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  #951  
Old 07-22-2018, 08:29 PM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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I spent most of the day fixing my screw up and getting the engine mounts fixed. It's frustrating when you make a fairly large mistake and have to waist a day fixing it but fortunately there haven't been that many so far.
I have the engine up a couple inches higher than the original was to keep the oil pan and transmission pan slightly above the bottom of the frame rails. So far, nothing hangs lower than the frame.
Next is the trans mount, then I can install the firewall and trans tunnel.

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  #952  
Old 07-23-2018, 07:16 AM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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You're being kinda hard on yourself, Jack. Most of the world would never know you hadn't planned those frame notches from the start. I think it looks good.

A surgeon never says "whoops!" That's the last thing a patient wants to hear when they're on the table. Instead, one might hear "hmmm" or "interesting..."
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  #953  
Old 07-23-2018, 07:44 PM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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I finished the trans mount next. The aluminum cross member is original from the CTS. The upper portion (black) is fabricated. The original was not tall enough. I want to check out how much I'll need to lengthen or shorten the drive shaft while everything is still easily accessible. I didn't give the drive shaft any priority when locating the engine and trans since it is easily modified if needed. It was more important to locate the engine exactly where I needed it in relation to the firewall and trans tunnel. The determining factor goes all the way up to the windshield. The windshield was placed where it is to keep the proportions that were laid out in the renderings. The top of the firewall must be aligned with the lower edge of the windshield. Fore and aft location of the firewall is determined by the distance needed to make the side mounts for the dash set right at the forward edge of the door jamb. The engine/trans needs to maintain a 5" gap from the firewall so the shift linkage will work... Simple, right?

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  #954  
Old 07-25-2018, 12:15 AM
ScooterCO ScooterCO is offline
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Nothing but nuts and bolts to make soup. I am so excited for you, I can not express my feelings.
We are all busting at the seams... Great work!
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  #955  
Old 07-25-2018, 07:32 PM
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My wheels came in yesterday but I don't have time to mess with them right now. I unboxed one to check the fit and they're good.

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There's a few things I want to do before I put the floor and firewall in. It's much easier to do this from above. I needed to reshape the exhaust pipes so they would line up with the through holes in the frame. A little cutting and welding and it's done. This engine design is pretty unique. The exhaust "manifolds" are actually cast in the cylinder head. The exhaust ports come away from the valves and converge inside the casting. There is one single pipe that bolts to the head. Something to keep in mind if your project has limited space between the frame rails.

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WOW! The hot rod gods were watching over me today! As I mentioned in a previous post, in fitting and placing everything where I needed it, I gave the drive shaft zero consideration. I figured I'd have to send it out to be either shortened or lengthened and balanced. I needed to put the drive shaft in so I could modify the cross member and it is a perfect fit! The front half has a splined slip joint to allow installation over the pilot on the transmission yoke. There was enough room to slide the shaft back and once it's slid forward and mated to the yoke, the splined area is still fully engaged. Sometimes you're the bug and sometimes you're the windshield. Today, I was the windshield for a change.

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Since the drive shaft is higher that the original position, the cross member needs to be modified. There was a large hole through the center for the drive shaft to pass through so I am closing that with some 3/16 plate to restore the rigidity lost when I cut off the top plates. Then I made a new top plate that is raised to clear the raised drive shaft. I'll probably finish this up tomorrow....

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Last edited by Jack 1957; 07-25-2018 at 09:46 PM.
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  #956  
Old 07-26-2018, 05:41 AM
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Glad you had a victory with the driveshaft. I wasn't as lucky and was a big diameter aluminium one. But was happy that after some research found that the SRT version was the perfect length as they run a different transmission and transfercase.
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  #957  
Old 07-26-2018, 06:08 PM
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Got mine shortened at Gibbs $300.00
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  #958  
Old 07-26-2018, 07:47 PM
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I got the cross member finished off and put the drive shaft in for the last time. (hopefully). Next, I need to modify some of the supports on the CTS floor to fit above the cross member. I need the CTS floor in place to mark where the cross member interferes with the supports.

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  #959  
Old 07-27-2018, 10:15 PM
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This is the lower side of the CTS floor that I'm installing in the 49. I've cut the lower inner rails down so they won't touch the cross member when installed. I want to retain some of the rigidity that they provide so I'm not completely removing them, just reducing the depth. Flattening them down some. I left about 1 inch of depth.

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Original part versus new part. A simple plate of 18 ga that eliminates roughly 1 1/2" of depth. No interference with the cross member.

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Right side installed. That's as far as I got today. By the way, I tried some new 3M "cubitron" 5" sanding discs. They are pretty pricey but they absolutely ANNIHILATE crappy looking welds.

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As a side note, look at how this boxed nut in the picture below was designed. When you're modifying anything, keep in mind that you should only be changing to suit your needs or desires. Don't disregard the value of an OEM design engineer's input. This floor section was engineered to eliminate a frame. That's no easy task. Also keep in mind that accountants always trump engineers, meaning that what you see is the bare ass minimum required to get the job done. Always overbuild structural components. These boxed nuts were originally for the transmission cross member which I now have mounted to the 49 frame.

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Last edited by Jack 1957; 07-27-2018 at 10:25 PM.
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  #960  
Old 07-28-2018, 07:19 PM
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I finished up the bottom and got some primer on it. Also reinstalled the front heat shield. There's a rear half of the heat shield that I'll install after the floor is in position.

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Finally, I started getting the floor into position but ran out of time. I'll attack this tomorrow. It will probably take all day to trim and position this correctly.

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