Skoda Rally Blog

So after 5 phone calls (!) I finally got to speak to someone at Custom Cages who told me that the rear mounts I’d seen in the pic are legal, and that the tube should have been in the kit! So I’ve been delayed for days because of this. Great. I measured up and let them know what was needed, but this was on Friday and still nothing has arrived. Another phone call or five will be needed tomorrow, clearly. G-reat.

However, unfazed I have carried on. The rest of the cage is now fitted and fully welded – door bars and all. And I’ve even made seat mounts for both seats now that I can place them properly – it wasn’t possible to do this before as the rear V-bar clearly limits the rearward and downward movement of the Nav’s seat, but now it’s in place, it was fairly easy to do, although a few problems (including what appeared to be a national shortage of 0.6 MIG wire) meant that it’s basically taken the whole day to do all of this.

However, it now looks like a rally car, which is the first time this has happened. The seat mounts are particularly strong, being made from 50x25mm box, way stronger than anything I’ve had before, and it really shows, plus the welding is much better than any others I’ve done.

There have been other developments too – I’ve been shopping again, and bought all the metal I need for the footwells, for the tank guard, and the sump guard frame, plus fuel hose and ordered the other bits I need for much of the rest of the rebuild. A quick rack is on its way (hen’s teeth, dear boy, hen’s teeth), and I’m waiting for a quote for my self-designed sump guard which will remove the problems of the older one and be stronger too. There just seems to be so much to do and so little getting done each day!