Surreptitious.....

[oldeskewltoy]

from another forum person 1 Wrote:If you're open to suggestions, it wouldn't hurt at all to put some vertical walls on your new crossmember. As it stands, it's basically a flat plate with little resistance to bending.

If you shape and weld some vertical panels to weld along the edges, the new part will form a channel shape similar to the way the OEM crossmember is formed. The part will be much stiffer, which will also make it stronger, quieter, safer, and less likely to impart stress to the mounting points on the floor of the car.

Also, since you have the opportunity to use four mounting points on the chassis, I'm assuming your new crossmember will use them all rather than the two that the T50 mounted to...correct?

Knowing the way you work, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. This has probably already been done and I imagine I am just talking to myself at this point...

from another forum person 2 Wrote:I was thinking the same thing till I read this, looks like he's got it all planned out.

oldeskewltoy Wrote:Once the crossmember has been sized, gusset supports will be added to reinforce the plate.

Hmmmmm, I think we can make a game of this.... anyone up for trying???



Here is the floor and the mount. The mount has been drawn out, the cross on each side is the main hole used by the T50(that is the 13" measurement), the scribed arc is the distance each 2nd hole is from the first, the 2nd hole is somewhere along those arcs.

WHERE should the gusset's be?




Here is a photo of just the support so you can show me, and the rest of us, where you think the best place to support the brace should be.

[oldeskewltoy]

from another forum Wrote:I don't think you need anything more than what you already have there! How much weight is this mount really going to need hold overall? The back end of the trans and some of the drive-shaft weight really is not that much. 1/8" plate should be fine imo.

It isn't 1/8", it is 12 gauge... or closer to 1/10"... David did have his friend do those bends(multi-ton bending brake)... and his friend also concurred... it likely doesn't need additional support

same person from another forum Wrote:If anything, you could add some contoured gussets welded like so..But I don't think you will need them.

David doesn't think I need gussets either........ :eek: He said bolt it in... and if it would make me feel more comfortable, he said use hefty oversize washers


My idea of support... aero dude

[corolla4agze]

or if you like "oem" look make side support to it. I think then will easely take lots of beating.. =)

[oldeskewltoy]

Well.... it took me forever... but The J160 is now test fitted (no clutch inside the bell housing). Being early summer, many of my helpers are busy, and so I had to figure this one out for myself.

The first thing I had to do was find a lifting point* that is steady.... there isn't one on the bottom of the J160, the LEEN adapter, although flat, is too far forward of the balance point, so I had to improvise.........

* - normally this isn't an issue when I'm using a T50, the T50 is just light enough for me to man handle in and out, well the J160 is another 25#s, just too heavy for me to man handle


Borrowing from my early fabrication (fuel and wiring location) I again used a bit of wood :eek:



besides the pieces on the jack, if you are sharp eyed you'll see the spine of the transmission nestles into the top block of wood. Using some of my old woodworking tools, I cut, and shaped a 2x4 block so that it fit the transmission case casting.


With a somewhat steady lifting point, I raise the transmission into place....



you can just barely see the wood supporting it all at the edge of the photo. I run a couple of engine/trans bolts in, and snug them down.

I look to see if all of my measurements, and fabrication of the body look good....

here the shifter cup just clears the cross member



Here the radius-ed chassis, and selector rod clearance



It all looks good... VERY good actually



So the mounting holes are determined...., drilled, adjusted a bit for accuracy....

A few views of a LEEN J160 neatly nestled into the transmission tunnel of an AE71 :thumbsup:







I DO plan on reinforcing this... my idea for this is welding a metal spine along each side of the plate - along the line I drawn. Note that the spine will join the drop and support it as well. Also note the dark triangle shaped marker area on the right side... that will be material removed so the speedo cable has clearance.

oldeskewltoy Wrote:For those who "see"....




MUCH more to come........

That's enough for today, I"ll remove the mount tomorrow, bring it to David for finalizing, and reinforcing.

I'll also have to remove the transmission and get the new clutch in there.... so more to come

[oldeskewltoy]

So... now that there is a new transmission, we need a driveshaft. A few months back XNC (Johnny) hooked me up with a front half of a W5x driveshaft from a Supra.



I hadn't noticed @ that time the fact that the front section are the same length.

Before I installed the 2 transmissions, I performed one "test" that I was not able to photograph.

Having both transmission sitting on their bell housings... I slipped the driveshaft from the W5 into the J160, and I slipped the T50 driveshaft into the T50. Using my tape measure to measure from the edge of the starter(remember both have the same bell) back to the flange where the 2 driveshafts bolt together.....



The difference......... all of 3/8"

The J160 + Supra front shaft = 3/8" longer then the T50 + T50 shaft.... so I brought both up to this place - http://www.sixstates.com/products/products.jsp and they will shorten the Supra shaft 3/8", add a new carrier bearing*, and balance the whole assembly


* - https://www.powertrainindustries.com/cat...r+Supports part number 2380-40

It should be ready either Friday(6/29), or Monday(7/2)....

more to come

[oldeskewltoy]

oldeskewltoy Wrote:I DO plan on reinforcing this... my idea for this is welding a metal spine along each side of the plate - along the line I drawn. Note that the spine will join the drop and support it as well. Also note the dark triangle shaped marker area on the right side... that will be material removed so the speedo cable has clearance.

Usind CAD (Cardboard Aided Design), I further refine the design to offer additional structural support

[Jan Pedersen]

Your mount doesn't look quite like the Leen mount:

Do you think e7 might be different than an e86?

[oldeskewltoy]

Jan Pedersen Wrote:Your mount doesn't look quite like the Leen mount:

Do you think e7 might be different than an e86?

In my opinion... the LEEN mount is WAAAY overbuilt... and I'm not sure of the mount(rubber part) they use. When I first saw theirs, I thought they built a cradle to hold the OEM cast aluminum mount.


Here is my mount.... the welding is only fair in appearance, but there is plenty of penetration. You can kinda get the idea of the shape, and the reinforcement



I'll know more tomorrow... when I bring the cross member over to Jesse's to see if it will fit his floor

[Jan Pedersen]

We are going to mount the clutch cylinder, relocate the shifter and test fit the gearbox tomorrow And hopefully I'll have a mount next week...

[oldeskewltoy]

I tried to fit it to Jesse's AE86... although its basic design still works, the floor sections built to suspend the transmissions from is different between the E7 and the AE86. In the E7, this area is flat.......

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j143/o...cation.jpg

The AE86 section is stepped, and more difficult to fit