With everything centered and a lined I started to figure out motor and transmission mounts. First thing I did was remove the bottom half of the stock motor mount off the front cross member and reconnected them to the top half on the engine. That gave me something flat and secure to build to. Then I welded a piece of 1/4" plate to the inside of the frame rail boxing them in for stiffness and a place to bolt the engine supports to. I used heavy cardboard (Ram Board) to make a templet. The motor and transmission set so far below the frame I ended up making cradles for both of them. I used 1/2" X 6" plate to go around the engine that would give it plenty of stiffness and 2" X 2" X 1/4" tube steel to cradle the transmission. I used the plate around the engine because wanted to keep the profile of the cradle as flat as I could so I would have room for headers and whatever else I needed to run down the frame rails.
Once I had them all tacked together, I secured them with clamps and set the engine and transmission back into place to check fit and alignment and marked them so I could drill them. I decided that I wanted to bolt the cradles to the frame rails instead of welding them so they could be removed if needed. Also, if for some reason someone wanted to remove the engine and transmission out the bottom they could without cutting the cradles apart. With everything double checked I removed the engine and transmission and finished welding the cradles and then bolted them in place and re-installed the engine and transmission. Then I set the cab back on the frame. That made it obvious that I needed to work out a plan for engine access.
That will be next, Thanks for following, COCOE
Last edited by COCOE; 05/12/20263:28 AM. Reason: to add photos
