Maybe I missed it, was there a reason in particular that you wanted to cut out the front crossmember? I cut and moved mine in a similar manner, and kinda wish I hadn't, as now I'm about to cut it out again and put it closer to the stock location to provide more room for an intercooler.

FWIW, Ford Coyote ARP flywheel bolts have the same pitch and diameter as 60V6 bolts, but, they have MASSIVE heads on them, if you run an aluminum flywheel, I would recommend running those bolts instead of the SR20 bolts, because they will help mitigate potential creep problems. the downside is that they are about .075" too long, and need to be shortened.

Pictured here are stock LX9 bolts, WOT Tech ARP bolts, and Ford Coyote ARP bolts on a Fidanza flywheel. the pictures showing thread protrusion include a .075" washer under the bolt head, with the washer, the Ford bolts hit the clutch disc.

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"I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."

cognita semper

Thanks Eric, good to know about the Ford bolts if I go with an aluminum flywheel, I have been considering that as an upgrade if I go to F23 along with a new clutch.

I chose to move the crossmember because it is in the way of the oil filter, I know there are other solutions to solve this but I had some other considerations I took into account. I will have better access to the starter as well as a side benefit. The hump in the stock crossmember is close to where I want to put an alternator/where AC would go if I had it and may make that an issue. Oil pan will come off easier in car as well.

For reference:



The stock crossmember is pretty flimsy, I wanted a beefier member in the cradle to help take the additional forces of the new motor. I wanted additional support for the trans mounting location as well. And I wanted a strong member to tie the motor mounting plate to, it will stiffen the whole cradle up to tie the motor mount into the new crossmember.

In regards to corrosion, I am not sure how moisture would get into a sealed tube, but moisture seems to find a way. It would be nice to lighten the crossmember up a little bit and maybe give some access to thoroughly paint it inside. But it is also nice and strong right now so I may just leave it. And I will make sure to sand everything well and take down corners prior to painting. I like to save old flap wheels for the angle grinder for paint prep as they don't remove a ton of material. I have some Eastwood DTM epoxy primer and some Eastwood Chassis paint I was going to paint the cradle with, I will probably POR-15 anywhere where I clean up some rust.

Waiting on the cradle bushings and sleeves and I will get back at it. I may go prop the cradle up with the front bushing mount ends in cups of Evaporust to clean them up in the meantime to minimize how much work I need to do. I still have more phosphoric acid I could use too.

[This message has been edited by zkhennings (edited 10-18-2021).]

quote Originally posted by zkhennings: Thanks Eric, good to know about the Ford bolts if I go with an aluminum flywheel, I have been considering that as an upgrade if I go to F23 along with a new clutch. I chose to move the crossmember because it is in the way of the oil filter, I know there are other solutions to solve this but I had some other considerations I took into account. I will have better access to the starter as well as a side benefit. The hump in the stock crossmember is close to where I want to put an alternator/where AC would go if I had it and may make that an issue. Oil pan will come off easier in car as well. The stock crossmember is pretty flimsy, I wanted a beefier member in the cradle to help take the additional forces of the new motor. I wanted additional support for the trans mounting location as well. And I wanted a strong member to tie the motor mounting plate to, it will stiffen the whole cradle up to tie the motor mount into the new crossmember.

all good reasons to move/replace the crossmember, I moved mine to facilitate better mounting of the powertrain, in some ways, it was a significant gain, in others, not so much. I'm currently rebuilding my front crossmember to make more room for a intercooler. I would consider dog legging the crossmember by the transmission to open up a little more room up there.

quote Originally posted by La fiera: I have the Ford bolts and they don't hit my disc. I run a solid disc.

quote Originally posted by ericjon262: the pictures showing thread protrusion include a .075" washer under the bolt head, with the washer, the Ford bolts hit the clutch disc.

Additionally, most people run a sprung hub.

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"I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."

cognita semper

Got some more done.

Cradle "legs" in containers of Evaporust. It did a decent job



Removed the other bushing sleeve, made a slit in it because when crushing the sleeve inwards it was pulling inwards



The new sleeves that will be welded in



I cut the transmission mount at an angle to box it off



Used some CAD to make a plate to box it off. I cut this out of material that came from the bus



Tacked it, started welding and folded over the tab that was sticking up



Done





Put the trans on the cradle



Then it was time to remount the motor. I had previously made a cut to the cradle dolly to allow it to fit in the engine crane better. It was still really annoying to position and could not get close enough to where the motor hangs from the crane. So I took the dolly all apart and made it smaller in every dimension to be much more positionable within the crane. It worked great and was much easier to mate the engine and trans after the changes. I also added much larger casters that get caught much less than the original casters did, as that caused a lot of tipping during moving the dolly around. Since it is less stable now I wanted to avoid any causes of tipping. Overall it has been a nice improvement.

I then remounted the motor and bolted the mount to it





I marked where it needed to be cut but was a little generous with it so I could still remove more material to get the motor in straight. It was challenging with the engine crane as it does not pull the motor perfectly straight. I then dropped it down straight and tacked it in place.





I forgot to take a picture of the motor sitting on the cradle with no crane supporting it, but it is sitting on its own right now. Using the bolt holes for the rear cradle bushings and a straight edge I have checked how the motor compares to that datum. It is a little high at the front and a tiny bit crooked. I am going to figure out how far off exactly it is at the mount itself so I can lower it the right amount and shorten it the right amount without more trial and error. Once that is set I will fully weld it and then remove the motor and trans to test fit the cradle into the car for getting the sleeves and bushings lined up properly before tacking them in place.

Then the motor and trans can be reinstalled for the last time (fingers crossed) and I will test fit the whole assembly in the car and figure out where I want to route things.

Hopefully get to that point prior to my "car-cation" so I can spend lots of time on all the details.

[This message has been edited by zkhennings (edited 10-27-2021).]

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"I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."

cognita semper