some people get it, the rest don't and never will:
the pursuit of low.
there are a few methods to lowering ones car; choose your weapon wisely.
cut springs, coilovers, hydros, air ride, or a body drop? all have pros
and cons. we all know about hydraulics from snoop dogg, how cut springs
"work", body drops tend to be for the mini-truck guys respectively,
and air ride that has finally hit the american scene hard, being viewed as the
true alternative to low. parked it lays rocker, if you're doing it right, and
on the road its in the nose bleed section. finally coilovers are for the true
die hards, down for life status.
well if you're like ian burlingham from lisbon ct, you don't need the
gimmicks of switches and compressors. all you need are coilovers and a maybe
a bit of ingenuity. ian has taken his 1998 mk3 jetta to a whole new low. the
average mk3 on coilovers is around 2" from the control arms to the ground.
some dare to go lower, but not much. this mark didn't satisfy ian.
"my goal is to have a drivable (well as drivable as possible)
car that is unreasonably low." how low you ask?
this was achieved by raising the subframe 1.75" allowing
for maximum clearance between the vital points and the tarmac. raising the
subframe also raises the engine and rack too. frame notching was deemed necessary
to allow for the axles and tie rods room to breath. along with such an aggressive
drop comes the problem of binding axles amongst other things. again a custom set
up was created by ian to over come this small bump, not to big of a deal for
the 22 year old neuclear mechanic. by day he mends and makes sure the local
power plant doesn't have a melt down, while at night he tinkers in his garage
.
pretty good for a guy barely old enough to drink."i shortened the steering
column, along with the control arms, tie rods, axles and also eliminated the sway bar."
passenger frame rail notch.
home made short drivers axle
passenger wheel well trimmed for tire clearance.
engine wise there have been only a few modifications done
"the original transmission didn't want to shift between gears so i
opted for the O2A tranny swap, due to the raised subframe not allowing the
o20 shift linkage to function properly". true coilover heads know that
your catalytic converter hangs too low and will be shaved in no time. ian has
opted for no cat for the time being since it would clearly just rip right off.
plans are in the works for a custom dry sump system and a SRI.
when it came to addressing the outside of the car ian turned to his
friend eric for help, who confesses he is not the best body guy. the car currently is
not finished by any means, but since this car is being built for fun he drives it
any way, dashless and paintless. up front we find a golf gti front end has been
fitted providing better light at night. the fenders have been pulled and widened
to help cut down on rubbing and accommodate the wheels. the rear door handles
have been shaved along with the trunk lid emblems.
suspending the car off the ground are k-sport coilovers and
8"x15" bbs wheels with 2" kodiak lips wrapped in 165/50 federal tires.
ian milled the centers of the wheels to bring the offsets down.
"I need to finish the car. i need to pull everything back
off the car now that I know is not road worthy. I need to finish shaving the bay
, and reinforcing the frame rails, also I will be correcting the notch for the
pass side axle. I need to install smaller strut bushings to make the car a bit
lower. I need to shave the floor pan so there is nothing that will drag. Also
the rear suspension will be modified to allow the wheels to sit centered in the
wheel arches. I will respray the car windsor blue. the interior will be back
to almost stock, with the exception of the harnesses and a MOMO team steering wheel in 280mm."
build photos provided by ian.