I now have the e-brake cable sheaths mounted to the VW bug’s bottom plate. The next step is to locate and drill out the holes that will allow the e-brake cables to pass through the bottom plate. I will work on the nylon guides once I turn the frame upright again.
Now that I have the VW bug’s front seat bracket location, I can go ahead and mount it to the frame. Again I am welding 4 mounting brackets to the main frame so that the bracket can be taken off and on. Once complete both seat brackets can be directly bolted to the frame.
I now have the entire seat assembly fit into the VW bug’s passenger compartment. I fits really well and there will be plenty of room for the pedals and footbox. The seats are pushed back as far as I can get them and still fit the fuel cell. The shoulder location when sitting in the seats is at the widest location of the bug’s interior, it’s still a snug fit.
I can now cut out the front VW bug strut link with my cut-off wheel. The video stops for some reason during the first cut, but I finally get it all cut out. I have to expand the tubing a bit on the ends so that the MR2 spherical strut mounts will fit. But a little bit more grinding and drilling and it should fit fine.
With my MR2 front strut link template created, I can trace the profile to the steel tubing. The template is made from 1/4″ foam board and the link itself is 1.5″x1.5″ steel tubing. I will now cut the steel tubing a bit longer and slowly grind it down to fit.
Now that I have everything lined up and all my measurements, I need to construct the VW bug’s top strut link from 1.5″x1.5″ steel tubing. I slowly cut a 1×2 board down to the correct length and clamped it to the MR2 strut mounts off setting it a bit so I can place the foam template. The foam template will be 1.5″ wide and will fit the front profile of the link.
Now that I have both of the front MR2 strut mounts finished, I put a small bend in the tabs to align them straight across. I then cut a board to fit across both mounts and clamped them to the tabs. With the foam template in place under the board it appears that everything is lining up OK. I will need to remove the VW bug body once more to continue with the lower support.
I have finished building the front MR2 strut mounting brackets. I had to cut the mounting bolts down a bit for better clearance but I can now test fit them under the VW bug fenders before I build the strut link member.
I now have the grade 8 bolts welded through the MR2 spherical strut top mounts. I had to clean them up by grinding down the bolt heads a little so the bearing would slip neatly through. I will be cutting the bolts down once the entire assemblies are bolted together.
After some time with the bench grinder, I finished cleaning up the front VW bug/MR2 strut mount tops. I now have to fit them to the spherical bearing mounts. I plan on welding some grade 8 bolts through the holes and then put nuts on the other side. I have to design these so I can take them on and off in the future for maintance.