Well, the front half, anyway...

 

Today I did the first test fit of the drivetrain. I joined the engine and trans, and dropped them into the chassis. I was surprised that the chassis only dropped 3/4" under the weight of the drive train. It is an aluminum block, but I expected (hoping) for a bit more. Still too early to get a feeling for the stance. That will have to wait for the weight of the body to be on it as well. I have a small misalignment on the motor mounts that may require making new adapter plates. Possibly only one of them. But you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. The engine is rotated slightly to the passenger side, causing one of the engine mount bolt holes to be hanging off the adapter plate on the driver's side. I was already knowing this will have to come in and out of the chassis many times before it is bolted down the final time. The engine will need to rotate slightly toward the passenger side to get that bolt hole onto the adapter plate. So the passenger adapter plate holes will need to be moved. Oh, to have access to a cnc mill again... we had four of them in the manufacturing shop I ran for 24 years. I got a bit spoiled!! The new oil pan clears everything really well. With chassis level, the pinion angle on the drivetrain is at 6 degrees. I will need to address that by making a spacer under the tail cone on the cross member mount. Everything I have read says the target is around 3 degrees at most to make the u-joints happy. There is always garage engineering when mating up parts that weren't designed to be bolted to each other.

 

I finally got around to making a stand for my new bead roller. The base is a VW rim that went through the shop fire, the post is from an old driveshaft that was in the bed of the Studebaker truck when I bought it, and the other pieces were laying around in my metal pile. Iam happy with it!

 

Gonna paint it?

 

Fire survivor. Gonna leave it like it is.

 

I had to remake one of the engine mount adapter plates last night. I had a math error causing an alignment issue. The replacement was thoroughly checked prior to drilling, and all the issues got solved. Today I am making the fuel tank mount for the rear of the frame. This will be the first time I have actually used my HF weld table and clamps. About to start melting metal!

 

Don't weld 'em TO the table.

 

I consider myself a better welder than that... this is the back side of a butt joint weld (before grinding it smooth).

 

Here are some shots of test fitting the tank into the chassis mount. I wanted to make the fuel tank easily removable, but didn't want to remove the rear cross brace. Tanks Inc. said this tank design needs to be supported on all four sides. My solution is to weld my support frame on the bottom of the chassis rails, creating a shelf so it will slide in and out for serviceability. The rear-most angle will be a bolt in piece, completing the surround support.




The forward angle of the mounting frame was notched on each side to clear the chassis. I will weld this frame to the chassis underneath, and at the two points where the front angle touches the edge of the chassis. Due to the elevation change on the chassis rails, the edge welding here will help support the weight.




The profile of this tank fits really well with the curvature on the bottom of the cross member - almost like it was designed to go here. This tank is made for a '67-69 Mustang, but deepened to add another 9 gallons from the stock Mustang. The capacity is 22 gallons. The fuel filler will land at the back edge of the bed, right in front of the tailgate.

 

Here is a side shot showing how deep the tank is when installed. That hopped up LS3 will drink through 16 gallons in a short time, so the extra gallons was desirable for longer drives between fuel stops.