I have a couple of cut up old floor pans which would make great donor pans to start with so I wouldn't have to destroy any existing inventory of Beetle pans. :)
I went out and measured the pans and my Super Beetle just for reference and the Beetle pan is 4' wide at it's rearward and widest point. After looking at overhead shots of Beetles, it appears that the widest point on the body is the seam at the back of the door. Beetle bodies are quite complex as the entire car is even rounded somewhat top to bottom. You can see it in photos, diagrams, and even on the Avon Beetle that sits on the shelf in the bathroom. :) Also, using the diagram I made at http://incolor.inebraska.com/elassley_bie//temp/VW%20Truck%20Idea0002.JPG this represents an extension of about 15 inches which approxmately doubles the length between the rear of the door seam and the front of the fender. After doing some eyeballing, the beetle would have a box length of about 6' 7" which is a bit less than what I thought was possible however, the bed could be stretched to make 7' which would still hold wood and so forth if it was allowed to overhang the back a bit. The problem is that if you want a full length box on a Beetle, it's disproportionate and would make it appear to be something like a stretch crewcab or something. To make it more pleasing to the eye, you'd have to stick with the 6'7" length I came up with give or take. To get the bed lowered, I was wondering if using a Thing shroud would help as I know those were flat on top. The other choice would be to use these Type 4 parts up I have around here and build up a pancake engine and run that. Also, with the back end opened up, it would lend itself to a Vanagon or Subaru style engine as well and the radiator could be mounted under the bed. The last thing I thought of is that with the back half of the beetle removed, that puts a LOT of stress on the pan that it was not designed to take. The metal in the tunnel isn't as thick as one might think. So I can see that before even thinking of splicing another 16" into the pan, one would have to put some serious reinforcement into the pan which basically means a frame of sorts and I'm not sure the rails from a convertible would be enough. I remember when Randy Yates of Omaha, NE put an Olds V8 in the back of a Ghia, how his support rails ran on top of the pan as he had to create a frame to support everything in the back and somehow tie it in to the front. Now this would be a light duty truck, however I'm thinking a combination of tubing welded inside to the floor along the heater channel and underneath would be needed to keep the pan from folding in half. Then where the beetle body was cut (in my diagram even with the front of the rear quarter window) weld in a heavy piece of tubing that follows the contour of the bug body vertically. Then the box would attach to this point and to a heavy piece of metal welded across ahead of but in the same general location of where the front of the rear seat rests on that angled piece of metal. This would tend to transfer the folding stresses into the vertical pieces in the bug body. With the pieces of the reinforced pan included, I think it would work. Yeah it's a lot of work but still fun to think on and muse about. :) NQ _______________________________________________ vintagvw site list vintagvw@lists.sjsu.edu http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw
