Here are the Kerscher struts fitted. I'm not going too low as the Subaru sump will need some help getting over speed bumps! They feature adjustable Koni insets and progressive Eibach springs.

The rear will drop a bit with the weight of the Subaru engine.

Test fitting one of the Cup wheels reveals it will be a very snug fit but do-able under standard width wings.

Front hubs started off as a blank MBT set that I got from a guy in Germany. They needed turning down to fit inside the front 996 disc. I also removed 4mm of the front surface to keep a standard track.

I had to drill and tap for the disc retaining screw as none of the others matched up.

Here's the rear caliper adapter. I built up the caliper with pads, positioned it on the disc (1986 944 turbo) and then measured what was required from the adapter. The adapter is made from T6 aluminium that I got a meter length of on ebay.

Rear all assembled! Just need to reverse the link pipe and bleed nipples as they need swapping over side to side due to the different piston sizes in the calipers.

Calipers and discs trial fitted up, the disc went on fine but not so lucky for the caliper!

The original spindle lugs don't let the caliper go on far enough...

The rear of the spindle was spotfaced to get a bigger flat surface for the caliper adapter.

A small amount of material has been ground off for pad clearance.

Here's the finished assembly from the front

and the back! This was quite a simple way of doing things in the end. The new holes in the spindle have been tapped for an M12x1.5 so all the bolts are the same.

Finally fitted!

Clearance for the wheel between the wing and spring is very tight so I need to get the car on a ramp and fine-tune the wheel camber.

Pic of front suspension after the front suspension was refurbished with new urethane bushes and tie rod.

 

Rear beetle handbrake cable was adapted using a kit form Vdubcustoms in Canada. This sleeve adapts the stock cable to the 944 parts.

and this new 'swan neck' lets the stock beetle cable end mate up with the 944 handbrake internals.

Bug is back on 4 wheels!

Just need to make some longer rigid brake lines and then purge with new brake fluid. I think the rear will drop to a nice height with weight of the Subaru engine..

Sheet metal section stripped off the chassis

Central section cut out to enable forward shift of the transmission. A 2mm cutting disc in my 9" angle grinder did the job, but unfortunately also cut through the left handbrake cable tube!

You can see here how I have set the position of the rear of the trans using threaded bars. Quite a lot of clearancing of the right framehorn was needed

The left framehorn hardly needed touching at all

The centre section will have the splined section removed and welded in to the torsion tube further out to allow the use of swing axle torsion bars.

I will probably use the stock front transmission mount spaced away from the trans by about an inch

My initial idea for new framehorns, this will be made out of 40x60x3mm steel tube and will extend back to meet the stock Subaru engine mounts. The loop around the front of the trans will go some way to getting the strength back in across the section that I cut out.

A spacer was required to use the stock 911 front crossmember, now I can make up some mounts to weld onto the framehorns.

Brackets welded to the chassis...

Trans refitted to check bracket location.

framehorns finally completely cut off, no going back now!!!

After the centre was cut out the outer sections of the torsion tube were not properly aligned, this makeshift jig brought it all back straight before the top framehorn tube was welded in.

This is the amount of clearancing that was required to go around the torsion tube and inner suspension brackets

Loosely fitted in place...

The old centre splined section was stripped down and cleaned up, then cut in two before being trimmed to fit and generously chamfered to get a good weld

Welded in...

Lots of measuring with the digital level to make sure it was all square was done before fully welding it in place

Just a quick check to see how the trans fits, here you can see how much more volume there is on the right hand side of the gearbox.

It may seem minor, but I didn't want to sacrifice the reverse light switch, you can see it just by the inner IRS bracket in this picture and it will stay accessible between the upper and lower tubes. I did some measuring to where the subaru engine bushings will end up and they will lign up about perfectly with the end of the bottom tube!

I had to cut down the radius of the bottom of the original framehorn so it would fit nicely.

Just a quick mock-up while clearancing the lower tube for the torsion tube and IRS bracket. Note it is over-long and I will trim it to length when the engine is fitted to suit the engine mounts.

Here's how I have replaced the handbrake cable guide tubes, it bolts up underneath the top of tunnel using bolts through the top into a threaded plate.

I tack welded a section between the ends of the lower horns to keep them square before welding

Seam welded all around, you can also see the handbrake tube welded in place

Framehorns done!!!!

Now time to make the new floors... Here is the first section, I had to open up the tunnel a bit to get access to weld them in properly (just tacked for nwo until a trial body fit)

Side tubes made on the old floors to get the correct profile and bolt positions

Trial fitted on the body (both sides)

Then a second one made up.

Original floors now cut out, the air chisel certainly paid off!

Both rear sections now tacked in ready for trial fit to the body

Both side rails bolted in place, I've also temporarily bolted in the front tube, this will become the bottom section of the napolean's hat on the chassis...

First time body is down on the chassis

Rear sections required a bit more fettling to line up nicely, they were then removed and tapped for the body bolts...

Bottom of framehead was a disaster zone! Pidgeon shit welding covered by filler.... twice!!!

All came off...

Here's how the bottom section now sits, nearly there! Next step is to weld it all up then drop the chassis from hte body and then I'll fix the bottom of the framehead.

Chassis mostly welded, now dropped from the body to add a few gussets (by trans brackets and front body mounts) and finish off the welding.

I'll be reworking the napolean's hat for the hydraulic clutch master cylinder and also be adding crossmembers for seat mounts.

Chassis flipped upside down to finish off chassis welding. Bottom of bulkhead area with all rust cut out and local repairs

New repair panels fabricated in 2mm steel and welded in place, not forgetting some drain holes so hopefully prevent all that rust re-appearing in the future!

I decided to re-make the front transmission cradle mounts and tie them into the rear frame, this is much neater and stronger.

Both sides done...

Gussets added to the front section of the chassis. Much tidier and will add a decent amount of strength in torsion.

Both sides done...

Reverse mount hydraulic pedal assembly from OBP. I'll sink the floor flush to the bottom of the chassis in this area and hopefully move the pedals a bit more central to the footwell.

Floor mounting flange now remade to drop the floor, the centre tunnel side slightly narrowed/smoothed for a bit more room.

Here you can see how the dropped floor is blended in to the tunnel.

After some trimming to make more room so I can move the pedals over more centrally. I've welded in two 5mm thick strips to mount the pedal box on to. The throttle cable will come through the front tube back to the pedal and this makes more space for that too.

You can just about see that the throttle pedal pivot comes very close to the footwell strengthener panel, I'll notch this out to give more clearance and enable easier assembly.

Strengthener panel now notched to give more clearance to the throttle pedal shaft.

At each body bolt hole in the chassis I decided to drill out the chassis tube with a hole saw at each side and weld in a length of tubing, this gives a much neater and stronger end result

Getting there!

Welding captive nuts into the bottom of the new framehorns for a removable bottom tube. I think the chassis will be a fair bit stronger than stock even though I have cut the central section out...

Fine-tuning the shifter position

Looking almost finished from this angle...

Transmission sits nicely up and out of the way, this is probably not far off the final ride height.

Just have to make the engine mounts and figure out a neat way of attaching them to the end of the framehorn

Pic of tunnel modified for the 911 shifter

Removable brace now made, anti-roll bar will sit between it and the front trans mount

Chassis modified with a steel tube hoop over the nose of the gearbox and a transmission tunnel built in to the body, I used the edge flange from the old crossmembers to preserve a factory appearance and also left a small gap for the body gasket.

The front end was then plated in 3mm steel plate to add a bit more strength.

Access to the shifter coupling was very fiddly before, much easier now with this removable section.

Mock up using early 944 axles & CVs

Angle is about 12 degrees. Clearance to the damper isn't great, I may modify the trailing arm to get a bit more clearance so I can use coil-overs later on.

Brackets modified from the old 944 rear end I bought and welded on to the bug's torsion bar housing, it fits nicely between the trans front mount and the framehorn brace.

Bit more work on the chassis in preparation for making the floors. Template on left hand side (wallpaper lining makes great templates!) and also welding in more strip as I plan to have the driver's side front floor section removable.

To gain more caster, the simplest way was to move the anti-roll bar mountings forwards, I trialled a 20mm spacer and that worked perfectly so that is how much I have extended the chassis by... I believe adjustable anti-roll bars are available in some parts of the world...

All welded up and ground smooth

Chassis closed up around the front of the trans to give some extra strength.

Beadroller paying for itself now! Rear floor section is flat (apart from the ribs), the dropped floor section by the pedals will be a removable aluminium panel so won't be done until after paint.

Floors in, paint next!

First coat of paint! I'm using epoxy mastic 121 this time as I've heard very good reports. POR-15 can be good but is a real pain with so many prep stages required for it to work well.

Trailing arms and spring plates also stripped and painted. I'll be replacing the stubaxles with G50 sized ones...

Not much space for the brake bias adjuster cable, so I routed it inside the chassis tube. The knob will probably be fitted on the A post just below the base of the dash.

Chassis mod has worked out great, wheel now nicely centred.

Quick image of how it looks with the body on, now time to get cracking on the body!

Pair of pro-tech dampers for the rear end (15" open, 10" closed), they only have 125lb/inch springs as I still have the 'short' torsion bars which will be stiffer than the original IRS longer bars, together they should be about right for the heavier engine and trans.

I went for the biggest bushes pro-tech had and didn't need any spacers at the top mounting, small ones either side at the lower end.

I held a G50 911 axle in position and luckily it looks like there will be enough clearance to the spring. Normally this wouldn't be an issue but with the trans moved forwards it was something I needed to check...

Decided to make up my own spherical top strut mounts.

Trial mounted before fully welding.

Suspension arm also shortened by 15mm so I could ge tthe bigger wheels nicely fitted under the stock front wings. Turning circle will be increased a bit but it was very good to start with so shouldn't be too bad.

All mounted up and a nice fitment with 1,5 degrees of camber...

I made up a couple of aluminium plates to stop the torsion bars sliding inside, also a small bracket for the 2 new fuel pipes (5/16" kinifer) which ended up clashing with the body so I'll have to redo that!