Craig Mudd's 1971 Type 3 Fastback

This is one of those jobs I was hugely keen/excited to take on. A car I've known and appreciated for many years, which has only benefited from it's ownership under Craig Mudd in the last few years. 

Craig has recently finished body-off restoring the car, using many new parts and lots of attention to detail both visibly and under the skin of the car... No stranger to a show-quality build, craig has done a great job of re-building this car to a top standard.

On rebuild, the pre-existing Type 1 conversion beam with Monroe Air Shocks was re-used up front. This setup unfortunately left a lot to be desired, as it drove very harshly, didn't lift very high, or drop very low... Plus the beam itself had worn badly, allowing play/movement in the trailing arms. Not good!

Craig decided that a new beam setup was next on the list of improvements for the car, along with an air suspension kit to equip the rear of the car as well. After talking to a few companies and asking around, he contacted us to discuss what he wanted for the car, and what he needed from an air ride system. 

After much discussion and ideas back and forth, we finalised on what setup we were going to fit up to the car.

Up front, our Type 3 Premium Air Suspension kit with 4" narrowed Beam was used, with the Performance Shocks upgrade selected. This kit gives full chassis-laying lows with no pre-mature locking out of ball joints, great ride quality and handling characteristics, and easy and huge lifting range (near 7" of stroke!).

To work with this and further enhance the car, we also took out some inner wing bodywork, and fitted up a pair of fabricated steel 'tubs' to allow the wheels the necessary room needed for full drop, and also give a better turning circle when running low. 

In the rear, our Weld-On Type 3 IRS Suspension kit was used. This kit works great for all late Type3 applications, and depending on what 'look' you want, can be worked for either extreme lows, or excessive lift! Craig wanted the rear to sit low, but not necessitate any cutting to the inner wings or change of wheels/tyres. He most importantly needed a great lift height, so that too was took into consideration. The stock subframe and IRS arms were worked slightly to allow for more drop, and the Air Ride kit then fitted up to work best with this. Spax Adjustable shocks were also custom-sized for this setup and fitted up. 

Once all the work was completed and the car back on all 4's, the alignment could be set up, and the car taken out for it's test drive.
All round the car has damping adjustability, so the ride quality and handling 'feel' can be fine tuned to match the drivers preferred driving style. 

On the road the car feels fantastic. Top quality ride, great and super direct handling, handles every type of road with ease, and works fantastically with the Digital Airlift management fitted.

Type 1 conversions for Type3's of old were known for being the opposite of an upgrade on the well-engineered stock Type3 Beam setup, swapping out drive experience, road holding and ride quality for all out lows... Not anymore with top quality, top engineered EvaResto parts! This new setup on Craig's car outperforms that of a stock setup, in almost every way possible. 

Craigs Build Thread can be found here on the Type3&4Forum if you'd like to have a look at the progress of Craig's build:
http://www.vwtype3and4club.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12009

 Enough of my words now, so check out the pics of the work we took out below:

Thanks for reading,

Max@Eva