Frame Horn Repair

[Sean 695]

I recently did a body swap of my 69 Beetle to a restored and painted 65 Body( Pictures to come soon) and I had always noticed in the 69 the motor never sat quite right. So with the body of the pan I noticed indeed the engine tin is sitting lower then my seal and I suspect the frame horns are bent from some abuse from it's previous owner. Has anyone ever experienced this or do you have any suggestions on a fix. I have some big plans in the works for the car including more abuse via a large motor by the end of 2009 and I want the car as complete, safe and in good working order before I add anymore to the plate.

[volkdent]

Seems to me the only real options are to straighten out the motor by changing the position of the holes of the mounting cradle or to actually bend the horns back. For the latter you'd need a good bodyman with a frame rack who knew his way around a VW.

Jason

[Steve C]

Hi

I had the same problem once, it was a bellhousing bent mount carrier.

Steve

[Wally]

Originally Posted by Steve C

Hi

I had the same problem once,

Steve

I'll say! Show us what you did to your frame horns Steve

[Clatter]

I had a frame shop do this for me, as my horns were about 1" out of whack.
One was 1/2" low and the other was 1/2" too high.
Problem was, they bent the low one up to match the high one.
Motor goes in, and exhaust almost hits the apron....

So...
make sure the body shop actually knows how to use their frame rack.

Next time, I'll take a tranny, mounts, cradle bracket, and bare case with the apron tin bolted to it.
that way they can check progress, and get the rear apron tin to line up like it should with the compartment seal...

Complicated, maybe, but how else are they going to know where the frame horns really are supposed to be?

Also- would rather have the motor too low than too high.
Burning all that paint off the apron really chaps my hide...