Used UMI tubular Xmember has odd fit with oil pan...
#1
Used UMI tubular Xmember has odd fit with oil pan...
The gent I purchased it from had a wheel stander Fbody. He'd welded some U bolts onto the underside of the Xmbr to make sure they took the hit when the front end came down too hard instead of his 4th gen fbody oil pan. When I received it, I could tell they'd been successful in protecting the oil pan because they were pretty ground up. I could see the brackets had been contorted too, I assumed from hard landings after the wheelies.
Fast forward several months... I've just started getting a little time here and there so I could install the front end onto the car with the motor in place. I *just* noticed that the oil pan is sitting right on the Xmbr. This looks to me like the whole Xmbr might have gotten pushed up a bit by the hard landings. There's no way I can see that the motor mounts will even have any effect on isolating vibrations from the engine since the oil pan is right on the cross bar.
One other thing that surprised me. When I had the LT1 and TH350 transmission, my stock driveshaft was still perfectly fine. Now, with this 5.3 and TH350, looks like the driveshaft is too short by at least an inch. Is this common/to be expected?
Oil pan sitting right upon the UMI tubular Xmbr.<br/>
Fast forward several months... I've just started getting a little time here and there so I could install the front end onto the car with the motor in place. I *just* noticed that the oil pan is sitting right on the Xmbr. This looks to me like the whole Xmbr might have gotten pushed up a bit by the hard landings. There's no way I can see that the motor mounts will even have any effect on isolating vibrations from the engine since the oil pan is right on the cross bar.
- Oil pan is new Fbody oil pan
- Engine mounts are brand new Fbody versions
- UMI tubular crossmember is for Fbody/LS1
One other thing that surprised me. When I had the LT1 and TH350 transmission, my stock driveshaft was still perfectly fine. Now, with this 5.3 and TH350, looks like the driveshaft is too short by at least an inch. Is this common/to be expected?
Oil pan sitting right upon the UMI tubular Xmbr.<br/>
Last edited by mightyquickz28; 08-11-2015 at 10:59 PM.
#3
Thanks. Yours appears to be different in design to mine. As I sat here thinking of what could cause this situation, apart from the potentially bent tubing, I've wondered if the motor mounts could have been inverted or somesuch. I've looked online but I've not seen any references to that as being a possibility so far.