On Saturday I started to bend the thin steel to create the brackets. Working on the passenger side, I was able to clear the parking brake without too much problem. The general dimensions of those brackets were 1/2" in the rear, 3" in the front and the base was 14". After fabricating these I sat in the seat and they felt really comfortable. The back of the seat rises about 7-8" above the back of the deck.
On Sunday I bought the actual steel to create my brackets. Roy stopped over to weld the hood hinges. Before he stopped by I cut off the arms from the brackets where they mount to the hood. Roy tacked the arms on and then later welded it on permanently. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the best way to deal with the FFR hood hinge kit. We probably would have finished it quicker but we kept breaking the tack weld. I have poor power at my house to run the welder. I later attached the pneumatic arms to the hood hinge. They worked like a champ!
TIME THIS WEEKEND: 5 hours
February 8,9, 2003:
Went to DC this past weekend so I didn't get anything done on the car.
February 14-17, 2003:
Veteran's Day Weekend. Finally got a chance to do a few things for the car this past weekend. I brought the stock steel that I had previously cut to Roy's house to get them welded. It didn't take very long to weld. After I brought them back to my house to test fit, I realized we welded the bases on the brackets the wrong way. Argh. I had to drill holes in the base and slide bolts in them because once I welded the entire bracket together, there is no way to get the bolts in. I ended up cutting the bottom off and brought it back to Roy's house later that weekend.
Amazingly the winter storm that socked in the NE missed our area. We had some icing but no snowfall like in DC. The storm did bring some huge surf to the area. In fact too big since it wiped out the sandbar at 1st St in VA Beach. Roy, Neal and I ended up going surfing at Buckroe Beach on Monday. It was COLD (water in the 30's, air in the 20's)! Surfing here was a treat since it rarely breaks (it is in the Bay).
After surfing I got some help from Derrick and we test fitted the windshield. We ended up trimming both sides of the windshield brackets to make it fit properly. That is one nice looking windshield!
TIME THIS WEEKEND: 7 hours
February 22,23, 2003:
Derrick gave me a hand Friday night to fit the passenger seat. I had to drill a few more holes and then we bolted in the seat. It fit just fine with a little contact on the body. If I move the seat forward (I used the sliders) it should clear the body. I was absolutely tickled that the seat mounted in securely. It looks sweet! After we mounted the passenger seat we experimented with getting the driver's side mounted. After much brainstorming we determined that the driver bracket needed to be a little different than the passenger side.
On Sunday I did more measuring, brainstorming and testing. I decided to have 2" in the front and 1" in the back. This decreases the angle of the seat. If the angle is too steep, it becomes difficult to push the clutch pedal. If the seat angle is too shallow, the seat won't fit properly and it is also uncomfortable to sit in. It feels like sitting in an airline seat where the headrest pushes your head forward. I later cut all of the steel that I measured in preparation for welding by Roy.
TIME THIS WEEKEND: 7 hours
February 28-March 4
Went out to Colorado for the weekend to see my sister and go snowboarding. Had a great time and managed not to break anything. My friend Neil wasn't as lucky as he broke his wrist on the last day. Check out the photos.
On Saturday I started to bend the thin steel to create the brackets. Working on the passenger side, I was able to clear the parking brake without too much problem. The general dimensions of those brackets were 1/2" in the rear, 3" in the front and the base was 14". After fabricating these I sat in the seat and they felt really comfortable. The back of the seat rises about 7-8" above the back of the deck. 