Meane Mokes by Pete

The orange Moke is mine as it's presently configured.  It runs an Austin Metro turbo and as you can see, has the intercooler hanging off the nose.  I don't particularly like that look even though it's now being protected by a winch bumper/grille guard.  I'm losing the turbo in favor of the 7-port, cross-drilled head for more power (and because having six tall stacks in my 911, I understand Webers).  I'm also getting rid of the rear roll bar and back seating in favor of cargo carrying, around-town capability at my home in Mexico.  Instead, I'll be bringing two kickers off the center bar to the two stern corners of the tub and welding a couple of cross braces between them so I can hang the spare inside the boundaries of the tub, suspended off the floor but without raising the center of gravity too much....and getting it off of the back of the tailgate.  This, to provide a bit more ground clearance for the Baja outback, but the big gain, there, will be from bringing a pair of 2-into-1 collector pipes out through the front fenderwells and back at a level parallel to the lowest point of the tub on each side with round Magnaflow mufflers in-line directly below each of the entry points for driver and passenger (protected from burns with a perforated heat shield coming of the side rocker panels) and with the slightly down-turned tips exiting just ahead of the rear wheel wells.  This will give me almost 9" of clearance which will be adequate for just about anything Baja can throw at me.  It'll look good, too, like a Shelby AC Cobra!  I just hope it doesn't freak out the Federales too much...they excite easily at anything that looks even slightly military as I'm sure you know.

Now I've just got to find better buckets.  I like Sparco, Cobra and Corbeau seats a lot, but the darn tub is so narrow, I can't find ANY good seats that will fit.  ANY suggestions, here, will be mightily appreciated...I've looked just about everywhere!  The four that are presently in my orange Moke, pitured, are homemade and adequate for short runs...better than the lightly padded dishtowels that I remember my first Moke came with back in the mid-'60s.  But I like to take long runs in comfort, too...on AND off road!  And I like that lateral su[pport found in presnt-day seats. like Sparco's "Pro 2000", or Corbeau's "XP".

I've included the black Moke, as my orange one will look much more like that one when it's complete.  Mine will have similar wide tires in the back (but they'll be Mickey Thompson MTZ radials) and will have the wider flares front and back.  It's going to be a candy apple tangerine metalflake hologram for the tub and fenders, covered by about a gazillion coats of protective pearlescent clear; with all the metalwork being matte black powdercoat and titanium/light gray accents. 

It should be a pretty goodlooking car...and I'm sure I'll cry a little with the paint job's first scratch...and then convince myself that it and all following ones are "character marks".

Cheers,

Pete