This is getting fairly tough. The placement of the MR2 pedals and their associated master cylinders is critical. I have to take into account where the pedals with be in the foot-box as well as how all the hardware will clear the existing custom framing. Oh yeah, it also has to fit inside the VW bug’s body shell. Wish me luck.
With the seats in their final locations I can now try and fit the pedals and steering column. I am starting to cut away the internal sheetmetal around the firewall to give me room to position everything. It looks like I can fit the new firewall straight up from the original.
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 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.