Northstar rebuild: Will style (Page 117/117) Will APR 22, 05:31 PM It's hard to believe, that I have been making progress... I just haven't been posting much I installed the intermediate shaft and generally assembled things that already existed. Here's a few shots of the cradle, trying to show some of the cradle mods required to install a NorthStar. The new crossmember is 2x3 rectangular tubing, IIRC 1/8" wall. This ended up being a terrible photo, but it just shows the shim that came in the box with the urethane mount welded to the cradle on this flat spot Old skool Rodney Dickman or WCF transmission mount Not necessary to cut the entire engine mount tray Rodney Dickman forward transmission mount Can just barely see where the original cradle crossmember was The (gross overkill) end treatment to support the remainder of the original crossmember Forward engine mount just sits on top of the crossmember Tiny car, huge engine The only way to get a good photo of the intermediate shaft... and the flash shows off how shiny my engine still is! OooOo0oops... I'll have to adjust the position of the oil pressure transducer Temporarily removed the filter adapter to install this bolt. I usually don't like studs, but this is a decent candidate location for one. I had previously been manhandling the built-from-scratch right rear engine mount bracket into place, but it didn't quite fit. This time I took the opportunity to "tune it up" so that it fit without any shenanigans. Here's where it goes [Insert photo of engine mount bracket here] Weight of the complete powertrain and cradle The back end of a Fiero weighs less than the cradle assembly that goes into it (Don't think about the fact that the hitch is rated for 200# of tongue weight... ) And I got the damned thing in place for a trial fit The shift cable clears the MAF and coolant fill, which is good Here's how much wire ended up in the cabin A little oopsie on the hinge box clearance Also did not have to cut quite as much from this angle as I did Will APR 22, 05:35 PM This will be a sub-topic covering ongoing development of my firewall stiffening plate Probably the first time The Mule's pedal box had been out since it left the factory. Get that trash out of the way... Note the location of the electrical connector Fit check of the years-old R1 template. I did the original on paper, which I have since lost. Pounding a model into CAD from this template was a PITA, but I got it done and now have the R2 drawing ready to cut. The electrical connector just to the right of the brake pedal mounting pattern is the interior side of the C100. It's the same connector as the C500, just in the front compartment. Further to the right of the C100 is the HVAC air handler. Obvi, that's a giant hole through the firewall right next to the place on the firewall where we push the hardest. I can probably add a stiffening rib to the edge of the stiffening plate to counteract this hole making the brake pedal mount more flexible. The interior firewall metal is curved just below the steering column, which puts a limit on how far down a flat stiffening plate can go