The long three day weekend helped John and I get our bug ready for the cage install.  Saturday morning we got the steering wheel and the brake & clutch pedals mounted in the car.  On Sunday we got the pad areas cleaned up where the square tube seat rails would be welded to the center tunnel and heater channel.  John cut the pads and fitted them and I welded all of them in place.  In the afternoon we started fabricating the mounts out of 1/8″ steel plate and 1/8″ 2″x2″ angle.

 

The driver’s seat is a bit further back than stock and also a bit lower.  The co-driver’s seat is about 1.5″ behind the driver’s and is reclined a tad more for comfort.  All that’s left to do is fabricate a mount for the gas pedal and then bleed the brakes.  Hopefully we can trailer the car out to Scott (Izzy’s custom cages) in two weeks.

I have great news to report. The body and pan are back together!

John and I spent most of the weekend lowering the body back down on the pan and tightening the 20 or so bolts that hold them firmly together.

Also, our new OMP seats barely fit and they are pretty much the smallest seat you can buy with head wings. Saturday we were on a quest to find some cheap steel at the metal supermarkets store. They had a rack filled with scraps that were the perfect length that we needed. It’s great buying $12 worth of metal that Lowe’s would charge $50 for. :^D

Last night we got the transmission installed.  It wasn’t too complicated; just 4 bolts at the bell housing and two at the nose cone.  After consulting the local buggy shop they recommended using a solid mount kit and ditch rubber or urethane mounts.  It will add a bit of noise, but I don’t think we will mind while we’re blasting down a stage road.

Hopefully we can get the tires mounted on the new wheels and then get the body back down on the pan soon.  However we won’t be working on the bug this weekend since the rallyx is on Sunday.  www.StLRallyX.org