With the steel fire-wall sheet clamped in the vise, I can manually bend it over. I am using two 1.5×1.5 angle pieces to extend the clamping surface of my vise. I slowly bend it over to get a good edge.
With the rear engine cage members in place, I can now refocus on the front fire-wall. I will be using a 12 ga. steel sheet to create the fire-wall itself. I need to bend it on the ends for more strength. A couple of angle iron sections clamped in the vise should do just fine.
The VW bug rear engine cage is now complete. I have positioned and welded on the two rear angle members as far as I can get them until the frame is removed from the MR2 3SGTE motor to weld the back side. I angled these two pieces opposite the front fire-wall to try and give the frame better triangulation.
I need to install a couple of angle braces in the VW’s rear engine cage similar to the front fire-wall. I again used the foam board to get the correct size and shape of these two framing pieces. I now have both units cut to fit, so all I have to do is position them and weld them in.
With both VW bug rear engine cage members tacked in place, I removed all the bracing and finished welding everything I can get to for now. I will finish welding behind the cage when I remove the frame from the MR2 3SGTE engine later.
With the 1st Toyota MR2 3SGTE engine cage member in place, I need to position the 2nd. These two members are the same size and need to be exactly parallel to each other as well as square to the VW bug frame plates. After determining the location of the 2nd member, I cut a couple of wooden blocks on the power miter saw. The blocks are exactly the same size and the edges are square. With these blocks clamped in place between the two rear cross members I tacked everything in place.
I am using the same 1.5×1.5 inch square tubing for the VW bug’s rear engine cage. This process took awhile to get the first member cut to fit and aligned. I used one of my long bar clamps to bind the rear engine plate frames together to hold the piece in place for welding.
With the basics of the VW bug front fire-wall complete, I can now focus on the rear engine cage bracing. The rear engine cage will be similar to the front fire-wall but it will be built to fit it’s location. This cage needs to be really strong to contain the MR2 3SGTE stroker motor.
Using the foam template I created the steel pieces to fit between the upper and lower fire-wall members. I then clamped them in place and welded them on. I completed the welding on the front side of each joint because I will be fitting a fire-wall plate on top of these joints.
To add frame support and triangulation, I will incorporate two angle pieces into the VW bug’s fire-wall. I have set the fuel cell in place to try and determine where these supports should be located.