Back to the Rear End!

Now that the engine/transmission are in and close to where they need to be, I need to finish the work on the rear end.

And- for some motivation- I start positioning the tires in the wheel wells again. (for motivation)

I think that looks GREAT!

Using strings, and with the car level, I centered the rear end underneath the body and used a square to measure a centered span 28 inches apart.(see step 3 at the link)

I added taped circles to the axle tubes to mark where the brackets needed to go- and keep them mostly square to tube.  I also had to plan for 2 degrees of downward pinion angle.   Everything I read indicates you can run 1-2 degrees and be just fine- plus- I can adjust this a little bit with my four link.

After tacking the brackets in place, it really was looking like I had a mis-measurement.  The angles looked good (within .4 degrees) but I looked a bit out of center.

So I removed the housing from the car and put it on stands to do things more precisely.

This worked out MUCH better.  I was able to get exact measurements going in this case and also bought a digital level, which gave much more consistent results.


Back under the car, it becomes time to weld in tabs for the sway bar (which is WAY beefy) and the panhard bar.

These all are great products- and will be really strong once things are together.  The only catch I'm finding- is that the panhard bar bracket looks like it was cut for a smaller rear end banjo than mine.  Because my center is a little larger (its out of a late 70's pickup truck) the bracket doesn't fit up just perfect.

I'll need to modify it so its on there securely and ready to go.

This thing is going to carve up the street. (according to Margery this 'carving ' won't take place until the kids our out of college :) )

Intakes- About that Firewall to Engine Clearance Issue

So - as I mentioned earlier, the firewall is REALLY close to the engine.  So much so- that the original Mark VIII intake with throttle body at the rear, sits two to three inches behind the cylinder heads.

This means to use it, I need to mod the mounts to move the engine forward.  Or mod the firewall..which I'm already doing - but afraid to what extent it will impact my HVAC needs in the car... or try to find another intake that would work.

So - I landed here:

Casey Likey.

Fitting the Engine - Continued

As with almost everything in this project, as I modify things the lord of the domino effect comes a calling and costs me time and money.

This is no exception.

The 69 Mustang in my case came with a nice clean 302 with a C4 transmission.  I've altered this to be a 4.6 (280 ci- but larger spatially) with T3650 transmission.  The motor mounts- also changed-  are for the 4.6/5.4/5.0 Coyote... and they sit the engine VERY close to the firewall.

As you can see, there's not a lot of room there.  This amplifies the size of the transmission as it relates to the floor of the car - with the wider section of the bell housing coming in contact with the transmission/driveshaft tunnel.

THUS - I must pay in time and fab.... to open this area up a bit.

From the front...

From the drivers perspetive.

So I proceed to cut, put engine in, need more room, remove engine... and repeat... probably 8 or 9 times.  I honestly just lost track after a while.

Here's what the tunnel looked like after all the cutting was done.

As you can see- I really opened up things a lot.But - it all fits, and has at least a half inch of play around it for flex/etc to make sure we're not hitting anything while driving.

Next steps - fabricating up the skeleton for structure to enhance the rigidity of the floor and the tunnel.  I don't plan to close it up until I have all my driveline angles worked out.

Fitting the engine...

I added a chain hoist into the beefy laminated beam that was put in when we did the garage bump out.  

What a nifty addition, given that a hoist on casters would just take up space in the garage.   The below pictures don't do it justice ... but I literally took the engine in and out 30 times (low estimate) to  check fit and what not.  

The downside that I'm finding... with the larger case of the transmission, and the modular motor mounts positioning the engine closer to the firewall... I've got two problems...

1. I'm going to need to cut the firewall to make space for the engine/transmission (a fair amount of cutting)
2. My intake manifold is not going to work that ideally.  The throttle body for the Mark 8 sits on the very rear of the engine.... and it sits further back than the heads - which would mean I need to cut more of the firewall for it to fit.  
1. The good is this - I didn't like the look of the Mark intake that much.  BUT - I do like Dad's Cobra intake.  I'm going to see if I can source one of those!