ShaunTGO

Howdy all,

Kind of new to the car modification world, currently trying to modify a 68 firebird to use an LS1/T56 combo

I seem to have hit a big snag that I probably should have seen sooner.

I bought this car from someone that appears to have done his own rack and pinion modification, and cut out a large portion of the subframe in the process. It wasn't until fairly recently that I noticed that one of the holes for the motor mount are missing.

I've included pictures of the engine frame mounts that came with the car, the dirty dingo slider mounts that I bought, and the actual problem itself.

My question is, has anyone encountered an issue like this before? I am not sure what the best course of action is. Do I use the motor mount bracket as-is and have 1 bolt missing (seems like a bad idea)?

Would greatly appreciate any help.

1981TA

iTrader: (7)

silly question, but does that steering turn freely? That rack U-joint is at a pretty serious angle (looks like about 45-50 degrees). Also, if you were to put a solid plate over the "valley" that was made for the steering linkage, would the steering shaft turn without interference?

One thought would be to weld in lower mounts or maybe a 1/4 inch plate that would extend far enough that you could drill your bolt hole. The problem I could see with the bolt hole approach is that whatever bolt you use may interfere with the steering.

ShaunTGO

Thanks for the advice. As far as your steering question is concerned, yes currently the steering does turn freely.

I am not sure I would be able to drill a bolt hole for it, one thought I had would be to just weld the frame stand (ones for a first gen camaro) to the subframe after I get the 2 existing bolts in. I'm not sure how feasible that is though.

Rocketrod

iTrader: (2)

I see three options...
1. I would find another sub frame and swap it out and go back to the stock steering linkage. You may be able to make something work, but you may run into more issues down the road. (This is what I would do)

2. Remove the rack & pinion, weld in a plate to mount the frame stands like they were originally and install the stock steering linkage.

3. If neither of the options are viable, you are going to have to build a brace/support over the top of the rack & pinion for the missing (third) bolt hole.

1981TA

iTrader: (7)

...or you could bolt in the driver side one with the two existing holes, so you can lineup where the third one should be. Then, weld a nut to the frame in the appropriate spot.