My good friend Lunatic (Shayne) has offered to make me proper mounts for my F23. I supplied an 88 cradle, F23 tranny, Rodney adjustable dogbone, Rodney engine mount, WCF 3800 bracket, and my undying love
I am 100% sure that the mounts will work. This guy is amazing! Will he produce more for sale? I sure hope so, along with a proper shift bracket for the transmission.
I really like my F23, but am not crazy about the gearing. Can someone point me to the link where changing the gear set was discussed? Is it worthwhile (not sure how much of a difference it makes).
[This message has been edited by cam-a-lot (edited 10-24-2015).]
Great looking Work!! In the text it talks of the F23 has the axles offset 10.5 mm or about an inch toward the passenger side. wonder if this would be a lot of trouble for the 84-87's. I guess he's working on the 88 cradle right now. Hope he offers a set with the offset instruction for the older model cradles! Great Work!
Hey Camalot!! This guys good! Did he mention anything about the F23 having a Differential centerline difference from the Fiero trans by about 10MM? It was supposedly toward the passenger side. I read it in a post somewhere but can't find it. If that is true, then you can move your entire Engine and trans that much toward the driver side. That would make water pump and other front of the engine work a breeze! Hope it's not too chili up there yet!! Thank You Doug
Must have had a blind moment! It's all there plain as day. This one is on my Favorites list! Imagine how much room you will have with my stock 2.8. I've got a selection of engines. A 98 LT1 and a 3.1,but I think I'll stick with my 2.8 for now because it runs good and it's only only got 77,000 on the clock. Only problem with it was a blown head gasket. This Carolina sun for 4 years! Probably more. That's the worst!
I have had numerous people PM me asking if these mounts are available for sale. Please note that it is Lunatic who is making them, and I don't know if/when they will get finished as he has many projects on the go at the same time. It is best to contact him directly, as I have no more info than what it shown in the thread. I can tell you that I have seen his work in person and it is top notch. The cradle I gave him was an 88, so keep this in mind if you are asking about 84-87 mounts.
When I decided to make Pete a set of mounts, I thought I was just going to modify his 88 cradle and put the mounts where I wanted. This would've been the easiest way and I would've been done already. However, it seems that there is interest in nice, properly made mounts. So as you can see, this is going from a one-off set to something more. Pete mentioned that I should make a few sets and sell them on here. While I would like to offer this community some quality mounts, I'm not there yet. With these mounts, I'm looking for quality and fit foremost. This initial set is a bolt-in solution on the 88 cradle. I chose to use any existing holes and not cut or weld on this cradle. This is where the time has to be spent. I have to document everything and create CAD files for the parts. Once I'm happy with that, then I have to make jigs to ensure all parts stay put when welding or to check fit after forming.
On a side note: I would also like to install the Northstar to the other F23 that I have here. Then I'd like to place the entire shebang into the Fiero engine bay. I think it would be magnificent if my F23 mounts would also work for the bigger engine. This way, the mounts that I'm making will work for the entire spectrum of engine's available to swappers.
I haven't forgot about this project but I do have a few other things going on as well. They all take some of my time and I'm trying to deal with them as best as I can. I'll keep you posted and thanks for your patience.
Here's some pictures of where I left off.
Here you can see the access hole lines up.
Here are some gussets.
Two of which will go here.
Ready to tack weld.
And the end result.
Despite the fact that I ran out of shielding gas, these didn't get welded.
Fits well and you can see the bluing in the steel due to heat.
A bit of spatter due to low gas in the tank.
Side view with bolts installed. I think I will beef up these gussets a little.
The mounts are super nice, but i am really interstid in the shift linkage that was mentioned. I really want to use a more traditional cable routing and so far the answer seams to be special cables and just rought it around the bay. So not the clean and proper install i was hoping to come away with.
im addind this to my watchlist for updates for sure.
The mounts are super nice, but i am really interstid in the shift linkage that was mentioned. I really want to use a more traditional cable routing and so far the answer seams to be special cables and just rought it around the bay. So not the clean and proper install i was hoping to come away with.
im addind this to my watchlist for updates for sure.
Thanks for the compliment. I have a question though. What exactly do you mean by "wanting to use a more traditional cable routing?" We route the cables so they have the least resistance and resist binding. If that means we have to route them in a certain way, it's because it's proven and works. We emulate the factory routing because of the reasons that I just mentioned. Yes, longer cables are beneficial in the F23/F40 swaps. You can also use two stock Getrag cables if desired.
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So not the clean and proper install i was hoping to come away with.
You were not wanting a clean and proper install? I'm not sure what you want then. A poor and improper install?
Wow Lunatic that looks beautiful. When you have a set of mounts ready for sale for a 2001 3800SC swap F23 ( don't have the trans yet ) into an 87 GT let me know or put me on your list. Nice work
Lunatic when I said a more traditional routing I was referring to somthing more like the stock getrag cable routing. Only becouse I had read that long cables wrapping around to come at the trans as designed in a fwd car hard hight shifting effort. I was just starting my research into this trans swap and was actually having g a hard time comming up with shift cable information. He'll if you or anyone else can walk me through it believe me I would appreciate the hell out of it.
As for the clean install comment it was ment as, I wanted the best and cleanest install I could do, even if that ment a hell of alot more work. Especially since I may have found a HHR doner today at the bone yard while I was making a deal on my 38000SC power plant.
Trust me there was absolutely not negativity ment in my comments I love what your doing and if and when the kit becomes available I am seriously interested.
Lunatic when I said a more traditional routing I was referring to somthing more like the stock getrag cable routing. Only becouse I had read that long cables wrapping around to come at the trans as designed in a fwd car hard hight shifting effort. I was just starting my research into this trans swap and was actually having g a hard time comming up with shift cable information. He'll if you or anyone else can walk me through it believe me I would appreciate the hell out of it.
As for the clean install comment it was ment as, I wanted the best and cleanest install I could do, even if that ment a hell of alot more work. Especially since I may have found a HHR doner today at the bone yard while I was making a deal on my 38000SC power plant.
Trust me there was absolutely not negativity ment in my comments I love what your doing and if and when the kit becomes available I am seriously interested.
There are a few threads on this site that are aimed at the installation of the F23. These guys have have all tried different cables with varied results. Some say to use two Getrag cables, some swear Rodney has the right cables and others used cables custom made. We all have a slightly different approach and opinion on what cables are best. I prefer to use parts that are easy to obtain locally and make them work.
Here are a few pictures of cable routing that I found on this site for you. Credits go to fieroguru as these pics were taken by him.
While those are my pictures of a SBC/F23 swap (re working of the swap) I redid, it came to me with that general cable routing and supplied cables. This is what it looked like as delivered to me.
As part of the rework I improved the geometry and position of the of the components and made cleaner and more robust brackets, but it is still far from what I would call ideal. If I ever do another one, it will have a completely different routing of the cables and look much, much less like an after thought.
Nice mount! I thought I had seen them all researching before building my rear mount f23 mount design request
I see you posted this about a year ago.
The difference between the mounts is that mine was designed as a bolt-in solution. Many owners don't like the idea of cutting and modifying 88 cradles for some reason. I quit working on the mounts as the guy I was making them for sold his car. He also asked for his cradle back as well. That's life I guess.
Shane, if you still have the interest, means, and time to do this. I have an F23 I could loan out and I can arrange for a loaner 88 cradle (as long as it remains unmodified...I'm one of those people, hehe) I've been in this for 12 years so I am not foreseeing getting out of it.
I like your work and it would be great to see this finished. While I have 3 spare getrag 282's I like the idea of the F23 and HTOB better than the Getrag slave setup. Last F23 equipped swap I drove had light years better clutch pedal feel (and I have a bad knee).
I think you still have my number from when my wiring caught fire on to the way to a show in Kitchener (lol...sigh) , shoot me a text.
