I was thinking about what way to go with the front beam in my Barndoor.
I always thought I would have a narrowed late beam with Barndoor mounts to get the wheels tucked and out of the way of the doglegs. But I believe narrowed beams always run a little rougher then stock due to the shortened leaf springs.
But I've also heard barndoors run a little saggy at the front due to poorer and sometimes (non deluxes) less leaf springs. So would it not be a nice compromise to have a narrowed Barndoor beam? Where the shortened leaf springs actually improve the spring rate and make it more like a latter split?
Is this right, or am I missing something?

One other thing. At the back, Barndoor torsion bars are shorter so does that make the ride firmer or are they softer to compromise?

the height your going dude then a beam made to use later stuff would be fine, the ride will always be a bit bumpy with a narrowed beam but the ride is great. Daves windy window drive amazingly well. We have plans for ours now to get them even better. Give me a call if you want dude. Gareth

Cheers dude.
It would always be basically a later beam. But was just wondering if there was some advantage in keeping the BD torsion leaves to ruduce the firmness. It would mean Barndoor trailing arms. But with 63 spindles I don't see any obvious disadvantage.
Anyway, just shooting ideas.

Why not go with beetle spindles up front mine drives great and it in theory narrows the track the same as a narrowed beam.
You can then keep the standard steering box etc
Just a idea

I did look into beetle spindles. But I just couldn't convince myself they were strong enough with the extra weight, plus bigger engine and disc brakes. Wouldn't everyone run them if they were?

Rob
I was sceptical at first but then most of the swedes and a lot of the people in the states run them and have done thousands of miles on the mark raffety has done 10s of thousands of miles on this set up.
I run the o offset csps and the tuck is great I didn't like the idea of running the step section needed for 55-63 spindles and the tracking issues.
I done about 6000 miles and the tracking is great and everything lines up aswell.

Cool. Am I right in thinking T-1 spindles give an instant 4" drop?
Split spindles don't drop the Barndoor any right. Unless they are flipped/dropped?

I'm not worried about tierod location. I'll just adapt the steering pin to suit.
Probably going to Astra rack&pinion anyway. You can bolt it on using the spare bolt holes with a custom rack if you use a split beam with side plates. The height of the tierods can be changed depending on the custom rack. The steering link is off centre on the Astra rack and will go straight through the Barndoor steering hole in the crossbrace metal work. Bonus!

Yes that's correct I have no adjusters and my beam isn't narrowed either I'm still running the standard bd tie rid set up and front shocks aswell if I want I can just unbolt the spindles and put the bd ones back on.
Then at the rear I'm running a bug gear box which bolts straight in as the barndoor rear is the same as a beetle so no need for a straight axle kit.
I talked to lots of people and looked at lots of setups in the states before going this route.

lowdown dirty rat wrote:Cool. Am I right in thinking T-1 spindles give an instant 4" drop?
Split spindles don't drop the Barndoor any right. Unless they are flipped/dropped?

I'm not worried about tierod location. I'll just adapt the steering pin to suit.
Probably going to Astra rack&pinion anyway. You can bolt it on using the spare bolt holes with a custom rack if you use a split beam with side plates. The height of the tierods can be changed depending on the custom rack. The steering link is off centre on the Astra rack and will go straight through the Barndoor steering hole in the crossbrace metal work. Bonus!

I have some type 1 spindles you can have if you want to have a play with them - I'll get you pics at the weekend if you're interested.

Cheers,

Dave

Have you got any photos of your set up Ben?

Here's one I have to hand staring to bolt up the csps in this pictures also the lower picture is what I did at the rear copied from kcw.