Matt's 1970 'Trans-Am' Cuda

[Matt74]

The body shop has made a lovely job of those wings.
Is there anything you can do to prevent the damage from reoccurring?

bed liner sprayed on the underside will protect it, maybe thicker directly in line with the 'spray' of stones. the issue is it'll add weight to a race car so the extra hp will be handy, lol
neil.

The extra weight is why I asked the question. Obviously not good for a race car. A metal shield to act as a barrier crossed my mind which I think would be light weight but I suppose you'd have to be sure it won't detach during a race.
I imagine it might not pass tech either now I think about it!

[Matt]

Yes I think I'm going to make some sort of aluminium shield under each wing . Watch this space !

[Pete]

Brilliant update, Matt!

Keep them coming!

[Matt74]

Yes I think I'm going to make some sort of aluminium shield under each wing . Watch this space !

Looking forward to the update!

[Matt]

First step to trial-fitting the gearbox , dial in the bellhousing . Ideally the gearbox input shaft needs to align with the crankshaft within 5 thou or so. Aftermarket bellhousings can sometimes be out of tolerance, and also if a block has been line bored this can have an effect. So any offset needs to be measured and corrected.

First step - fit bellhousing with straight dowel pins and take readings
The Mopar block accepts a .496" dowel pin, however the locating holes in the bellhousing accept a .500" pin, so first step was to make some stepped dowel pins to suit .

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then use them to mount the bellhousing, and measure runout.

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The bellhousing needed to move around 8 thou towards the 5 O'Clock direction

Made up some offset pins .

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Managed to insert them into the block with the offset going the wrong way. Stupid Boy . Took them out again and put them in properly.

Installed and measured the measured the bellhousing again , ended up about one thou off centre so all good.

[Matt]

I had ordered the new gearbox with the shifter location offset rearwards, in the hope that I could use the existing 4-speed hump.

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Turns out that the shifter bracket and rods will foul the torsion bar crossmember. This was always likely to a certain extent . I was hoping any mods needed would be minor, however the crossmember is right in the way of everything.

The solution looks to be to move the shifter forwards about 8.5" so that it will fall just in front of the crossmember.

Had to establish a 'horizontal' line to move the shifter position along, so as not to throw out the shift rod geometry too much . Drew and cut a test bracket out of plywood.

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Installed in the car - looks about right. I had to cut part of the front flange off the cross member but I'll reinforce this part later on

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[Matt]

The shifter will also need to be offset about 14mm to the left to maintain the existing rod angles once it's moved forwards.

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so I made some wider spacers to mount to the extension housing

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[Matt]

Shortening the shift rods .

They're stainless and threaded internally both ends . LH one end, RH the other .

As a complete amateur, I don't much enjoy machining stainless. It gets very hot very quickly. Slow speeds and high feed rates seem to work.

Parting off the ends. Had to resharpen the tool a few times

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and tapping by hand . Again , lots of coolant and work quickly . Still gets very hot though.

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[Matt]

At this point I need to start looking at re-making the engine mounts.

1) The engine is solid-mounted at the moment (after I destroyed a set of poly-loc mounts), and I don't like it very much.
2) I 'd also like to lower the front of the engine as much as possible to reduce driveline operating angle

First of all, need to make sure the engine/box line up at right angles to the rear axle when viewed from above. Drop plumb lines to the floor from the axle, and then extend a perpendicular forwards. Measure existing position at crank nose and at tailshaft for reference.

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[Matt74]

Some clever stuff going on here. The offset dowels are a great idea!

[Matt]

Now that I've got some sort of datum I can pull the engine out again . Using the 'long reach' crane.

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and can cut the factory mounts off the K-member . also make some room under the crank pulley so I can lower the front of the engine

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Then get the engine back in , suspended from above so that I can move it around

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[Matt]

Bought a couple of universal mounts from Summit . Very substantial .

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Cut them up a bit and tacked the 'bush' part to existing engine brackets

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added some brackets to bolt to the K-member

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[Matt]

then made up some pedestals on the K-member to suit .

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[Matt74]

Nice work on those engine mounts!

[Pete]

Great work as ever, Matt!

I have been through similar recently on the Valiant to get the Hemi in.

I cried a bit when I had to cut the Engine mounts off the brand new QA1 "K" Frame in order to get the Big F-off Milodon Oil pump in with at least a small amount of clearance. Despite my best wishes, it had to be a "Motorplate" job....

I then had to re-box the Steering Box mount area for strength - I assume you are going to do the same.

While we were at it, we managed to re-profile the Steering Box mount and with Mr Die Grinder in hand, we moved the Box over by 1/4", which on an "A" Body with a Hemi is a HUGE amount of gain!!!

Keep up the great work and keep the updates coming!