With the Toyota MR2 rear cross-member bolted to the VW Bug frame, I need to do some fine tuning on the entire rear end engine cradle. I will construct the 3SGTE motor mounts once everything is perfectly aligned.
Both of the VW fame plate saddle mounts have been finished. I have now bolted the frame plates to the MR2’s rear cross-member. Everything seems to fit nicely. I ca now develop the 3SGTE motor mounts.
I have now finished drilling out both the driver and passenger side VW Bug plate frame holes. These four holes will be used to mount the plate frames to the Toyota MR2 crossmember. I still need to remove the steel above each bolt hole (where the nuts sit) in order to refit the frame plates. There are pictures of the steel removal on the pictures page at the top.
I am repeating the saddle block process on the VW Bug passenger plate frame unit. I must bolt these members to the Toyota MR2 cross-member.
Here are some long overdue pictures. Please see the MR2 VW Bug Turbo Photos page/link above.
As you can see from this video, I used the pilot hole drilled in my drill press to guile me vertically through the mounting block as well as partially through the plate frame. This mount point will connect the VW Bug’s framing to the MR2’s rear cross-member.
Once I had determined where the VW Bug cross-member holes should be, I removed the saddle blocks and drilled straight holes with the drill press. These holes will be my pilot holes for the bigger drill bit.
I need to drill out the MR2 cross-member bolt holes in the VW plate frame. I need to be very careful to align the holes perfectly so the bolts will be vertical through, not only the steel blocks but the frame unit as well.
Now that I marked the MR2 3SGTE cross-member holes, I can set it up to drill out the VW Bug frame members. As you can see the paint idea worked pretty well.
After bolting the VW Bug saddle blocks to the rear frame members, I can now reinstall and realign the frame members to mark the rear MR2 3SGTE cross-member bolt holes.