I have been looking for a different way to mount my flatty in the A ch***is, the motor will be about 3"s higher than most AV8 builds so the mount stands are going to very visible, I have been looking for a forged whatever that might fit the bill & coming up empty for some time until it hit me, I could take 2 pitman arms from like a F250 & bend them into submission as motor mount stands, hell maybe even get lucky enough to get a pair with the FORD script, whatcha think, anybody have a structural reason not to do it? I figured using the small end for the flatty puck mounts & the big end could have another boss welded onto it so it would resemble the mount on bottom of the F-1 shock mounts.
I'll tell ya, that sounds like a pretty cool, original idea. Honestly I think they'd be plenty strong, the forces they experience jerking the wheels around are pretty high at times. Of course those are "lateral" forces, along the same axis of the diameter of the holes, instead of perpendicular to the holes. But I think they'd be strong, as long as they're not a super long moment arm; keep it as short as possible. I mean, consider that the generic AV8 motor mount is a piece of tubing with only one of the long sides supporting the motor with the sides and bottom cut off at the motor end, a pitman arm has alot more material. But that's just my un-proven opinion.
A second thought too, if people would think the heating and bending would compromise the arm's strength... If you're talking about a late model pitman arm, you could always get 2 of the "drop" arms for lifted trucks, they're forged with a couple bends in them that'd probably be similar to what you'll have to do.
Im no matalurgist but we bend the steering arms all the time, if done right it shouldnt weaken the peice, should it? I always send mine out for magnafluxing afterwards, figure its cheap insurance.
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