Brains

iTrader: (7)

Mine is too short as well, I just fit mine. Its not too big of a deal to lengthen the shaft, but I wonder if the SN95 shaft is longer?

TT_Vert

iTrader: (12)

the sn95 shaft would have to be longer, at least the 4V one would have to be. I have a friend w/ a 4V but its not near me for a few more months. im going to go mock up mine ina bit and see how much too short it is and ill call flaming river to see if the sn95 is longer.

Dave

Brains

iTrader: (7)

I lengthened mine today, it needed about an extra 1-1/4" to be perfect.

TT_Vert

iTrader: (12)

im having a hard time seeing where you extended. Did you just buy some steel tubing and lengthen the round part?

Dave

Brains

iTrader: (7)

I used some I had laying around.. Here's a better overall view:

Bo White

iTrader: (59)

Never hurts to lengthen the ole shaft eh . The heads and cam should work good together, car isnt going to weigh much so it should be 3-4 tenths faster(or better) than a compariable fbody. I know youl keep us informed on the #s , thanx BTW

TT_Vert

iTrader: (12)

ahh gotcha, im probably going to obtain a used shaft and just cut it up.

dave

Scalpel

iTrader: (4)

Brains, when you make a new a4 crossmember, you should make one for me too

TT_Vert

iTrader: (12)

id definately like to see pics of it
dave

Brains

iTrader: (7)

My steel order arrives on Tuesday, and you bet I'll post pics. But, the way I'm building it, you'd still need to weld in the mounts on the subframes -- I'm not using the factory mounts. I'm actually removing those so I have more exhaust clearance.

TT_Vert

iTrader: (12)

i obtained a welder and began teaching myself to weld last week so no worries for me Ive already had to box in this POS frame where it had rotted.

dave

TT_Vert

iTrader: (12)

btw, are you using box tubing, 16 ga, or what?

?

Dave

Brains

iTrader: (7)

I went with 14 ga. to make myself feel a little better .083" wall structural 2" x 1-1/2" A513 steel box tubing and 1/8" thick angle brackets. I can pretty much guarantee the trans crossmember will be plenty strong.. lol.

Brains

iTrader: (7)

I spent a fair amount of time contemplating just how I wanted to fabricate this crossmember, and after farting around a while I came up with something I'm very pleased with. Didn't actually get a whole lot of the fab work done tonight, but from here on out it will go quickly.

The way I want to configure my exhaust system didn't lend itself very well to a "conventional" Ford style crossmember. I wanted to put the catalytic converters right on the ends of the long tube headers to make sure they light off as quickly as possible. I also wanted them to tuck up under the car as tightly as possible so I don't have ground clearance problems. Putting cats in this location meant they would have to occupy the area the factory crossmember used to sit. I grabbed the trusty air chisel, removed the transmission crossmember mounts from the floor pan, and mounted the converters to the headers.

Next, I started looking at how I could get a crossmember in there without having to jump through hoops to maintain a decent exhaust routing. I also wanted a better mounting system than Ford originally provided - the crossmember more or less is mounted to the floor pan, and not the frame. So, I cut out a section of the floor pan and will be welding a section of box tubing that travels over the top of the exhaust system on each side.



Here's a view of how the new rails will slide into the car. They'll be fully welded across the subframe, to the door sill, and completely along the seat rail. The floor pan will of course be welded where the bar passes through.





Once these rails are welded in, I'll build the inner section - the part the actual transmission mount bolts to, and spans the new rails. That part should be pretty trivial.

TT_Vert

iTrader: (12)

is that center going to be removable I assume
Dave

Brains

iTrader: (7)

Of course It'll bolt to the outer rails. The rails don't interfere with the transmission or the exhaust in any way, as they're basically flush horizontally with the tunnel and higher than the exhaust. I like it a lot better than the way the factory did it. Not to mention, now I have a solid point to mount my submarine strap for the 5 point harnesses.

Sledgehammer

Clean idea...One of the best trans mount ideas I have seen.

Looks like I might have to steal it when/if I can ever get going on my iron 6.0 turbo Stang project... (Sure wish I could find a ls1 engine up here in Alaska...Got bucket loads of 5.3 and 6.0 truck engines)

Wnts2Go10O

iTrader: (12)

use a 6.0L

TT_Vert

iTrader: (12)

id liek to see the pics of your DS header too man!!

Dave

Brains

iTrader: (7)

Here's pics of the drivers side header:







It should be pretty obvious, but the one primary that makes a big "hoop" away from the other three is done that way to clear the steering shaft. The way these headers came, that back primary went straight away from the head, and squeezed between the steering shaft and the frame rail -- not much room for error, much less engine movement. I'd rather not have the header contacting the steering shaft, especially when going 130 MPH, so I routed it forward, then down and around the shaft. There is plenty of room everywhere with this header

I also finished up the frame stubs for the transmission mount, but no new pictures. The drivers side looks just like the passenger side anyway, so nothing earth shattering there. I need to stop at the parts store and buy an Energy Suspension tranny mount so I can make the bracket that spans between the new frame stubs. I'll try to get that done tomorrow.