'64 Sunroof "Geek"

Went down to Bug-Eyed today and got some drop spindles, bearings, tie rod ends and rear IRS bearings and seals.

I have narrowed the beam about 25mm/side but I need more. I kind of went on my past build on OBugga. That beam was about 40mm/side with no drop spindles and I ran 8 spoke Empis. The Empi's were supposed to have this awful offset but it turns out that the BRM's are worse. I measured 3.5" backspacing, the Empi's were 4". More room on the Empi's. So I said all that to say that I had to go back and do some math and calculate how much was taken away from the narrow(widening the track).
I determined the spindles added 1/4", the BRM's 1/2" and then my cuts/welds weren't as accurate as I thought so the gaps added a small amount so I'll add a little to take these factors into my calculation. I came up with about 25mm/side I need to go back and cut out. That is no problem going back and cutting this additional amount out it's the body hitting the shock towers that will have to be modified to clear. Don't even say it I'm running shocks on this car. Never thought about not running them. It's about the look but the same goes for the ride. OBugga had a decent ride height and an equal ride, it was a nice balance. So with Geek I'm after the same outcome. So this beam will end up 50mm/side thats not the total difference of OBugs set up but that one had some nice room in it and the tire was down on the fender with no rubbs. The only rub was on the headlight bucket so with drop spindles they are supposed to keep the tire off the bucket. We'll see.

Here is a few pics I took tonight that show how close the tire is to the fender.




Yeah that tire is gunna rub when my big ass is going down the road in this car. The tire needs to be moved in board to clear the lip and that will work well. The ride height is about where it should be and the tire is turned a little so the back of the tire looks even closer than it would if it were pointed straight. Looking at past pictures of the car with the l/p-swing setup it looks like it is really close right now to where it was then and that was a perfect height for my use of the car. It has been my experience that these things settle a bit(3/4"-1") after the car is fully assembled and static weight has been on the suspension for a few weeks. Those big tires on the rear are going to be a challenge to get the rear down where I want it but that will be another post.

Worked on Geek's beam last couple nights and narrowed it a little more. So the final measurement was 106mm total. Drop spindles do a lot for clearance not only to lower the car but also keep the tire back away from the fender. You can see in the pictures when the wheel is turned that the tire has good clearance. Shouldn't rub when turning and going over a bump. The beam is narrow and I had to modify the body to clear the towers. It was not hard but if it were narrower I don't think it would work with the shock towers.

Looks good!

Nice work, sir. That's a great stance that it's got.

Did you have to cut out any of the body while modifying it to clear the towers?

Looks awesome man!

Thanks guys.

Jon65 wrote:Did you have to cut out any of the body while modifying it to clear the towers?

No, no cutting. Just a rubber mallet at first then a ballpin hammer. Less under coating to remove. I had to do this to OBugga only it was painted and didn't look so nice after I was finished with the rubber hammer.

Now comes the fun part cutting and dimpling the torsion leaves. I don't think it will be as big a chore with the use of this jig. Place it on the leaves and tighten it down run the drill bit in with a drill motor, marking the spot to machine the dimple. Simple.



I think I'll measure the other stock beam and see how much the factory had hanging out for the arm to connect to and duplicate that for my beam. This should give the proper tenstion on the beam arm seal at the end and ensure a good caster measurement also.

nice trick

rpm750 wrote:Thanks guys.

Jon65 wrote:Did you have to cut out any of the body while modifying it to clear the towers?

No, no cutting. Just a rubber mallet at first then a ballpin hammer. Less under coating to remove. I had to do this to OBugga only it was painted and didn't look so nice after I was finished with the rubber hammer.

Cool. Thanks for answering.

I was just wondering what you did because I'm trying to gather info for when I go to drop spindles in the future.