wawazat said:You need another set of hands or eyes for spotting tonight? Assuming social distancing rules will be in full effect.
Spoken like a man trying to get out of the house LOL. I have to check with Mama, not sure if she's got me booked for anything else this evening.
Glad to see cribs being put into action. Jack stands for projects like yours make me nervous.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:This build is very much a "hold it in place and see what interferes" affair.
That's how I live my entire life.
Maybe you went over this and I can't find it, but how was the adapter/flywheel procured? I see a few pages back some aluminum dust being made for what looks like the flywheel. Did you make it yourself?
In reply to iansane (Forum Supporter) :
I bought a used aftermarket B5 S4 flywheel and clutch package, gave the flywheel to my buddy Tony, and said "make one of these that bolts to my LT1 crank." We took a bunch of measurements from engine and trans, clutch release bearing, slave travel, etc. The stack up said adapter plate should be 0.920" thick, so we added 0.080" to flywheel dimension to make the adapter an even 1" thick. then Tony took a big Al disc from the usable drops bin at Alro Metals Outlet and turned most of it into floor sweepings. The raw adapter plate also came from Alro, at a discount from retail but not nearly usable drop price. It was cut (wrong) for some other customer, but still big enough to be useful to someone like me. I googled "SBC bell housing pattern" and "Audi 01X bell housing pattern" and found drawings for both. Overlaid them in X-Y coordinates with crank centers as the origin, and Tony did the machine work.
In reply to iansane (Forum Supporter) :
Tony and I are both brake engineers, and we both work for companies that let us use the shop after hours. It's a valuable perk.
In reply to NOT A TA :
I got the idea from you!
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to iansane (Forum Supporter) :
Tony and I are both brake engineers, and we both work for companies that let us use the shop after hours. It's a valuable perk.
Damn. That definitely is a perk!
iansane (Forum Supporter) said:AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to iansane (Forum Supporter) :
Tony and I are both brake engineers, and we both work for companies that let us use the shop after hours. It's a valuable perk.
Damn. That definitely is a perk!
it has been the make-or-break point for me more than once in my career. i probably wouldn't have stayed at TRW for 15 years if i didn't have keys to the machine shop.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:wawazat said:You need another set of hands or eyes for spotting tonight? Assuming social distancing rules will be in full effect.
Spoken like a man trying to get out of the house LOL. I have to check with Mama, not sure if she's got me booked for anything else this evening.
Yeah, maybe
.
I need to rescind my previous offer though. I have been booked.
confirmed 100% that the installation issue last night was due to inability to lower the body / raise the powertrain. Not sure why I didn't think to confirm these clearances on the floor before attempting to muscle-berkeley it together.
after work tonight I will modify cart and build more cribbing blocks.
Also going to put a box fan up to the gable vent in garage and slap together a cardboard duct. It's friggin' hot out here and my garage faces West.
I started this evening by drawing up a plan. Well, maybe not a plan but at least some ideas.
I robbed one of my sweet HF wheel dollies of its casters. They're an older version of the heavy-duty style, and are pretty robust. i had a few feet of 2" square tubing that whiskey_business donated after narrowing the rear, and I figured (1) I could trust the dimensions ie corners are square and sides are flat, and (2) it would be pretty easy to clamp and weld. So I cut four 2" lengths, to be used as lift blocks. This took a while with the death wheel. I really need a band saw. Welded those directly to the caster bases:
then welded those to the cross beams. Front beam is 15" wide; it just fits between the cherry picker legs when the whole powertrain is suspended level. Rear beam is 19.5" wide, which is the same width as the engine adapter plate.
I haven't decided the cart's wheelbase yet. Still pondering on front engine mounts (with mid-mounts off the adapter plate) vs side mounts with a single rear mount on the transaxle. OE Audi mount was included with trans, but would be cantilevered off the back of the C5 suspension crossmember and would probably interfere with rear bar.
With all the crappy stuff going on in 2020, I just want to see the Monzora do a burn-out. That would be a sign of better times.
In reply to OjaiM5 :
When that day comes, I will dedicate the inaugural burnout to you, my friend.
picking up where i left off with building the powertrain R&R cart, i measured from adapter plate to side mounts and tied it together with angle:
then i checked clearance to a piece of 2x3 which i'm going to use for engine crossmember. perfect! the cart will be used to hold crossmember for welding to unibody.
but once the crossmember is welded into the body, how do i get the cart out? scope creep, that's how! i added a receiver to the front of the cart, that allows easy on/off of the front mount support (circle 1 in pic below). with front of engine supported here, i can roll the cart back 4" before it crashes with crossmember. but then i'll slide the adjustable side-mount supports into their receivers (circle 2), and detach the front mount support.
to locate the cart fore-aft on the powertrain, i added tabs to the back of the rear cross beam and blocks to the top (circle 3).
adjustable side mounts? Why?
i'm glad you asked. The adjustment means they can be used to take the weight off the front mounts so those bolts are easier to align and run in or out. They also allow for height adjustment and side to side leveling as I attach the crossmember. They started life as new tie rod assemblies for the Sonoma. Cut off the threads, turned the cut end to fit a 1/2" ID tube, and welded up, probably spent eight hours of garage time making those.
it works exactly as intended and, with the powertrain at the right height, i was able to install the C5 rear suspension cradle to verify clearance to Audi transaxle. Result: \m/
a fun coincidence which i wish i could claim as design intent from day 1: the XSPower turbo headers (thanks Patrick!) exit almost perfectly centered between the package tray above and the C5 frame below.
and here's one of my favorite views of this project to date:
tonight after work i can *finally* begin engine crossmember installation.
POST 666
much better with pictures 
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
You're lucky to have other patricks around who have brilliant ideas and the parts hoard to implement them sometimes
I did not appreciate just how far forward the engine sits. You sir, are not messing around when applying the term "mid-engine".
Watching anxiously to see how cooling is managed.
*praying for side scoops*
You have $8900 of someone elses money. You should up your tool game. Tig and tubing bender for chromoly cage.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:POST 666
That post needs a soundtrack:
\m/
In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :
Funny thing is that using this transaxle moves the engine back about 8" versus the old-school Crown Mfg kit. With my layout, the front of engine is a few inches behind the door opening.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Wow. Makes you wonder on that old kit how there was any room for seats and passengers.
That is a great shot of the LT1 peaking around the door frame! I guess you won't be bitching about your back seat passengers with this build....
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