@Michael McKelvey posted:If you reduce the with of the longitudinals you will reduce the strength.
I think at least one reason for wide sills in a pan-based speedster may be that the sill has to be wide to reach the edge of the pan.
The sills are huge because you're mating Beetle pan halves (which slope inward towards the separate front fenders) to a body (Speedster) which is built more along the lines of a Karmann Ghia with slab sided fenders. Since Beetle floor pans were much more plentiful and most were in much better shape when Frank Reisner first came up with the Speedster replica concept, they went with what was available. A Ghia pan would have been a much better choice for more interior room, but they weren't nearly as common in wrecking yards and I don't even know if replacement pan halves were available then.
If 1 was to redesign the replica Speedster (and stay with the VW pan), Ghia pan halves make so much more sense, 914/911 front suspension (would require re-designing the front of the pan but would be oh, so worth it!), aluminum sub frame (come on, you know it needs to be lighter!) and pie cut/widened rear fenders (and wider wheels/tires for better stability- if it's good enough for all those late model Porsches it'll work for us too!) would be a pretty good place to start. Al