11 days without an update??? you keep this up and you're fired.
I haven't touched it since the last update. Between working on customer purchases, doing brakes and replacing the pitman arm on my truck, and my day job sending me to NYC for 3 days... just didn't have time to work on this swap.
This weekend I am going to be doing a bunch of machining/welding for the parking brake hardware for my 13" kits and and the F40 Shifter brackets. If I get all that done, then I may start machining the sleeves for the engine/transmission mounts for this swap.
I haven't touched it since the last update. Between working on customer purchases, doing brakes and replacing the pitman arm on my truck, and my day job sending me to NYC for 3 days... just didn't have time to work on this swap.
This weekend I am going to be doing a bunch of machining/welding for the parking brake hardware for my 13" kits and and the F40 Shifter brackets. If I get all that done, then I may start machining the sleeves for the engine/transmission mounts for this swap.
Today, I moved the engine very close to the mounting position and started paying around with card board for mount designs.
Like my previous swap, this drivetrain will have 4 corner mounts using rubber lower control arm bushings (FB235). They are quite economical, quite stiff, and use a 1/2" bolt. If anyone wants to upgrade to poly, then there are poly bushings offered for these as well.
I purchased a length of 2" OD tubing that the ID is slightly too small for the bushings, so I have to bore them out on the lathe.
Here one of the bushings is pressed into the sleeve:
Then it was a matter of making some cardboard templates to show how the bushing would be mounted. I prefer the mounts to be made from pieces of flat steel so I can have them laser cut from 1/8" material and weld them up with some fixtures. Here is the Right Rear transmission mount... just a simple, single plate with a hole cut out for the bushing. There will be contoured tabs that will weld to the cradle to support the bushing.
The Left Rear transmission mount will have 3 flat plates and engage the bushing from the outer edges vs. being welded to the sleeve. The tall thin plate will pickup the 3 bolts on the side of the transmission and have the bushing nut welded to it. The 2nd plate will bolt to the boss on the rear of the transmission and be welded to the side plate. Then the 3rd part will be welded to the 2nd to form a mounting tab for the other side of the bushing. The outer sleeve of the busing will be welded to a steel vertical bar that will run from the cradle side rail to the vertical portion of the rear crossmember and be welded into place. This rear pocket of the 88 cradle is very weak, so letting the bar spread the load across the pocket will help.
The front transmission mount will have 2 flat plates and 2 spacer sleeves.
Here is a picture of the tabs that will be welded to the cradle for this mount:
I am still pondering the front engine mount... but I do know the stock aluminum mount bracket is coming off and won't be reused. I am anal and want to try to keep both of the front mounts co-linear. I couldn't do that on the rear, but the front has the room so why not. On my first LS4 swap, both front bushings were co-linear, as were both rear bushings.
is there any benefit to them being co-linear? ease of installation?
If each pair of mounts (front pair & rear pair) are co-linear, then each mount within the pair should see the same torque load. Otherwise, you run the risk of one or two of the mounts taking a much larger % of the torque load and that would be the mount to fail first.
I started the day marking a section of tube for cutting the bushing sleeves:
Cut them to length and then bored the ID for the bushings:
I decided to reuse the stock aluminum front engine mount bracket. The main reason is I found a way to finish the upper mount with just 1 additional piece of steel that was fairly simple to cut and drill.
Then I moved on to the front transmission mount. Again I changed things from the original mockup as I cut and formed a section of rectangular tube for the upper part - again, just 1 additional part besides the sleeve. The all-thread is there to make sure the bushings for both front mounts are co-linear:
The rear transmission mount is very similar to the mockup, but this is just the template I will use to make the final part:
The rear transmission mount is next, but it is going to be the tough one...
Yesterday evening, I made the AutoCAD drawing for the 3 upper mount brackets. So today I verified the drawing for the Rear Engine Upper bracket by drilling all the needed holes on the mill using the DRO and then cutting it out and making sure it fits (which it did!).
First check to make sure everything was close:
Bracket (right side) cut out and shaped to match the template:
Tacked the bushing sleeve to the bracket and mocked it up to the transmission again:
Then I trimmed the upper loop to make it about 1/8" thinner so it would be the same thickness as the lower loop:
For the rear transmission upper bracket, I am going to start out using the other transmission so I can make the templates with everything on the bench with much easier access.
Used some centering bolts and washers with the proper size to get the bolt pattern (also measured it with the digital calipers). Once the washers were centered on the bolts, I tack welded some 16ga plate to the side. This will give me the general shape for that portion of the bracket:
I drilled the piece of 16 ga that will be the template from the caliper dimensions so I could verify those were right before doing the AutoCAD drawing, and they were. Bolted the template material to the tack welded contraption and marked it for cutting:
A little cutting/grinding later I have a roughed in template for the side part:
Also made the second template for the rear of the transmission:
I need to install these parts on the transmission on the cradle fixture to continue, but here is the rough mockup of how it will attach to the bushing (bushing sleeve will attach to the cradle):
Not sure if i missed it, but could you share the source and part number on those bushings?
Sure, FB235 - front lower control arm bushings for late 60's early 70's GM cars (like Camaro). Word of caution. I have seen up to .020" variation in OD of the outer sleeve on the same application between mfg. So stick to one brand.
The engine and transmission for this swap have been sitting under my steel work table for nearly a year.
The 2nd LS4/F40 is sitting on the top of the work bench and has been seeing progress from time to time. Eventually I will get back to this swap, but probably not until I have everything done on the LS4/F40 swap #2 and I finish the planned upgrades for my original LS4/F40 swap.
You are truly an artist in fabrication guru. Not to jack the thread but i was looking for your ls4/ f40 swap #2 thread and can't find it anywhere could you send me a link? Thanks.
You are truly an artist in fabrication guru. Not to jack the thread but i was looking for your ls4/ f40 swap #2 thread and can't find it anywhere could you send me a link? Thanks.
Thanks! Most of the time it simply is my willingness to rework something multiple times until it accomplishes its task while also looking good.
It will be a year or more before I ever get back to focusing one the LS4/4T65e-hd. If you need parts for the LS4/Auto swap, fieroking sell just about everything you need.
im gonna check with fieroking bout mounts and such...….I just appreciate all the info you and others have given out towards either of the auto or f40 swaps.... thanks to all!!
but im gonna bump this thread every so often to remind/pressure ya ….
you keep this up and you're fired.
