With both of the VW bug seat brackets cut, drilled, bolted and welded I can finish the installation of the seats. Everything lined up well and the seats are extremely stable. Now I can start the steering column and foot box.
With the rear seat bracket in place, I need to position the front bracket. I am using the same fastening system as for the rear only a bit smaller. I will bolt and weld the brackets together and then weld the assembly to the frame.
It’s been a while since I posted any pics. I now have 4 new slide shows on the new “MR2 VW Bug pics page 6” page. MR2 VW bug pics page 6
Now that I have the VW bug seats in the right location, I need to go ahead and attach them to the frame. I must attach the seat brackets so that they can be removable. Once carefully placed I will need to create a mount system. I am using 4 separate brackets to both weld and bolt them to the frame.
With the VW bug’s floor plate tacked in place, I need to start installing the fuel cell. I know that it must sit as far back as possible to accommodate the seats. I will build a box around this tank later, for now I will tack in the front lower support.
With everything lined up, the VW bug body and the custom frame with the bottom floor plate sand-witched in between, I can tack weld the plate to the frame. As I tack the plate to the frame I need to insure that the frame members and the plate are in contact with each other. I am placing my bottle jack under the platform and lifting the entire assembly off the ground, just a bit, to accomplish this. Each tack location will be lifted separately one at a time.
With the body and frame as one, I can begin to try and fit everything into the VW bug’s interior. I am temporarily positioning the seats and the steering wheel just to determine where everything is going to be. I will have to replace the lock-set because the steering column came without keys. All and all it looks like everything will fit “whew”.
With all the VW bug sheet-metal trimming done, I can now fit the body back over the frame. Everything seems to fit fine so now I can continue with the trial fitting of the seats and steering wheel. Let the fun begin.
I am now at the stage where I need to fit the VW bug body back over the custom frame. I will need to cut the body sheetmetal out in a few places to get it all to fit. The clearance for the front interior nose of the body needs to be 28″, so I will notch both channels to get it over the frame.
With the VW bug’s floor plate cut and drilled to match the plywood platform, I can now position it under the frame and on top of the platform. I will carefully line it up and then drop the body back on top of the frame and the plate. Once everything is where it is suppose to be I will tack the plate to the frame.