Hot Rods The (mis) Adventures of a Compulsive Tinkerer

With the holiday and family in town shop time was limited but yesterday I made an executive decision to install the Chrysler and build front motor mounts for it based on the old Hurst mounts. The Buick mounts will be built to sit on the same pads as the Chrysler. I removed the transmission mount from the tube crossmember so it’s just a blank. My shop is sorta crowded so I rearranged everything so I can lift the Hemi and install the transmission adapter and trans.
I need to weld nuts on the inside of the boxing plates for the new crossmember and I need to get the engine where I want it so I know where the crossmember goes. I’ll finish fitting the other boxing plate and tack them in place. It’s like dominos, one thing after another, and I find that it’s easy to get ahead of myself.
That thing’s a monster, but it looks like it will fit fine. (Not sure about the 3” blower drive though) Lol

 

I cut and fit the Trans-Dapt crossmember to fit where my measurements told me it needed to go. But there’s a little problem….

Yeah, if I use a Vega box, with the crossmember in the right place the steering box is 1” farther back than it needs to be to have the drag link and tie rod parallel. This is all by my dubious calculations, so it could be better or it could be worse. I have a pitman arm coming so I can figure more accurately. Nothing like having the parts in your hand so you know for sure what you can do with them.
I could always go the full old school Hurst method. I have that option…..

But I like to use a bolt in crossmember when I can because it leaves you with a clean slate if you decide to swap engines in the future. (In this case the Pontiac would get a new crossmember farther back and this one would be removed) And no unused protruding brackets to deal with.
I guess I could also contact the gentleman who rebuilds early Ford steering boxes and see what he recommends for a standard drag link steering box for a ‘33-‘34 ch***is. I’m not married to the Vega steering, it’s just usually easier and works good.

 

I’m waiting for some stuff to be delivered so I decided to not be lazy and mock stuff up just to be sure. I got the adapter and my TH400 case bolted to the back of the Hemi.

Then I dropped it in for a sanity check. Turns out my measurements were right on the money. Right in the middle of the slot, only the height was in question.


With that behemoth sitting in there, it’s hard to think of using anything but the Hemi…..

I’ll have to dig up a couple extra leafs to add to the front spring. Lol

 

Damned Bob, I was out back pulling a fence down while you were in the shop. My feet and hands are still numb.

Tell the truth now, your area is heated?


If not, I’m going into hiding until April

 

That is a handsome mill!

 

Budget36: Yeah, I’ve got two mini-splits, one at each end of the shop. In spite of the tall roof, in 15 minutes I have to turn one off or it gets too warm. It was 44 degrees out when I finally got out to the shop.
Jack; the Donovan valve covers give it a no nonsense, hard core look. I’ve got chrome FirePower valve covers too. I’ve got an as cast Mooneyham 6-71 for it but I told myself no more blowers on my street driven cars. I have a nice polished Weiand 2x4 intake that I’ll probably use but it’s nowhere near as impressive looking.
I dunno, in for a penny, in for a pound. Right?

 

Well, Bob, I believe that in some cases restraint is the threshold of cl***. I'm growing out of the shock of extreme phase and easing into the beauty of subtlety.

 

Yeah, I thought I was too, then I set that thing in there. Funny thing though, it’s got a mild cam and it was pretty docile until you jumped on it. It was a great ski boat motor. I made an adapter and put a Powerglide behind it in the boat so I had two speeds but more importantly, I had a soft Neutral without crashing the V-drive gears in and out. In the transmission neutral there was enough parasitic drag that the boat would still creep forward at a No Wake speed. Then I could set the idle a little higher to get the off idle response a little smoother.