That primal scream, followed by animated cursing that you heard this morning was ME! I thought I had the engine lined up perfectly for the tranny.............NOT! When I put the tranny on, it was apparent I was going to have driveshaft problems in the X frame area. So, I dutifully cut every piece off, ground it all down and started over today. Hopefully, I'll get the engine mount brackets fabbed tomorrow before I have to leave town for the week. Then, I can come back and fab the transmission cross member, which is what I was planning to do this weekend. Learn from my mistake. I knew better and I did it anyway. NEVER weld in engine mounts without checking alignment with the transmission attached to your engine. You cannot eyeball it and get it right. Oh well, it is going to be done right...............or I won't do it at all.
Oh crap! That wasn't about 7:20 Eastern time was it? Sorry to here of your trials, and I hate to say it - I caught in one of your posts a couple of weeks ago that you were waiting for your trans, and building mounts. HHHHMMM. "Must have a dummy or know what he is doing", says I... Welcome to the learning curve! It only gets better from here!
Ahhhh, Join the club, the "I thought I knew what I was doing club." I think anyone that has ever turned a wrench or fired up a welder or torch has been a member of this club before. Some of us have been down this road too many times, but we still keep making mistakes. The only people that I know that have never made a mistake are the ones that have never done anything. Join with the rest of us and keep making mistakes, but make different mistakes each time..... Gene
Ok. It's better than the first time. I basically did the same thing but used 1/4" flat bar this time. The mounts ended up in differrent positions and, therefore, had to be shaped a little different but not enough to tell from pics. Next weekend, I'll make my transmission cross member and, maybe, mount my rear axle. By Labor Day weekend, I should have all the fabricating and mechanical stuff done. Maybe.
I'm anxiously taking notes here Rock as I'll someday be doing this same thing putting a 360LA in my '40 sedan. Can't wait to see how the rear goes in too...I don't have a rear for mine yet!
Ok. I am going to build my transmission cross member this weekend. I looked at the OE Dakota mount but it's about 3" tall and I'd like to do something more compact than that. I'm thinking about taking some leaf spring bushings and make me a tubular cross member with tubular ends that will accept the leaf spring bushings. Then, I'd put some ears on the frame that accepts the tubular end/bushing combo with a 1/2" bolt through each. How does that sound? What's wrong with it?
Just as long as the trans case doesn't bind as the torque moves thins around. I would go for a little easier deal and see how a standard Chevy type trans mount would work. I've made a couple of adapter plates to adjust bolt patterns in that situation over the years.
I looked at that NL.......and I could do it. The mount I have in mind would have compliance in all axes. I think it would work fine. It would be more work to do it my way, however.
You were lookin good man! Sucks you had to start over. I'll be watching your progress. I'm about to start swapping a 340/4 speed combo into my 53 Plymouth and It'll be my first time so it's nice to see how you're going about it.
I heeded the call, NL. Went with a Chevy bracket and have just about got it done. No one realizes that it can take all day to make a transmission cross member. I'd hate to have to pay a rod shop to do it.
You know I was kidding right?! And yes, it can take all damn day to make a simple trans mount. Drives me nuts, but it's the nature of the business...
Yeah, I knew you were kidding but it made me rethink the thing. I think my original idea would have worked fine but this turned out great.........I think. Hopefully, it will get the HAMB seal of approval. I bought a transmission mount for a '68 Chevelle, NAPA part number BK 6201024. It sells for a whopping $8. The center to center bolt holes were an inch short, so I welded a longer bracket to it, after cutting a relief area that would clear a 7/16" flat washer. Then, I used some 2X2 and 2X3 tubing to construct the crossmember. It's stout! I used some scrap from work, so it didn't cost me anything. I used 2 1/2 X 2 1/2 for the frame brackets, welded to a 5 X 6 X 3/16" plate. The bolts that hold the member up are 1/2".
Finished Product. If a shop quotes you $500 to build one of these, it's not too much. It takes a lot of time to do it right. Note that the frame rails are not parallel, therefore you must build the brackets with the correct angle cut into them. I'll post some installed pics tomorrow, after the paint dries. Assuming I can get a picture whilst lying on a creeper underneath the car on jackstands. Since I got the brackets welded to the frame, I'll assume I can do that. I sure will be glad to get this sucker rolling again where I can get it on my lift. I plan to install the rear axle next weekend. Feel free to post any relevant links on setting the pinion angle, etc. Does the angle stay constant as the springs are compressed? I think not.
Looks really good! Well thought out and put together too! Basically, with pinion angles, you want them to match. say your engine and trans are installed at 2 degrees down, your pinion needs to be 2 degrees up. Your looking for parallel. The way I usually do it is a bit more work, but it gets it right. I pull the old stuff out, put the new saddles on the springs, drop the new rear into them but don't weld yet, center it up and make sure the springs are straight, DOUBLE CHECK the above, tighten the u-bolts down snug. Put the car up on 4 wheel ramps so that the weight is on the suspension and the car is as level as you can make it. Set the pinion angle with the aid of a small soft hammer so you don't damage any thing.DOUBLE CHECK that your axle is centered in the frame, ( I usually measure between frame rail and backing plate on each side) DOUBLE CHECK that your springs are still straight, DOUBLE CHECK that your pinion is right, then tack the saddles to the axle. Pull the rear back out and carefully weld the saddles to rear housing,( I usually weld 1 inch at a time and skip from side to side so I don't get too much heat going.Oh, weld both sides of the saddle in the same direction too.) put it all back in and your set. The main thing is to get it to ride height before you dial in pinion angle, because you are right, it does change as the suspension moves up and down. For shocks on the back, mine lay forward, and before I sprung for my high tech Bilsteins, I had great luck with KYB kg series rears for a '63-'78 Corvette. I used the stock lower spring plates and the lenght on these worked out perfectly.
That's sort of how I envisioned it. I didn't think there was an easier way. I knew that the pinion angle had to change as the spring compressed. Thanks for the tips. I've already got some Monroe shocks. I'm thinking about changing the shock mounting to the "angled inward" setup. That seems like it would give more control of the side to side motion of the axle under corner entry or fast directional change maneuvers. With the narrow leaf springs, it needs all the help it can get. I know that Mopar went that way in the early 50's. Got any input on that?
Going to the shocks inclined inward is not a bad idea. It does minutely effect roll resistance to some extent, but not as much as you would think. Where the forward mounted shocks on our cars really help is in eliminating torque wrap on the springs when you nail it. But, with the shocks inclined as much as they are, you really have to have a pretty heavy rate shock to do the deal. That's why I found the corvette shock deal, because a large portion of the weight is on the rear of that car, and they are pretty damn stiff. I stayed with the forward inclined shocks, and went with a junkyard sway bar under the rear on mine to control the roll. Man I hate to mention this, 'cause I think everything is welded and solid, but any chance of moving your trans cross member up a bit? These things with just a bit of lowering have a tendency to drag on stuff, I d hate to see you take out a pan or trans. Sorry to mention it this late in the game. Chip
What kind of sway bar, NL? I had Addco make me a 1" front bar. I haven't mounted it yet. They did it for $200.
I know my front swaybar is eighties police Chrysler, but I can't remember what the back is... I know me well enough that it is probably the same. I kid you not, my car handles like a slot car. With the stock suspension, getting sway bars and shocks dialed in will make a huge difference. Just go hit a wander friendly wrecking yard and look under rear wheel drive stuff and you will see many bars that are adaptable to our cars. Rear seems to be easier with that than the front. For the back think around 3/4" or so. Should be a bit softer than the front. Third gen Camaros come to mind real quick....
Need louvers, did you use the stock upper shock mounts also? I'm guessing the rear shocks are the same from the early 40's to the 46-48 body styles? I made up new lower shock mounts for my 40 becuse of the wider spring pad but it is the same set up as the original. Fstfish66 who used to be on here has a 40 dodge coupe and he said he used a rear sway bar set up for a 38-39 ford from Competition Engineering on his. Rockable, your trans mount looks pretty good. later shawn
Yes I did, but the upper shock mount is the only part of my stock rear suspension left. The leaf springs, their mounts, lower shock mounts, sway bar, bushings, shackles, literally everything else is custom. That Chassis engineering sway bar would probably work just great! It has the right shape to tuck between the frame rails, and mounts tight to the rear end housing. And yes, I believe these cars all use the same upper shock mounts.
I might have to agree on the depth of the trans mount. You did a right nice job but it sure looks low. .
It's not that low, RR. It just looks that way since I was lying on a creeper. It's higher than the oil pan and just barely lower than the bottom of the transmission.
I thank you for the pictures... I am plotting a v8 swap into my 47 chrysler Windsoer. I have a few Chrysler engines and a few SBC and in the middle of it all I sit and ponder. Thanks for the info.
Looking good. So...how long till you drive that thing over to my place? I got my adapter stuff, so I'm going to try to mock up my motor this weekend.
The Jalopy Journal
