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early bus -> bay front beam swap?
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 2:15 am
by wingman
Does anyone know whether 70 bus front beam (wide 5 wheels) can be bolt onto 63 bus?
Thanks,
Michael
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 4:13 am
by Marc
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2004 6:33 am
by bugmandan
Baywindow busses had two different bolt patterns where they mounted to the frame. I bolted a 68' beam in my 58' Bus. I don't know what year they changed, but the distance between the top and bot. holes got farther apart. Good luck.
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:11 am
by FlatFourFanatic
General consensus seems to be that only 68 buses came with a beam with the early bolt pattern,thus enabling fitting into a split bus. However I have found these early beams in 69 and 70 buses.All down to chassis no I guess.
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2004 4:33 pm
by Kiwi_66
Just check to see if the beam bolt patterns are the same for bolting to the chassis of your split. I had a beam out of a '70 bus that still had the right bolt pattern to fit in my splitty.
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2004 9:17 am
by pyrOman
I have a late fatchick beam on my '65 with disc brakes. Granted I did have to modify the beam a bit but the top bolts lined up and I put an inch weld at the bottom end of it in leiu of bolts. For the wide five pattern I got adapters from Wolfgang.
I used the late beam because that's what I got for free! However, with time, the right resources, and of course MONEY, the correct way to do it is to get the early fatchick beam to bolt on your split, then get the disc brake spindles and adapers.
Don't forget to get a dual circuit master cylinder if you go with the disc barkes, it is vital to do that!
Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2004 11:34 pm
by biggraham
A 68/69 beam willbolt right in BUT:
It raises your front end about 3 inches
It increases your track
How safe are adapters?
Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2004 12:20 pm
by pyrOman
Safe? I dunno! But I can easily cruise at 80mph
The Wolfgang adapters I got are made of half inch steel plate. Had them for about 7 years now, no problems at all even when driving through 40 miles of washboard down in Baja
I highly recomend them. At the time they only cost $50 a pair, may be a bit more now but still worth it, IMHO!
I also did my "shade tree" mechanic trick to lower the front by 2"... pmail for det.
Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 9:52 am
by teacherguy
Piggybacking on this conversation, what year did the bays start coming with discs? I would love to swap fronts from a bay into my '66 to get the discs and ball joints. However, I would hate to lose the wide fives and the empi look-alike 5spokes that are currently installed. I guess I could go with adapters, but would like to see what other options are out there. Thanks in advance for any help.
Chance
Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 3:40 pm
by dickcharlton
I know my 72 has discs. I think they started in 71 but not positive.
Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 4:19 pm
by germansupplyscott
disc brakes on the front and narrow 5 bolt patter wheels started in 71.
Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 4:03 pm
by justdubbin
teacherguy
Piggybacking on this conversation, what year did the bays start coming with discs? I would love to swap fronts from a bay into my '66 to get the discs and ball joints. However, I would hate to lose the wide fives and the empi look-alike 5spokes that are currently installed. I guess I could go with adapters, but would like to see what other options are out there.
I'm sure it was 71, both of the 71's I've had have discs but they are different to the 72 (read: rarer=more$$$) and they all have the small 5 stud.
Rob.