Crossmember Bars POLL (cross member cross section)

[fahrvegnugen at cox.net (David Utley)]

> 
> From: "Larry Fry" <rocco16@sbcglobal.net>
> Date: 2005/06/23 Thu PM 07:45:19 EDT
> To: "Nate Lowe" <nlowe79@gmail.com>, 
> 	"Eric S" <scirocco@vintagewatercooleds.com>
> CC: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> Subject: Re: Crossmember Bars POLL (cross member cross section)
> 
> 
> 
>  Based on my assumptions and
> simplifications, the bar should hold just fine with no fatigue
> problems for the forseeable future (although I'm very much more sure
> about uncracked crossmembers as I am about cracked ones, but it should
> be fine for both). Basically it should hold the forces put on it by
> the engine and not fatigue at all.
> 
> 
> I do have one more question that I posed to Larry and Allyn but didn't
> get a responce. Did VW, during the same time as they changed the
> crossmember, also go to the thinner and less tough metal for the arms
> that the bumpers attach to?
> 
> 
> 
> Nate,
>   I don't believe fatigue will be a problem with Eric's bar....simply 
> because the bar is not rigid enough to be stressed sufficiently.
> You could stretch a length of 20lb monofilament across the chassis, attach 
> it at the same places, and it would not fatigue either.
> 
>  By the way, assumptions and simplifications may be sufficient for most 
> listers, but it is not a very accurate way of coming to accurate 
> conclusions....as I, myself,  have discovered.  :)
> 
> Did VW go to steel with less strength/thickness in the MkII?  I do not know.
> 
> Larry
> sandiego16v 

While I cannot answer your questions directly, I can say that it appears that they went to a different set of shock absorbers for the bumpers before and after the gas tank change mid-year 1984.  The bumpers themselves are the same however...

I looked on microfiche just now to see if the 84.5 and later have a different number for the front cowl, and they do appear to be different.  It is hard to say if this is because of a supersession that ETKA does not show and the 'fiche does, or just what.  

In the 'For what it is worth department'...

David 

'83 GTI, Daily Driver...
'87 16V, parts car
'82 pickup, 2.0 16V, collecting dust...