So here is my obviously something wrong picture of my car

Here is the normal side


So if it is in fact a broken torsion arm... does anyone have any experience replacing one? Are there any special tools I will need? Where can I buy a torsion arm for my 71 fastback? Any other ideas as to what is wrong?

I have done a few. This doesn't happen very often. Those bars break about as often as the rears.   Most of the time we had to replace the upper stab. bar because nobody would ever check them for "slop" and they would "hammer out " the detents  to adjust the bar by
      Its been a very long time since I have done one and now I don't have the tools to do it.
       It looks to be a broken lower torsion bar on the right side on VWGIRL's Type3

I, like David, have a feeling that the bar itself snapped.  that's all i've ever seen on the rear ones.  I have replaced broken torsion leaves, like on a beetle.  Never dealt with any of the front ones like this.  The splines are usually fine, in fact, more than fine.  they usually rust up real nice and become one with whatever they are seated in.  I've seen every scary method under the sun used to free them up, sometimes to no avail.

I'd try to find the whole beam, good used somewhere. Samba, whatever.  Hang on to the old one just in case you happen upon the stuff to fix it later on...  Those torsion bars can be a pain to remove when they are in one piece, much less one that's broken.

I would buy a type 1 conversion beam from Sam Manis in Kingsport TN. :wink:
Change it out and never worry about it again because you would be using type 1 parts..oh and you can lower it. :lol:

You can easily lower a type 3 beam too... all you have to do is move the splines... putting a type 1 beam in a type 3 is like putting a chevy engine in a VW... it's just wrong... but thanks for the info anyways... If anything I will be putting my free type 3 beam in... it's probably cheaper than your type 1 conversion beam anyways

A Type-1 beam into a Type-3 ?    I didn't know they made such a "critter". I would think the Type-1 beam wouldn't be nearly as strong.  I have replaced a few torsion bars but I cannot remember how to get them out. Its only been about 30 years but I don't recall it being a real bitch of a job.
     VWGIRL, What vidio were you watching about this job. Maybe if I saw it ,
 it would jog my memory.   Doesn't your Bentley manuel cover this ? And even if you did get it apart --------------- ?
      Like I said before, parts are more than likely are going to be very hard to find if not impossible and seeing that there is not a big demand for Type-3 "stuff" yet, I belive I would hold out for a used beam off of some "Back Lot " beauty.

Well there you have it.  Learn something new everyday :roll:

videos are here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=222251&highlight=cugir

I've been told by 4 or 5 people that putting a type one beam on a type three is a mistake... yes the type three beam is a beast compared to the type one... I wouldn't trust it... custom or not...

I am going to pick up my complete TYPE 3 beam tomorrow... now to find the time to swap it...