The foam board template is in place under the VW bug front strut link, I need to make sure that all the MR2 hardware will clear and I don’t have any major surprises later. The location I have here seems good so I will create another foam board template to get the exact size and shape of the lower frame support.

After cutting and tack welding my VW bug front strut link, I determied where the MR2 strut bolt holes will be and drilled them out. I went ahead and tacked the strut compression tops to the crosslink to try and figure out the exact location of the link. I will be using the foam board template to get the shape and size of the frame connector tubing.

After determining the VW bug’s front strut mount angles, I need to transfer the markings to my 1.5×1.5″ steel tubing and cut them out. Again I am using a cut-off wheel in my angle grinder. After cutting out the angles I will need to bend the tabs over and weld them on.

I now have the MR2 front struts under compression as well as the rear. I cut and fit another piece of the uni-strut to span the distance between the front strut tops and then used all thread rods to compress the assembly. The VW bug’s entire frame is now up off the platform and is being supported only by the struts.

I now have the VW bug’s rear end struts compressed and the entire rear engine cage off the platform. I have both the mounts for the front strut compression constructed and in place. I need to go ahead and use another uni-strut member to compress the front end struts to determine the height of the front strut mounts. Again, I will be constructing the real front strut mounts with the spherical bearings.

I am finally getting around to posting some more pictures. These pics are of the front strut cut outs and the rear strut link creation.

With the MR2 rear struts compressed and the VW frame up off the platform, I need to refocus on the front end. I am building these front strut mounts mainly for comperession and link angle. I will redesign these mounts later on with the use of spherical bearings.

These new slide shows show the refitment of the VW bug body and the rear MR2 struts going in.

The rear VW bug strut link has been tacked together and is in place on top of the rear struts. I have also compressed the whole rear end with the turn buckles and chain. The entire engine and frame is now up off the platform and being supported only by the rear struts.

With the VW bug rear strut link mount angle established, I will start to construct the link out of 2″x 2″ steel tubing. I will need to cut out small portions of the link tube to get the mount angle and will then weld on the MR2 strut mounts I have already created.