The front tranmission mount is nearly complete (just need to smooth the welds on the outside and finish welding it on the inside) and I thought it would be helpful to show a little bit more of the mount making process.

Starting with the template, I grab some 1/8" sheet and cut out a section of if for the piece I need:


With the template sitting on the steel, I mark the first hole and drill it to the size of the bolt (keep the holes as tight as possible).


Once the hole it drilled, now tightly bolt the template to the steel plate and use 2 washers to keep the two separated. The separation allows the drill bit to center on the template as it drills the 1/8" plate. Drill another hole.


Then add a bolt to the new hole with the needed spacers and drill the next hole. By doing it way you keep the template secure and have a precise transfer of the bolt hole pattern from the template to the steel.


Now remove the spacers and bolt the two back together, then take a sharpie and mark the needed shape.



As you cut the shape out, cut in the middle of the sharpie mark and try to leave a little of the mark for finishing.


Once the rough cutout is done, bolt the two pieces together again, but now add washers to the holes that have smooth radii. If the washers with the right OD have too large of an ID to center on the hole, chuck up the bolt in the drill press and use the hand held grinder to taper the head or nut so they will self center to larger holes. Here are a bunch of modified bolts I have used over the years. The ones with the point are for transferring hole centers for making the templates, the tapered nuts and heads are for centering washers for shaping in larger holes.





Then use a grinder with a flapper disk (36 grit) and slowly shape the plate to the shape of the template. Go slow you just want to scratch the template surface and the washers are you round the edges. With some work you will now have a copy of the template.


Next I use a belt sander to help flatten any straight surface (but a flat file works as well) and smooth out the edges.


Here the 1/8" steel bracket is now done.


I wanted to add some 1/8" plate to the firewall side of the bracket to stiffen it up and hide the previous grinder work on the transmission, so I cut a long strip of 1/8" material 1 1/2" wide. When I want to make long cuts that are straight, I use another piece of steel as a guide and clamp it to the metal to be cut.




Now here is where I get a little fancy... I want this 1/8" plate to curve around the top spacer sleeve. To do this I grab another piece of stock used to make the spacer, clamp it on the vice and start pulling it over the tube. Several hits with the hand held mini sledge works to persuade it to bend tighter.



To go even tighter still, I clamp it in the vice using a socket to hold the tube tightly in the groove. Then use a large c-clamp to pull the short leg further around the tube. Once I am happy with it, I cut off the excess length of the leg and test fit the piece.


Then I slide the 1 1/2" plate into place and test the fit:




Then use the same process to make the 2nd bend around the other spacer and trim the bottom to the needed length:



Then I tacked the spacers to the original bracket plate on the inside, then tacked the outer plate as well. Then went back and fully welded the two together. I didn't focus on making a nice looking weld, just a hot deep weld with good penetration as it will all be ground down anyway.



Backside is welded:



Last step is to grind the outer weld smooth, but the wife has a headache and would like for me to hold off on the grinding for a while. So I am going to mow the grass for a few hours.

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 08-18-2013).]

quote Originally posted by Raydar: Pure artistry.

quote Originally posted by FieroMaster88:

Thanks! My parents owned an ornamental iron business in the mid 70's and it must have made some impression on me at a very young age. I vaguely remember being there while they were working when I was young, and they shut it down when I was 3-4. Kinda strange that my adult hobby ended up being my parents first business... now that I think of it, my mom has only seen the bed I made for Sara and I, she has never seen any of the brackets/mounts I have made for my swaps...

quote Originally posted by Trinten: And you did all that today, and got the post put together, and it's still early in the afternoon. ... you can really make a guy feel lazy sometimes!

So I guess I shouldn't tell you that I didn't even step foot in the garage till 10 AM...

quote Originally posted by Trinten: With your bending setup, using the socket as a spacer on the pipe, is the pipe flattened out there? I would be worried about the pipe working/rolling free on the flat face of the socket when the wedging/bending force is being applied - or I could be missing something obvious that didn't translate in the picture/description.

There is just enough pressure on the socket to hold everything in the vice, and the tube is 1/8" wall and quite stiff. The clamping/bending is happening with the large C-clamp, not with the vice at this point.

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 08-18-2013).]