Varg In Jeep's Clothing

I always admire your fab skills Ryan.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Lot of magic work. You should work for army dvpt research cars!

 

Now the fun begins...



They're just resting in place at the moment, but I got the main runners bent up and into the engine bay. I must've done something right, as they are interchangeable.







The vertical sections are kicked back 5 1/2° which gives 3/8" of clearance behind the headlight buckets

 

I know this is a stupid question, but are those runers for?

 

When you tie an engine bay cage into your main cage, it stiffens the chassis in huge ways. In the event of a bad rollover, it also keeps the grill from caving into the radiator and engine.

I'll also be using it for sway bar, shock, steering shaft, radiator (and possibly intercooler) mounts. The fenders, grill and hood will have nothing vital attached to them but the lights.

 

I was wondering where the Turbo was

 

Still waiting and watching for a complete donor car. Retrofitting the turbo to this NA engine is probably more trouble than it's worth. I have the turbo, but not the bigger injectors, MAF, etc... Mid-90s 940s were hot rods. One will turn up eventually. I have time.

 

Just leave enough room for the 16 valve head. The redblock engines really wake up with that sitting on top. A lot simpler than all the space and plumbing for a turbo and intercooler.
-Donny

 

I've never even seen one of those in person. I'm in a bit of a Volvo desert. I have a feeling I'll be driving to Seattle to get the one I want. The 16v engines seem to have been snatched up by the diehards and bring big money online.

I like the turbos. I've been planning for one all along, so fitment shouldn't be an issue.

 

I had two quick hours to work on this last night. Didn't even start a fire in the shop to save time.

I got the sway bar notched into the runners and mocked into place. I was having a hard time fitting it in place without it interfering with the big giant plastic oil cap. I started picking at the plastic and it crumbled away to leave a flat steel lid. Gained 1 1/2" of clearance!

The cage will get another downtube to the frame just behind the sway bar, but I want to wait on that until I get the pedals, steering and air intake addressed to avoid interference.

I have about 10" of unobstructed travel in the sway bar, and my shocks (which mount further from the radius arm pivot) have 11" of travel. It should all work well together.

I'll get the nuts welded inside for these mounts and then worry about prettying them up.

 

While the runners are cut I have to ask. Considering the clearance issue for the headlight buckets, why do the vertical section of the runners need to be plumb as apposed to a slight angle aft? It seems a little more headlight clearance may be had. I've looked at your pictures but none are from an angle which show the answer to my question.

 

The vertical sections are tilted back at about 5 1/2° (according to my angle finder) to clear the headlights. I wanted to tilt them back as little as possible, because I have to build off of them for my shock mounts. The further back they are angled, the longer the bracketry will have to be to reach the shocks.

 

he asked the question i didnt have the heart to. man, you really do think ahead. i would have just welded it up, and then said fudge down the road....

 

Feel free to ask, ridicule, criticize anything. Don't mind at all. This whole thing is already built in my head, I'm just assembling it.

 

Built it in his head.....wish I could build something in front of me....

 

Yours looks good from here!

 

One side is done, now I have to make the other side match.