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411 door outer panels, thicker metal on Variant
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 11:50 pm
by Lars S
Just found (in official VW litterature) that the 411 door outer panels are thicker on the Variant 0,88mm, the others have just 0,75mm. Other sheet metal as the roof etc are all the same thickness on Variant and others.
Does anyone know the reason for this?
Lars S
Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:06 am
by 412s2
That is wierd!
I had a look in my Volkswagen Type 4 Illustrated Parts Catalogue and it only shows 2 doors, the one for the 4 door fastback and the one for the Variant and 2 door fastback. Unfortunately it doesn't list part numbers... Do the Variant doors and 2 door fastback doors have different part numbers?
Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:05 am
by Lars S
No, both variant and coupe seem to have the same part number. Maybe you only could buy the thicker metal door as spare part. The difference was written in the factory workshop manual printed Aug 1970, so there ought to be something behind it.
Does the doors strenghten the body to a degree? (If they maybe whised to strenghten the Variant due to its heavier load capacity).
Lars S
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 1:41 pm
by GDRBORETIRED
Doors don't usually strengthen a body structure. Possibly the added thickness was to stiffen the door to meet someone countries crash resistance specs.
Door thickness
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 1:59 pm
by jsr69
My guess for the difference in steel thickness is because the Variant doors are a lot bigger than those of the 4-door Fastback. They would therefore need to be thicker to restore the overall stiffness. I would also guess that the 2-door Fastback's doors were the same thickness as the Variant.
Regards to all,
J