Transmission Crossmember - Part 6 FINAL!

Aaaand bolted in place...



Next: sorting the handbrake.

Now that we have moved the trans x-member towards the rear ~ 200 mm, all the geometry of the handbrake middle cable has changed as it hangs said cross-member.

J

Transmission Crossmember - Part 5

With the bracket tacked together on the bench (in part four of our transmission cross-member mini-series) it was time to tack-weld the bracket to the cross member.

Bolted to the trans and held in place against the curved pipe of the cross-member with a trusty occy strap...




A few spot welds and the bracket was located.

Removing the cross member - with the bracket attached - became problematic... much pushing and shoving and cutting-down the mounting studs didn't help. The go is to unbolt the mount from the trans and bingo! Job done.

Out of the car...






Welds were run (no fashion awards, but it ain't going anywhere) and hit with primer...






Then a couple of coats of satin black...



J

Transmission Crossmember - Part 4

More arts n' crafts this weekend as the mocking-up of the modified transmission cross member continues.

Template complete...






I soon discovered (after the photos above) that the transmission mount studs are offset across the car... a couple of punches with a scribe and new holes in the correct location were added.

Cardboard was substituted for steel, with the template profiles traced onto 5 mm thick plate for the base and UA 40 x 20 for the uprights.

Then it was cut, grind, test-fit, rinse and repeat.

The curves in the uprights were offset by a few mm, spotted with a punch ever 5 mm or so and drilled out like Swiss cheese to the point were vice clamps could bend the scrap off, leaving behind a rough curve to be smoothed out by grinder/file.

Test fitting the curved sections:

Not quite there...




Much better...






Each upright was vice clamped to the base in its final position and brought out from under the car for tacking on the bench.

Result (note the offset mount holes)...




Finally, the mount holes were slotted to allow the cross member to be removed from the car without the holes fouling the studs...




Next: tack the mount into position onto the cross member.

J

Transmission Crossmember - Part 3

JtC headed North with the mission to weld new transmission cross member saddles to the chassis rails.

First: dummy-up where the cross member is to sit; axle stands everywhere...




With the final location decided upon, the welding could start...







With nice clean shiny metal, more weld, bigger welds and thicker gauge steel than Chev ever used in the 60's, the result was very tidy indeed!






The cross member was soon bolted in place so the mocking-up of the mounting bracket could start in earnest...




More to follow...

J

Done!

Welds relieved where required to clear the washers and cleaned-up.

Engine mount holes drilled after mocking-up the pedestals to the LS...





J

Sitting in their new home...

Just need to:
- relieve the welds in 2 x spots to clear the washers,
- drill the engine mount bolt holes to suit the final location of the engine,
- final clean up of the welds and...
- hit with a coat of satin black.

Gettin' close to engine test fit #2!

J

Fwd: Ramblings

From: John
Date: Thu, Apr 21, 2016 at 11:00 AM
Subject: Ramblings
To: JtC

Yeah, so straight away I could tell the old gas bottle was empty... the new one weighs a ton!

Got it home and cracked the valve for 0.01 seconds... I don't think I have any hearing left ;-)

Welding went ok. Won't win any beauty contests, but doesn't look too bad. It is beyond rock-solid and is all sealed up...




This morning, before work, I spent less than 10 mins seeing how the welds would clean up on the grinder. Not bad! See below...

I will need to touch the weld across the front of the SHS in one spot with the grinder to make sure the washer clears.

Immediate list:
- final clean-up of the welds with a grinder
- drill base holes
- paint pedestals + Holley ancillary brackets black
- locate pedestals on cross member
- make up a jig to pick-up the location of engine mounts
- drill engine mount holes in pedestals
- bolt pedestals to cross member
- drop engine in!

J

Out a' gas!

Fabricating New Engine Mount Pedestals

The engine test-fit on 29.03.2016 showed that the engine mounts didn't quite meet the pedestals that are bolted to the cross member...




The original plan was to make packer plates between the mounts and adapter plates, to move the engine mounts closer to the pedestals.

That idea was ditched as I wasn't confident the holes would line-up across the car.

Plan B: fabricate new pedestals!

I drafted a few designs before JtC tweaked my penultimate design for this - final - concept...




Back to AutoCAD to tweak the design. It wasn't long before some 1:1 templates were printed and cut out of card...






Plate was cut and the final design mocked-up in steel...




New vs. old. Tacked ready for seam welding...



Material:
50 x 50 x 4.0 SHS
6 PL

J

Fab it up

During the day, I salvaged a piece of 2 mm gal sheet.

JtC came up in the evening to see what we could conjure up in the way of bracketry. Thank goodness he brought a decent hacksaw!

Bending begins...



After bending...




After a series of trial fits and trims with the angle grinder, we ended up with this...





Bewdiful!

Driver's side was enough for one night. I finished off the passenger side on 6/4.