Spoolinsteve

Hey guys. I am getting to the point where to make my transmission crossmember for my mustang. I am very concerned about how to get the right measurements.

Right now the car is jacked up like the following:

Two jackstands on the rear lower torque box. I have shimmed the jackstands with steel plates to level the car side to side the best I could.

Then I have the two front jackstands on the front control arms and have the car leveled front to back. I used the front uni-body frame rail in the engine bay because the pinch welds are not straight all the way across.

I have a 5th jackstand under the pumpkin to take any stress off the back end. It is almost up to ride height.

Now I am worried about getting the 3 degree downward tilt right on the motor as well as getting the centerline of the motor and trans square in the car.

I was going to just put the jackstands on the suspension and measure the pinion angle and copy it on the transmission but I highly doubt the rear angles are correct anymore.

Can anyone correct me or give me more info on what steps I should take to ensure it is done properly.


Thank you, Steve

vortectoy

iTrader: (1)

The angle of the engine and trans should be 3 to 5 degrees in relation to the car(frame). Then if the rear axle is just a normal ujoint top and bottom, then the angles should match. Getting it all right takes some careful measuring and drawing it out on paper makes it a whole lot easier.

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

When setting the tilt angles the slope of the floor doesn't matter. The car doesn't need to be level either. All that matters is the slope of the trans has to match the slope of the rear pinion.

If you are also worried about getting them both square in the car than you can build an alignment tool out of some cheap laser pointers. I have posted links before.

Schitzo

iTrader: (6)

grab a pen and paper.
http://www.classicchevy5speed.com/fi...roc_111606.pdf
http://prostreetcamaro.com/dshaft.shtml

gofastwclass

iTrader: (2)

I've tried to explain this logic to people 10,000 times, those two articles are the best descriptions I have ever seen on the internet.

Spoolinsteve

Thanks guys, I'm pretty sure I feel confident about the angles now. That was some good reading. Still a little concerned about getting it square in the chassis though.

Here is the link to what pop N wood was talking about. http://www.downivlife.com/random/Dif...gnmentTool.pdf