slammed graffiti '69 IN PROGRESS

[Louis]

Got it running again, now hopefully slam will occur next week. Knock on wood

 

[Louis]

Got the C-Notch for the front done, here's some pics.

On the inside of the drivers frame rail I had to bend the brake line and clutch tube/cable up

The wiring harness runs through the inside of the frame rail on the pass. side so try not to cut through it like we did

Finished product

I did run into a problem when I went to lower the bus the rest of the way. I dropped it 2 upper adjuster teeth and 4 lower adjuster teeth (I'm running KP/LP 4" narrowed with spindles btw) and when I did, it was impossible to stear the bus. It was so hard to turn, I started to rip the new rag joint. I looked under the bus and there was nothing touching or rubbing, tires were close but not touching and the tie rods were miles away from anything. When I lifted it back up to where it was, it turned fine.

I was thinking it might be caster but I dont think caster would make it THAT hard to stear plus it was equally hard to stear in reverse. The only suspension pieces that change angle when dropping it are the tie rods and they werent hanging up on anything. I have noticed that when there is a heavy load when the beam is adjusted up, the steering gets more difficult as well, but nowhere near this bad.

Has anybody had a similar experience or any idea about what might be going on? I wanna slam my bus more.........
Its a shame, it looked so damn good that low and I was too distracted/discouraged to take any pics of it.


P.S. Thanks Dave for all the help with the fab work!

 

[dubscum]

I did run into a problem when I went to lower the bus the rest of the way. I dropped it 2 upper adjuster teeth and 4 lower adjuster teeth (I'm running KP/LP 4" narrowed with spindles btw) and when I did, it was impossible to stear the bus. It was so hard to turn, I started to rip the new rag joint. I looked under the bus and there was nothing touching or rubbing, tires were close but not touching and the tie rods were miles away from anything. When I lifted it back up to where it was, it turned fine.

I was thinking it might be caster but I dont think caster would make it THAT hard to stear plus it was equally hard to stear in reverse. The only suspension pieces that change angle when dropping it are the tie rods and they werent hanging up on anything. I have noticed that when there is a heavy load when the beam is adjusted up, the steering gets more difficult as well, but nowhere near this bad.

Has anybody had a similar experience or any idea about what might be going on? I wanna slam my bus more.........
Its a shame, it looked so damn good that low and I was too distracted/discouraged to take any pics of it.

exactly the same mate, couldn't see anything touching. ended up raising it up and it was fine again :?

 

[Louis]

but yours looks much lower than mine. hmmm i wonder what it is. I put it on turn plates today at work and lowered it down again and it did turn easier in the first direction but then when I had to turn back it was still very difficult. I have another steering box at home thats in great shape so im gonna put that in and see if it helps at all, but Im not very optimistic. I was also thinking about bypassing the rag joint and bolting the column to the box. I was also thinking maybe its the extreme angle of the tierods causing it so i was thinking about drilling the center/swing lever to feed the tie rods from the top which would level them out more. but im running out of ideas...... I need more slam!

 

[Louis]

Went to a car meet the other day and some guy took some pretty sweet pics and posted them on a local forum. Here's the goods:

still need to figure out my lack of steering when fully slammed issue.....

 

[dubscum]

love your bus dude, here's my mate's dirty late

 

[moler]

Could both your problems be this?...

...once you go down so far the mounting bolt head fouls on the steering arm, makes steering tight and notchy.

 

[dubscum]

i'm not sure but thank you, next bus I get i'll be sure to check

 

[Louis]

Wow, I need to go check that out! Theres a good chance that whats goin on. Any fix for it that anyone knows of?

And dubscum, your buddies late looks damn cool. now to get it on the ground..... lol

 

[moler]

Wow, I need to go check that out! Theres a good chance that whats goin on. Any fix for it that anyone knows of?

And dubscum, your buddies late looks damn cool. now to get it on the ground..... lol

I used an allen key headed bolt that I'd thinned down a little

 

[Slammed]

Nail on the head Molar.
A little griding at an angle will fix that. Grinding at an angle means you can still get a spanner on it, you just grind the side of the bolt head where it is fouling. 8)

 

[Louis]

Well still nothing new here, haven't had much time to mess with it. I wanna check that bolt issue lower the rear some more. In the mean time, here's my bus with a local celebrity...

 

[Louis]

OK, so since my last visit, theres been some issues/progress but mostly driving lol. I done went and blew up the old engine so I just put in a 1600dp the other day. Been doing some test and tune since then and got her goin pretty good. Thanks to some inspiring links from a friend, I crawled under the bus today and found out my lack of steering when slammed problem. It is indeed that trailing arm/KP bolt fouling on the spindle! So now its time to grind it down and get her in the weeds! Damn priorities getting in the way of making my bus all that I dream.....

 

[Louis]

Got the front down, cant go any lower till I tub it though. I finished the rear too but havnt had a chance to get a pic during the day yet lol.

Need to trim the mustache bar and maybe exhaust if I wanna go lower out back too...

 

[DadWagens]

Dude, that thing is dumped. 8)

Instead of trimming down my mustache bar I just bought this:

http://www.royrogersparts.com/vw211-199-203b.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's only forty bucks and if you spend ten more dollars the shipping is free. Totally worth the time and effort saved.

 

[squareweave]

Dude, that thing is dumped. 8)

Instead of trimming down my mustache bar I just bought this:

http://www.royrogersparts.com/vw211-199-203b.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's only forty bucks and if you spend ten more dollars the shipping is free. Totally worth the time and effort saved.

I have one of those as well and they are great. They sit flush if no even a little higher than the bottom of the engine case.

 

[Louis]

^Hmmm.... Might have to consider that, but welding mine is close to free but that is a swell piece!

Heres some more pics-

 

[Valentine Won]

Love the paint job 8)
and the stance ain`t bad either

 

[justcruzin]

Too Cool!! I too love the paint.

 

[Louis]

Thanks!!!