the wipers and all the linkage and motor  and cleaning it  all they have worked fine 4 years now like yours mine sat for 20 some years i also keep rain x in the car just in-case Dan

Roy,  I am mechanically minded but not a mechanic.  However, I jumped right in on the rebuild of my front suspension with the help of guys on this site and Samba. As a matter of fact I’m going to pull mine back apart this weekend and remove the smaller leaves as suggested by folks here (thanks Ed)If you want to give it a shot I (along with o…[Read more]

My question is;who built the car?,you?,or did you purchase.from the pics it looks like a converted super to standard,or as stated the beem was raised,or the front of the body was shimmed up for some reason,You can see too much of the steering box in the pics,you have to get on the ground an look to see mine

Just found this, but I don’t recall if the holes are pre-drilled on my front bumper:
http://www.british-cars.org/mgtd-mgtf1500-bbs/front-license- plate-bracket-2010082223403510288.htm
The quick hit: there are two of these brackets, they bolt to the lower edge of the front bumper and hang down for the license plate.
PMOSSBERG40836.7105555556

The front plate bracket provided by Classic Roadsters is basically a steel tube that fits between the front bumper springs. A threaded rod goes through the tube, through each bumper spring, with an acorn nut on each end.
A license plate size piece of steel is welded to the rod, the plate bolts to that.
Would be very easy to fabricate.

Tks Larry, I took it for a the bumpiest ride on the worst road I could find and nothing changed except that now I need some new dentures.  I just found out that we are getting company next week so I lost my best worker/mechanic/helper (my wife) for a while.  I am still wondering if the leaves come out all together or is it possible to slip them o…[Read more]

 Look in Rockyx’s ”front suspension apart” thread . There are pictures of his disassembled front end. You can see the leaves sticking out of each end of the beam and also the sleeve part of the arms and how far they slide into the beam. It looks to me that they MIGHT be removeable from one side but I wonder if they would slide back into the…[Read more]