Roaring Forties #36 Joe's Completion Log

[Keith]

I swapped the engine mounts left to right and gained another 1/4 inch forward on the engine so now my axles were only about 3/8" out of alignment with the axle drivers. Next I removed the two rear transaxle mounts and welded up the existing holes and reinstalled them. I cut two 1.5" diameter by 3/16" thick Delran pads on the lathe to fit under the rear transaxle mounts and match drilled two new holes in the brackets. With the rear of the transaxle in place I raised the engine with the engine hoist until it was level front to back and side to side and made sure the transaxle was not contacting the cross member. I then took measurements for "stand off" spacers to go on the motor mounts. I machined four custom spacers and attached the motor mounts with grade 8 hardware. When I released the engine hoist and put the weight back on the motor mounts it was level front to back and side to side.

 

[Ricky]

You are clearly missing the other half of the RF gearbox mounting. It's a saddle arrangement that fits on top of the chassis but drops down between the rails to allow use of a traditional gearbox mount to maintain some vibration absorbance in the assembly.

Be aware that with the gearbox mount fixed like you have, you will need to rigidly mount the motor to prevent cracking the bell housing through the engines torque moment when getting on / off the gas.

I solidly mounted the motor in my RF with urethane bushings for motor mountings and solid mounted the gearbox. I also clearenced the cross member to lower the gearbox / level the engine to avoid the height issues with engine to bodywork you may come up against (where you raised the front of the motor.)

Cheers,
Ricky

 

[Keith]

With the engine in and running, the shifter installed and operational, all the electrical gremlins tamed, the dash completed and tested; we sent it off to be painted.
It has been close to nine months of bodywork and paint but it is pretty close to coming home. Still have do the stripes on the top and doors, window coverings, light covers etc. but the end is in sight.
More photos soon...........
Keith

 

[Keith]

It has been 10 months of body and paint, two months of assembly and two months of upholstery but we are close to done. First of four test runs today and the only thing that did not work as expected was the speedometer. I connected the cable at the dash and we took it out again, the EZEFI started to do some self learning and the engine performed very well. The steering and suspension appear to be spot on for the country roads we were on. Actually we were very pleased with the way it performed for the first 10 miles or so.
We don't seem to have any leaks, oil pressure was great, temp was spot on, AC worked well for an 82 degree day. All and all a very good day. I have a video of the first drive...……..I will try to get it to post.
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