Update Buick V6 in 914, It's In! Options

[dbledsoe]

Got the engine & transaxle into the car, bolted up at the back, and ready to fabricate a few minor parts to make the new forward crossmember mate to the body. The forward crossmember was bought from Speedway Motors in Lincoln Nebraska for a grand total of $58 to my door (http://www.speedwaymotors.com/). The crossmember clears the shift linkage just fine. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/mueba.gif)

[dbledsoe]

QUOTE (Phoenix-MN @ Jul 5 2005, 11:17 AM)

Don, How did you end up modifying your front mounting bar to get the engine to sit up higher? Looks like it fits in there real nice. Did you have to cut off the end of the waterpump shaft for any extra clearance at the firewall? Paul

Hello Paul,

The cross member came with two 1/4" thick uprights welded to it and a 3/4" tube welded into the upright that that extends about 1" from each side of the upright, fore and aft. The tube is what the rubber engine mount bolts pass through when bolting the engine in place. Luckily the uprights are off set about 1/3" from the centerline of the cross member (as viewed when looking down on the cross member). I cut off 1" of the 3/4" tube on the forward side of the cross member. Between that and the approx 1/3" off set I was able to get the cross member in place when bolted to the rubber engine mounts and slid all the way to the forward end of the rubber mounting blocks. That places the cross member slightly aft of the centerline of the original cross member. I then cut a pair of replacement bars to bolt to the engine cross member body mounting points from 1" wide x 1/4" thick 4140 steel bar stock (they replace the stamped steel pieces that the original cross member bolted to). I now plane to drill the mounting holes in the 4140 bar to match those of the body mounting points and will then drill a hole in the bar stock to mate up with the new cross member centerline. Since my cross member sit on top of the body mounting point, rather than hanging below it, I will have my machinist make a pair of round bar stock spacers to raise/lower the engine to the correct height for proper orientation i.e., level with the car fore and aft. I also cut a pair of 1 1/2" round bar 6" long that slip inside the tubular cross member. Those can be slid in or out to get the correct width to the mounting body points (the cross member as bought from Speedway is too short to span the full width of the centerline to centerline of the original cross member bolting holes so had to have its width extended).

It sounds more complex than it is. Once I get all the pieces fabricated I'll snap some photos of it to give you a better idea what I'm talking about. Right now the front of the engine is actually supported by a 4x4 block of wood so I can get the cross member in and out to fabricate the additional pieces to complete the forward mount.

I took your advice and cut 1" off the front of the water pump shaft. I did that before trying slip the engine up in there. That is some very hard material they make the shaft from. I started to, or should say attempted, to cut it with a brand new 32 teeth/inch hack saw and blade. Didn't even make a mark on the shaft! So I got out the trusty die grinder and cut-off wheel and went to work on it, and even that took some time. I'm glad you mentioned that in your other message because I would have found out while trying to lift the engine into the body that it would need to come out again to cut 1" of the shaft off.

It looks like the best place to mount the alternator will be on the lower left side front of the engine. I suspect I'll need to fabricate a bracket for that.

Best regards,
Don