Back to work on the project after some time off for travel. Been working on placing drivetrain components at both ends of the car as a lot of structure and bracing is dependent on where the engine, etc. sits. Still need to finalize the bellhousing / footwell space, though.
This blue tape is an attempt to simulate the many 1" diagonal tubes in the engine compartment. I'm running out of wiggle room for the motor.
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I won a bellhousing on ebay, just the model I wanted, but it still needs 1" trimmed off the bottom flange, as the Corvette pan is 1" shorter than this bellhousing. This will drop the engine 1" lower than in the photos and will put the bottom of the pan and bellhousing at the bottom of the frame. I'll need to mock-up a throttle pedal to finish out the footwell requirement.
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I also found some Corvette engine mounts on Craig's List. The aluminum castings are shown sitting on ABS pipe couplings which simulate Delrin pads. (The wood block stack will be lowered by an inch when the bellhousing gets trimmed.) I'll need to figure out some structure between the side rail and the floor diagonal to meet up with the engine mount. The Delrin pad will be made to the height required (1.5" shown) and the added structure needs to allow access to a nut fit beneath the pad.
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A tension tube (0.75" x 0.065" DOM) will run from the top side rail to the engine mount (middle blue tape here) to help carry the engine weight.
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At the back of the car, the 1.5" square vertical tubes that flank the diff have been fit. Both are cut in metal now and will have b^shings added for the LCA inner pivots. As the diff is asymmetric, finding the right spacing between the tubes was a bit challenging. Diff mounts to follow.
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The remaining front suspension verticals were cut tonight, so now the b^shings for those can be laid out, too. Then I'll fire up the TIG and have a b^shing bash. Ten of those puppies to go in. Then lots of tube to tack in place.
I'm trying to locate a junk TKO tranny case to attach to the bellhousing to complete the drivetrain mock-up. Anyone bust a box recently?
Progress in fits and starts...