RX323 Project - Chassis Brackets

[MikeLMR]

lets have a go at this "posting a video on the forum" thing then, this is what you have to deal with when clearing a steering box/drag link etc ... the engine will sit about 5mm higher than this when it is in to allow for some flex in the mounts etc. (not much I hope as they are going to be fairly solid!!)

Whey it appears to have worked :cheers

[travellinbob]

Awesome stuff MIke! You have enough room at front of the engine for at least 1 more rotor and a decent enough sized turbo
   cheers, michael.

[flectron]

Even listening to Drive by The Cars while you work.
There\'s no doubting your commitment Mike. :god :rollin

[MikeLMR]

whatevers on in the background is the local radio station ... Monday is country night uggghhh, not my choice

[travellinbob]

I like both types of music. Country and western!  yeeeeeha.
 cheers, random post for the day...

[DRAGON]

Great work, thanks for the updates!

[MikeLMR]

Thanks for the comments

Got most of the sump welded up tonight, need some trial fitting then it\'s onto final cutting/welding then fitting the drain plug and cross over pipes and cleaning up the outer profile to tidy the job once we are sure it\'s all good .

Oh and leak testing.

[MikeLMR]

Got looking at sorting out some sort of protection from the the clutch/flywheel today. And got as far as nearly ordering some Kevlar to make our own blanket (double layer of Kevlar, with Ceramic lagging infill all strapped together with some seatbelt webbing and bolted at the engine/gearbox joint)

But then i found a universal Nylon SFI approved one for $80 from Summit racing in the US and ordered that instead didn\'t fancy cutting and sewing the stuff to be honest (tis tuf stuff to work with apparently)

[MikeLMR]

photos are of the trial fit of the sump, engine is just dropped in and roughly in the right place. probably about 10-5mm too high and not square or level but it fits and clears (and still will when it\'s in properly) which is the main thing.

Now cut the sump plate out for the pans and started to make a pickup, a 1st gen pickup fits just fine but needs the flange rotating by 180 degree\'s or so.

Got to spend some time bolting it all down before we weld it too ... don\'t want it to distort too much! Slow progress but lots of engine in and out work and cutting.

Got a neat idea for the engine mountings tonight too

[travellinbob]

top stuf mike. you guys should definately turn that little workshop of yours into a car prep buisness!!! That sump looks great.
 So what are your ideas for the engine mounts?
  cheers, michael.

[mullins]

top stuf mike. you guys should definately turn that little workshop of yours into a car prep buisness!!! That sump looks great.

Totally agree Michael! That sump looks really cool. I\'m well impressed! :mmmm :Thumbs-up

[MikeLMR]

So what are your ideas for the engine mounts?

LoL with the amount of time we take and beer/coffee that gets consumed we\'d never make any money.

Engine mountings are still in the idea stage but I purchased another 4 poly suspension bushes to make them up when we have a crossmember and finished sump to work around. They won\'t look anything like the old style rx mountings but will be more like the modern FWD type mountings.

[MikeLMR]

made a blank sheet of aluminum up tonight and sandwiched that between the sump plate and the engine then bolted it all down snug and we welded the sump pans to the plate and b*ggered off down the pub for a pint (well a coke as I was driving) to let it all cool before we remove it tomorrow. We also welded up a new pickup which is basically a 12a pickup but rotated to fit in the new front section.

It now needs a sump plug and few other bits doing, but i think tomorrow we will make a start on the new cross member (woo! more metal going back in!)

[MikeLMR]

Sump was leak tested today and didn\'t leak at all ... all credit to Dave the welder :Thumbs-up

I also spent about 3 hours grinding to remove all the unecessary parts of the suspension crossmember and fabricated a new box section to replace what has been removed. Tommorow we weld the new bits in place and remove the cross member for final welding and gusseting on the bench.

The sump just needs a drain welding in (when we know where it will be accessable) and the cross feed pipes to join the two pans.

OH and if anyone wants to swap a 12a front cover onto a 13b ...they don\'t fit ... only one of the sump bolts line up and it\'s a different shape ! Looks like we will be TIG welding some new engine mountings to the 13b front cover on Monday!

[MikeLMR]

Right ... an update with some substance

Friday night, we welded up the sump (see photo) and the oil pickup

Saturday, we first leak tested the sump then proceeded to grind some more out of the original crossmember to tidy things up and made up a new bar that fitted in the space that we had available.

Sunday, early start and first of we had severe garage door failure resulting in the whole door (3 car wide) dropping on our freshly painted rally car project :flamed  so first task was to make some seriously strong steel wheels to replace the crappy nylon ones that had worn out (to be fair they are very old) about 1/2 hour with a hole cutter and a welder had that sorted and by then Mark had turned up to respray the car and fix the dents !

While the repairs were going on outside I prepared the new crossmember for welding to the original on the car and then Dave welded 75% of it while still on the car. We then took the crossmember off the car and started to box it all back in and gusset the old to the new to make it strong enough.

So thats where we are ... modded sump, modded cross member (not the prettiest thing in the world but it will do) BUT, still no solution to the engine mount on the block itself ... needs more thought before a solution will be found.

anyhow .... Photos ->