I am now ready to finish the front MR2 steering knuckle modifications. I know I say I am adding a 1/8″ piece of steel tubing but it is actually 1/4″ thick. These half pieces of tubing will be used to prevent the reworked mounts from crushing due to the strut bolt. After everything is welded together I smoothed it off with some bondo and paint. They are now ready to be refit.
Tag Archives: vw bug hood
Clean up the MR2 strut mounts & show adjustability #191
Set up and weld on the new MR2 steering knuckle tabs #190
2 new slide shows…See the “MR2 VW Bug Pics Page 4” page.
Grind to shape the new front steering knuckle tabs #189
Start the modification of the MR2’s front steering knuckles #188
I can now stat the modifications on the MR2 front steering knuckles. The VW bug fenders are directly above the front tires and the struts need to be tilted in just a bit to get the strut mounts to fit under the VW bug hood. I have trimmed down the knuckle mounts to be able to use two 1/4″ steel plates on either side and a hardened slug in place of the original mounting bolt. I will weld this all together.
Mark the MR2’s front steering knuckles for modification #187
Determining the height of the VW bug’s front strut link #186
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.
Plan lower support for the VW front strut cross-member #185
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.