That engine cross member that the engine bolts to, is just a pain in the ars. Look at all that wasted space above the cross member. No need to be that low.
That welded piece in the valley is just temporary.
Don't want to have to go to a suspension lift to address the problem. I don't want to get nose bleed from to high suspension after all the work I did to keep a low COG. And besides that just side steps the problem.
But I don't want conflict with the high steer link going from side to side or the track bar hitting up under the cross member either.
Not to mention it's just an unsightly thing and always in the way of tightening oil pan bolts and getting to other things like my remote oil filter adapter.
Don't mind that welded brace that lays in the valley, that was plan A which I quickly went to plan B which is way
Holy Sh#t, there I said it for you.
So enter my beloved sawzall. Nothing new here.
Now I did do some thinking on this and just did not have at it. First I put a floor jack under engine just to see how much it would give, if any.
There is only about an 1/8" holding it on. Look at the left and you can see the wavy cut where it is about to separate.
Actually it's cut straight through, it's just the way the metal is stamped out that gives it that look.
The flange that you see sticking out on far left is where the problem with the high steer link was. And the trac bar wants to hit up in between the side pieces. Or might hit it on a bad bounce.
At this point there is no turning back to put back the D35. It just has to get done. Plus Spring Turkey season starts soon, and I need the truck when I go bouncing through the woods. And a lot of it is off camber rides and don't need the truck way up in the air due to additional suspension lifts, other then what I can do with the coilovers.
Now all kinds of room. Lookie there, a missing oil pan bolt. And I noticed a few were backed out. Starting to like this set-up already.
The engine mounts are actually right next to the back side that still has the flange and mounted up high.
Trouble is at this point it's structurally sound as a wet noodle. Nothing that can't be even made better then what is was.
Now here is where all this hacking and slashing is leading to.
This is my hybrid DOM tubing/factory stamped cross member. Now this is just the start.
There is plenty of room between the tubing and back half for the trac bar to articulate and now no front flange to interfere with the high steer tie rod. And there is about 3/4" inches of air space above the tubing to bottom of pan.
I've read on other sites that sometimes the pumpkin can actually hit the crossmember also. No need to worry about that either.
I do have solid motor mounts also.
Plus why block the view of all those links
:
Those holes in the back part is where one of the arms of the D35 attached to the cast mounting piece. Which was way to close to the bottom of my oil pan.
Right side with a lot of fabbing up to do.
The tubing is where the stamped metal would have turned down.
This will be like a monocoque construction when done.
You can see where the motor mount is bolted through. It's almost directly above the back flange.
Also along the top horizontal cut, I'll reinforce that with an angle piece. then again all cuts will have an angle and finished apperance.
Left side with a notch cut out of the tubing to catch on top of frame. That is just to help in holding up untill all welded up.
There again is the missing oil pan bolt and the other bolts that are loose.
No wonder I had an oil leak. Now it's a piece of cake to get to.
Again I'll use the King of all welding rods...7018. Especially since this is more like structural welding.
Going to tie in the stamped metal to the .250" wall tubing with .250" steel plate.
Also getting to where the track bar mounts will a whole lot easier also. In fact it might even be mounted on the DOM tubing. Just need to check on angles.
Here is one .250" plate being welded to the tubing. I traced around one of the humps where that wavy cut was made. All those cuts along the top will be tied into tubing by welding. Then some intermediate bracing also. But not as to conflict with any links.
Now I really don't think there is one area on this truck that has not been reworked to some extent.
Some casualties of this mod. Not to mention, I,m about brain drained after the last couple of weeks.
After the engine cross membe is done, I'll fire it up with someone in the truck with foot on brake and torque it up. I'll watch from the bottom and check to see how it's handling all the torque. Then brace if necessary.
Might add also that over the years there has been a substantial amount of cutting on this truck, including front and rear axles and suspension mods. Not to mention the chopped top. But I have always kept safety number one. To this date not one thing that I have done has came loose or in someway hurt some one. The chopped top has never sagged a fraction of an inch. It drives down the highway as if it just came off the show room floor, but with a few hundred more pones under the hood.
Any knowledge of what I did came from decades of fooling with Detroit iron and many years on the job training in metal work.