Building custom cars in my backyard

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 have reinstalled the VW bug's rear strut springs and the rear of the chassis is now up off the platform. After I do a bit more welding on the front suspension members I will get the front end up on it's springs as well. Closer and closer to a roller.

After spending some time lining everything up perfectly, I finally tack welded the VW bug's front end suspension members together. This alignment was critical to insure that the front suspension track and ride correctly. I am happy with the results so far all I have to do is add some triangulation bracing to strengthen the [...]

Both of the lower VW bug strut link support members are in place and ready for welding. I spend a lot of time lining everything up to get all the members in the perfect positions. All I have to do now is weld it.

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 [...]

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 1x2 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 [...]

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 [...]

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.