Saving the Beetle's life this weekend

Shag wrote:
> On Jul 6, 12:25 pm, "Joey Tribiani" > wrote:
>> "Shag" > wrote in message
>>
>> ...
>>
>>> Got the front half done. Looks pretty dorky without the bed lifted
>>> but I'm not touching it again until next weekend.
>>> http://i28.tinypic.com/ojnfyp.jpg
>> it's a ranger, no matter what yo do to it, it will always look
>> dorky....hahahahahahaha
>
> Eat me. :-)
> It'll look great once I get some 33s slapped on there. Doing this
> body lift has completely cured me of the desire to want to lift the
> body of the Beetle. EVER. I will NEVER do another body lift again.
> Over here snorting BC Powders and guzzling Guinness to try to get over
> the soreness/pain now.

I see no reason for a body lift on a VW anyway. You don't gain anything
other than tire clearance and room inside. I'm 6' 1" and have plenty of
room in my Baja. I also have plenty of room for the 31/10.50-15's, and
can run 15" x 15" wide rims with paddles without any problems.

I'm very close to buying a pair of 31/11.50-15 LTB's for the back. Very
aggressive mud tires, they should work great for my rock crawling, mud
slinging trail rides.

Les

"Shag" > wrote in message
...
>Eat me. :-)

blech.... i'd rather eat those neckbones....<G>

>It'll look great once I get some 33s slapped on there. Doing this
>body lift has completely cured me of the desire to want to lift the
>body of the Beetle. EVER. I will NEVER do another body lift again.
>Over here snorting BC Powders and guzzling Guinness to try to get over
>the soreness/pain now.
body lifts aren't too bad, but i consider them to be more trouble than the
small gains are worth... a body lift on a bug always seemed a bit ridiculous
to me... then again, the bodylift is, and always has been, a cheap means to
get clearance for larger tires.... Good job, though, looks good... as good
as a ford can!! LOL

Shag wrote:

> Eat me. :-)

That's right. You tell him where to shove it. Shag, I find your work
enjoyable to read. Keep it up.

Isn't a body lift on a beetle done at least by cutting off the rear
suspension from the pan and welding it back on lower?

On Jul 6, 2:16*pm, Project Magnet #1 > wrote:
> Shag wrote:
> > On Jul 6, 12:25 pm, "Joey Tribiani" > wrote:
> >> "Shag" > wrote in message
>
> ....
>
> >>> Got the front half done. *Looks pretty dorky without the bed lifted
> >>> but I'm not touching it again until next weekend.
> >>>http://i28.tinypic.com/ojnfyp.jpg
> >> it's a ranger, no matter what yo do to it, it will always look
> >> dorky....hahahahahahaha
>
> > Eat me. *:-)
> > It'll look great once I get some 33s slapped on there. *Doing this
> > body lift has completely cured me of the desire to want to lift the
> > body of the Beetle. *EVER. *I will NEVER do another body lift again..
> > Over here snorting BC Powders and guzzling Guinness to try to get over
> > the soreness/pain now.
>
> I see no reason for a body lift on a VW anyway. You don't gain anything
> other than tire clearance and room inside...
>
> Les

Room inside? Huh? How does a body lift give you more room inside?
Anyway, the tire clearance was the idea. So I could run some better
tires for offroading without removing the fenders and putting on baja
fenders which would lead to the sawsall and dremel and a hacked up
body. I'd prefer to just go the baja route but I'm resisting the
temptation to cut into the car.

On Jul 6, 2:27*pm, "Joey Tribiani" > wrote:
> "Shag" > wrote in message
>
> ...
> *>Eat me. *:-)
>
> blech.... i'd rather eat those neckbones....<G>
>
> >It'll look great once I get some 33s slapped on there. *Doing this
> >body lift has completely cured me of the desire to want to lift the
> >body of the Beetle. *EVER. *I will NEVER do another body lift again.
> >Over here snorting BC Powders and guzzling Guinness to try to get over
> >the soreness/pain now.
>
> body lifts aren't too bad, but i consider them to be more trouble than the
> small gains are worth... a body lift on a bug always seemed a bit ridiculous
> to me... then again, the bodylift is, and always has been, a cheap means to
> get clearance for larger tires.... Good job, though, looks good... as good
> as a ford can!! LOL

It is a lot of trouble, that's for sure. I called a place called "We
Do Trucks" and they wanted $900 to install a 3" body lift or $2500 to
install a 4" suspension lift. I was too cheap to even pay them to do
the body lift. :-)

"David Gravereaux" > wrote in message
...
> Shag wrote:
>
>> Eat me. :-)
>
> That's right. You tell him where to shove it. Shag, I find your work
> enjoyable to read. Keep it up.

some folks just don't get sarcasm... you missed it twice, David... try
harder

>
> Isn't a body lift on a beetle done at least by cutting off the rear
> suspension from the pan and welding it back on lower?

nope.

"Shag" > wrote in message
...

>Room inside? Huh? How does a body lift give you more room inside?
>Anyway, the tire clearance was the idea. So I could run some better
>tires for offroading without removing the fenders and putting on baja
>fenders which would lead to the sawsall and dremel and a hacked up
>body. I'd prefer to just go the baja route but I'm resisting the
>temptation to cut into the car.

a bodylift on a bug does gain you interior height... a "bodylift" on a bug
is just a spacer between the pan and body...

"Shag" > wrote in message
...
>It is a lot of trouble, that's for sure. I called a place called "We
>Do Trucks" and they wanted $900 to install a 3" body lift or $2500 to
>install a 4" suspension lift. I was too cheap to even pay them to do
>the body lift. :-)
saving 9 bills is pretty good motivation to DIY.... i can't say i trust many
shops to work on anything i own, so have always done it myself... at least
then you know how it was done...

On Jul 6, 3:00*pm, "Joey Tribiani" > wrote:
> "Shag" > wrote in message
>
> ...
> *>It is a lot of trouble, that's for sure. *I called a place called "We>Do Trucks" and they wanted $900 to install a 3" body lift or $2500 to
> >install a 4" suspension lift. *I was too cheap to even pay them to do
> >the body lift. *:-)
>
> saving 9 bills is pretty good motivation to DIY.... i can't say i trust many
> shops to work on anything i own, so have always done it myself... at least
> then you know how it was done...

Yeah, in doing this lift I've come upon several items that made me
stop and wonder how the shop that cranks these things out every day
would have handled it. Like one of the AC hoses that contacted a
lower pulley... The kit comes with a bracket that you can attach to a
stud coming out of the engine block to help hold that hose out of the
way. The bracket was a pain in the ass to install, but I did it
anyway. Even though I was able to tug at the hard-line part of the AC
hose and make it so that the hose was no longer touching the
pulley... Enough bouncing around over time, though, and I could see
that hose coming back into contact with the pulley unless you install
the retaining bracket. I tell you what, though, the instructions that
came with this body lift kit absolutely suck. They will have a
section "under the hood" that you'll be in the middle of and all of a
sudden they talk about a part that is down under the frame. Or they
will tell you to take stuff of that has nothing at all to do with the
lift like the cover over the fuel injection unit. I took it off like
they said and then later when I was putting everything back, I put it
back on... thinking... why the hell did I ever take that off to begin
with? And the air intake hose. Huh? Why did they want me to take
that off and put it back on later? Or the four nuts that were
supposed to be included with the kit to attach the front bumper
relocation brackets (notice the front bumper is not on in the picture
I linked to above)... Those four nuts did not exist in the kit I
got. Gotta run into town to the hardware store with the bracket to
get some so that I can mount the bumper back. Just a bunch of crap
like that. There are several very small changes that could be made to
the kit to make it twice as easy to install. And Ford... Don't get
me started on the idiotic engineering that used to save twenty cents
here and there... Don't get me wrong... I know it all works stock
but they sure as hell didn't put any thought into someone going in and
changing anything later. OK, enough ranting for now. Time to feed
the dogs and get another beer. :-)

"Shag" > wrote in message
...
>. OK, enough ranting for now. Time to feed
>the dogs and get another beer. :-)

just don't give the dogs the beer....<G>