Possible Bent Chassis

[SteG40]

Not having much luck with the car at the moment. Basically I was fitting my subframe and it's miles out. If you mount it at the back on the TCA's the front bolts on the ARB mounts are about 2 inches out each side. To make it fit the frame would need shortening. Also don't know if it's connected but one of the ARB bolts was bent too.

The car did have a bump into with a kerb about 5 years, it was jigged and checked but Steve at PSD did notice it was marginally out when fitting my engine and suspension 2 years ago but said it ok, so I knew it wasn't the straightest but a bit of a suprise it is this far out.

Is there anything else it could be apart from the frame being wrong?

[hayesey]

sounds like it's probably bent to me.  what subframe do you have?

[scotsjohn]

If the chassis was screwed by 50mm both sides you'd have the chassis rails in the cab with you.
Most likely a rogue frame. I'd send dimensions to supplier; can't imagine either PPP or PPS being the kind of folk to give you hassle on this.

[jez1272gt]

^^ sounds the most likely to me too. when i fitted my PPP subframe the back TCA mounts fitted perfectly but the front ARB plate holes were out by app. 15mm on both sides.. almost every car will be slightly different with these locations as it depends on the actual jig they were manufactured on. however it sounds like that might be a frame problem and a slightly twisted chassis there!!

[Andy]

Our frames (PPP) are built on an actual car - a low mileage 1043cc Mk3. I'm not sure what PPS do, but would be surprised if they built one that was 2" out whether it be from a jig or a car! I'm guessing yours is a PPS one, as I don't think we've sold you one directly? Do PM me if it's one of ours so we can sort it.

From the cars we had around at the time they were originally developed (1 x Mk1, 1 x Mk2 breadvan, 4 x Mk3 - 2 CLs, a GT and a G40) the variation was less than 10mm in the bolt hole distances. Don't forget that the ARB mount on the driver's side is adjustable, and don't bolt one side or front/rear up solidly 'til you've got all the bolts in.

[Andy]

Also, if you're not in a hurry - might be worth taking a few measurements from the car and comparing with other people. Try to use a bit of bar to measure, as a tape measure tends to flop around too much to be any more than vaguely accurate.

[Weeman]

Does anyone have measurements of their car?

I measured mine when I took my engine out.. Measurements as follows:

drivers side: front of tca mount to rear bolt of arb mount: 305mm
passenger side: front of tca mount to rear bolt of arb mount: 300mm
arb to arb mount: again rear bolt, 670mm

altho now that the car has been sat there with nothing in the front at all (no panels at all) it is now 15mm wider between the two arb mounts.

Hope that makes sense and is helpful....

Iain.

[Andy]

Shows how much flex there is in the front of a Mk3 without the bumper bar and radiator bracketry!

There's adjustment in your driver's side ARB mount, so you might be able to even things up a bit. I'd suggest that anyone fitting a subframe considers slackening off the bumper bar, radiator bracket and ARB mount if they're struggling to get it to fit.

[Weeman]

I'm going to use a good old rachet strap to pull it back into shape before I bolt the subframe inplace. You can pull them so far by hand, and my chassis legs have been plated to add strength too!

I think that does go to show how much flex there is!

[hayesey]

whenyou've got the front ed off and engine out you can easily move the chassis legs 10mm from side to side with just your hand.  So it's easy to see that just so much as knocking into a kerb a couple of times will cock the front end up.

[lance]

i hit a house in my first gt that fucked its shit right up.

[SteG40]

I've had another go at it and definately bent, the passanger side is still miles out and that's the side that was a bit bent to start with there's no chance it'll fit. So looks like another G bits the dust. Started stripping it already need to decide what to do.

First thought was to re-shell it but I might just sell everything, time to move on i've had 5 years now and I fancy another MK1 Golf.

[lance]

seems a shame mate cos its clean really.

[Nick_S]

Mk1 Golf T40

[LeonL]

aw a shame...Personally i'd reshell it!

If you do decide enough is enough though contact me and i'll me intersted in Turbo conversion!