I finished the engine mounts … and by finished I mean they are almost ready. They are welded and set in place, but still need some polishing and paint (as if they will be polished — maybe cleaned up a little more). I have to pull the engine and go through it anyway, so there was no rush to get any more done.
I hadn’t planned on going through the trouble of redesigning how my engine sits within the frame, but removing the auto trans gave me more flexibility. I didn’t make the change lightly. I pondered, measured, eye-balled, used a level, and got out a crystal ball to see if I’d really be happy with the change. After all, it seemed like a lot of work for just a few inches gain. But, by making the changes I was able drop the engine slightly and shift it to the center between the frame rails. Yep, that seemed like a good idea, so I made the changes.
I wouldn’t call the mounts beautiful, but they are functional. They will be both welded to the frame and bolted (as a backup). Unfortunately, I took terrible pics (we didn’t bring our good cameras with us). Here’s a close-up of the passenger-side mount. You can’t really see the mount’s rear support, so the photo isn’t really helpful. The bolts are just placeholder bolts.
As for the rear center mount, the creation of it started out smoothly. I was going to install a round tube between the two undercarriage tubs that support my tranny and tc. I jigged up the tube to-be-cut and cut a perfect pair of holes for sliding the tube onto the undercarriage tubes.
The jig is holding the tub, which keeps it from spinning. The cutter created a perfect hole. So, why didn’t i use it? Because the installed tube was about a half inch too tall. Damn!
Once drilled, I tested the tube. That’s when I discovered it was barely too tall. I abandoned that plan for a simpler one.
After some scrounging in my very sad metal pile, I found some square tubing that was just the right size, so I drilled that and slide it between the cross members. Then I built a small mount with a rubber housing on top of that (which will be welded to the square tubing). Finally, I created a small piece that bolts to the T-18/TC adapter. The fit is good and solid and the rubber gives it some flexibility.
This will make more sense once I weld the square tubing to the braced on top of it and paint it. But, I wanted to complete the engine mounts before finalizing the position of this back mount.
Here’s a photo from the side. You can see how the square tub fits in between the front and rear round tubing (fits tight enough that I didn’t have to weld it before putting the tranny/engine weight on it).
Tomorrow we head back to Pasco for a while. I’m hoping to get back later this month to make more headway. Hopefully I’ll get better pics, too!
