Projects BRIAN MADE ME DO IT: 34 Roadster Build

I didn't know that @Pist-n-Broke
I guess it has been a while since I used him.

 

Shelly Dogan from Longview used to do them (stick figures) in the 70's and I had Don King from Kelso do my Harley tank about 7-8 years ago. Don was a staple at the pin strip booth at the Portland Roadster Show but was absent last year due to health reasons.

 

My daughter came and got her truck last night and that means my lift is clear! Time to address that transmission.

 

I have to drop the engine and transmission in one piece, the last time I had it apart was several years ago and at that time I had to removed the front wheels in order to get the car low enough to set the engine in the cradle I built for this purpose. This time I am adding a 2x4 to the cradle so as to avoid the extra work.

I am not a carpenter, I am more of a CARpenter but this what we have now

The added 2x4s are attached using 8 aluminum plates I cut up and drilled. I also had the last bolts and washers.

total cost of the refit = zip, zero, nada.
After work tomorrow I’ll put it up in the air and pull it apart. Fun!

 

The way the 2x4 is attached makes me a little nervous, but I don't know exactly how the engine sits in the cradle and how much clearance you have for possible better bracing.

 

Yeah, that thought crossed my mind. I fear they may want to spread. The engines oil pan rail sits on those 2x4s. This gets the weight of the blown Flathead and the T5 transmission. If it fails it would be ugly. I mean real ugly, real quick.

perhaps a brace from the 2x4s down to the 4x4s?

 

I'd make 4 more of those straps for the insides of the 2x4's/2x6's, then drill thru the 2x4's and 2x6's and fasten with longer bolts/washers/nuts, that go completely thru, cradling the 2x4's.

 

This sounds like my kind of entertainment. Never heard of dropping a Flathead out the bottom of anything. And then it's only a little bit Top Heavy and that stand, uhhh! I mean what could possibly go wrong? I don't want to hear about it later or see it on U-Tube. I want to watch this in person. I'll bring my own Pop Corn and chair and stay out of the way. Is that Okay B-B?

 

That was the original thought, bolting through the wood with a bracket on either side but the brackets and bolt heads will mar the oil pan. There is little to know clearance for hardware in the middle. I have used the stand twice before and it worked well, just 3 " too short (insert favorite pun here).

It is quite a sight buddy. You gotta remember I built it and I did so to remove the engine and transmission through the bottom of the car so I didn't have to fuss with the sheet metal removal. Radiator, hood, grille, it all stays in place. You just need this little crate and a 2 post lift. And it helps to load the lift with a bias toward the rear to compensate for all the weight that is about to drop out.

Bring the recliner!

 

Is there clearance to add some strapping to tie the left and right verticals together? Even Nailing in some nylon webbing in an X front and rear, or something, just to keep them from spreading apart.



Or some sort of metal triangulated gussets:

 

The first pic, no. The transmission will prevent it int he rear and I can't remember how much room there is in the front.
The second picture is what I am thinking. Just to prevent it from wanting to spread those 2x4s. I don't think it will, the weight is going straight down but when I am wheeling it out from under the car if one wheel should snag something it could get it off balance for a second. Those "outriggers" would stabilize it. I have a 4 foot length of angle iron. I am thinking about making 4 one foot braces, welding which washers to the ends for lag bolts and racing the upper 2x4s to the 4x4s.

 

I really like this idea.

 

If it was me, which it aint, and my multi-thousand $$$ engine/trans, which it aint..... I'd bite the bullet, measure up what you really need as a support/cart, make a sketch, and go steel tube shopping!!!!
ANY amount of risk involved with a wonky scabbed together cradle is too f&#@ing much!
Kind of like the old advice about shopping for a helmet...."if you've got a $50 head, put it in a $50 helmet, otherwise step up and make an investment!"

 

I'm thinking with those reinforcements you should be good to go Bill.
You may want to do an inventory on the "refreshment" cabinet in case anything goes sideways.
That reminds me............

 

I can’t disagree that this should have been welded together. I don’t like wood, welds for shit. But dance with the one that bring ya

Emergency medical supplies are standing by in the electric medical cabinet in the garage.

If this won’t hold it I’m out of ideas.

this thing is more metal than wood! It’s a hybrid!

 

That ain't goin' anywhere...

 

Looks good! I'd feel comfortable with that.

 

That is a big improvement!

 

Whew! Looks great now that it’s braced. Breathing easier now.
Show’s over, folks. Move along.

Great idea dropping it out the bottom! Seems like it will save a ton of work.

 

Moving forward!
Here is how it sits on the rail

very secure

nothing to it.

You know that old saying “if it unbolts chrome it?”
there’s 100 bucks worth of fasteners!!!

 

Nicely done.

 

That last pic didn’t make it.

 

The problem child.

I found out the replacement transmission that I wanted is Ford not GM (like mine). That would require a new hogs head, clutch kit, hydronic TO bearing…basically another grand on top of their $3800 price before shipping. I ain’t doing that.

I have the trans in my daily and will take it to a local shop that knows their way around these T5 s. Hopefully it won’t be apart too long. I’m kinda like Dr McCoy in that Star Trek episode where he replaced Spock’s brain. My smarts are temporary, the longer it’s apart, the longer it will take to figure out how to put it back together.

 

b-t-w; I'm liking your engine cradle a LOT better now that it has those steel braces installed.

 

I trust it more now. I was banging around on that tranny trying to dislodge it and it made me glad I spent a few minutes during up that crate. Hey, I have a crate motor?

 

Did you twap the straps and say “that ain’t goin nowhere!” Lol

 

I missed the excitement, but glad it unfolded the way it did, without needing the medical cabinet! Looking good!

 

If I had a St Christopher I would have hung it on there. All good in the hood.

Oh, I may have still filled a prescription or three but that's just daily protocol.

The trans is at the shop undergoing surgery whilst I try my hardest to go back to the eye doctor. I pulled out my die grinder and sanding discs to address some unsightly areas of my flathead block and I got metal in my eye again. From the pain tonight, I will be on the phone with my DR for some eye cleaning tomorrow. Fun! And yes, I had my safety glasses on. I don't know why this keep happening. I need to buy a new face shield. In fact, I'll go online now and buy one.

 

This is the one I wear.
https://benchmarkabrasives.com/collections/eye-protection/products/grinding-mask