Rather than run down to work to make some new tabs I decided to finish off the supports for the front axle bracketry.  The airshocks were also mounted.  The last remaining tasks up front are to position the bump stops and to shave the front differential housing.

On Sunday I concentrated on some of the little details.  Here's the fuel filter/pump mounting plate, located under the fuel cell.  I wanted to get one of the nicer billet aluminum fuel filter but their prices would have put too big a dent in the budget so I opted for this unit from Perma-Cool.

Jack came over and lent a hand, he made a template for my transmission tunnel and we started on some of the floor panels which will be made from .25" thick clear lexan.

I also got the skid plate all mounted.  It is made from a 1" thick sheet of cutting board material (plastic). Mounting the skid plate was something I had been thinking about for a couple weeks now and here's what I came up with.  I welded a piece of 2 x 1" angle iron to the front crossmember, flush with the bottom of the crossmember.  This would serve as the leading edge of the skid plate and should take the brunt of the grinding.  The skid plate sits on top of this angle iron.  In the second picture you can see the top of the skid plate, along the sides I welded a piece of 1 x .25" steel strap to keep the skid plate from moving upwards.

To secure the skid plate I welded a few batwing tabs along the rear edge, welded a nut to the tabs, then counterbored some matching holes in the skid plate.  Once this was done I discovered the skid plate bowed upward in the middle.  Rather than install a removable crossmember I opted to use the stock transmission mount bracket to act as a spacer to keep the center of the skid plate from moving upward.

I almost waited too long to mount the battery as I was quickly running out of room.  The goal was to mount the battery as low as possible to help keep the center of gravity low and the spot I had picked out behind the seat ended up being blocked by a cross brace.  Once I had the skid plate in I noticed a nice chunk of real estate below the drivers seat, this was an ideal spot because it puts the battery and it's 40lbs of bulk down as low as possible in the chassis.  Normally the exhaust would route through in this area but it looks like the pipes can be routed through the boat sided area below the nerf bars.

Part Numbers

Jegs

#771-81794 Perma Cool Fuel Filter

Summit Racing

#MSD-2225 MSD Fuel Pump

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