We decided to leave H2O a day early, and I used my pre-scheduled vacation day to work on the car.  I went to the junkyard and picked up a set of clean-ish MK3 Jetta Trek seats to use as retrim donors.  These are shaped a little differently than my original seats, and they will be perfect candidates to be recovered in leather.

I also found the rear bench I have been looking for.  Most of the higher-trim models came with a 60/40 split rear bench, with an armrest, and they never look good after being recovered.  I was able to find a solid rear bench which matches the front seats.

My original seats had 1994-only seatbelts.  The lap belt and shoulder strap are separate belts, with two different mechanisms.  I want to keep them, so I decided to swap the new fabric and foam onto my 1994-only seat frames.

I also dug out my dash, center console, and steering wheel.  I took a bunch of pictures and sent them to a few upholstery shops, I need to get moving on my interior.  The plan is to re-trim all of this in black synthetic leather.

So back to the fuel system.  I received the 2" Wiggins clamp I have been waiting for.  This will couple the fuel filler neck into the new fuel cell.  One side is stainless steel, which will weld into the tank, and the other side is aluminum, which will weld onto the filler neck.

This is what I was previously using - a piece of 2" Tygon tubing clamped onto two custom barb fittings.  It leaked, which is no good!

I didn't want the weld ferrules to warp during the weld process, so I machined some tight-fitting round plugs.

I also cleaned up some of the old fittings on the filler neck.  I was previously using some 1/8 NPT barb fittings for the vent hoses, and I'm switching to -6 AN fittings.

Fast forward a few steps - after a trip to Lewis Welding and some cleaning, the filler neck is done!

He also welded the stainless weld ferrule onto a piece of straight tubing.  I'm going to need 1-2" of straight section before it welds into the tank, which I will fit now that everything is in place.

I have been working like crazy on this car - I'm on a mission to finish for H2O 2015!  Unfortunately, that comes at the expense of taking decent pictures.

I welded the fuel cell tray onto the frame.

.... fast forward a few more steps, again because I forgot to stop and take photos, but a gigantic mess emerged and the fuel cell straps were also finished!

The passenger side strap cannot be straight across due to some clearance issues with the subframe, so I jogged it a few inches.

I threw the tank up into the car so I can start fitting the filler neck fitting.

I plan on finishing up the filler neck and fuel system this week!