Frame Modifications
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Below are the various, some might say extensive frame modifications to make everything fit and hopefully keep the car from twisting itself apart.
The most extensive modification to the frame of the car is the roll cage. It provides much needed structural rigidity as well as driver/passenger safety and a mounting point for the rear suspension. It is basically a modified 6 point chromemoly cage bent and tig welded by me.
10/26/08 Once again pictures of the rear frame/cage/suspension mounts are shown on the suspension page. When everything is complete before tin work I will take complete pictures and explain things I haven't before on this page.
10/17/08 No pictures on this page to add, see suspension page for rear end photos, there is going to be some pretty extensive additions to the cage/back half to get the rear mounted so stay tuned.
As another note, the bar running from the driverside suspension upright to the floor pan has been removed, those of you who said it would be in the way were correct, it made mounted a gas pedal impossible. I have added a small bar from the upright to the frame to its rear, however, I don't know if this will be the only bar added.
Another note: I can't find that I have ever described the steering rack modifications I have made. For the engine to sit low enough I needed to mount the rack inside the frame rails, and also quite a bit further forward. I drilled holes in the frame and ran some 1/8 wall 2 7/8 tubing to reinforce the removed portions, you can see pictures o the mods on many pages, I then had to modify the rack ends by welding a theaded portion to end to mount a rod end. It is attached via a threaded tube to another rod end on the steering arm of the spindle. After some tweaking I believe will function fine and will, I think, have less bump steer than stock.
Here is a picture of some of the bars I added for structural integrity, I braced both suspension uprights forward to strength especially since modifying the frame to relocate the steering rack took some rigidity out of the front end. Also viewable in this picture is the driver side engine mount. I used 1/8 plate for the engine side, then tubing to get down to the frame, vibration dampening is provided by Energy Suspension polyurethane mounts, they are listed for custom 4 bar setups but work well as engine/transmission mounts. The passenger side mount is similar but is mounted directly to the upright on that side.
The brace on the rear of the upright goes back into the cabin and to the outrigger mount on the driver side. In the next picture it is better seen.
Here is a good shot of the bars in the cabin, as stated above, the driver bar goes from the floor right in front of the driver seat and the passenger bar goes from the roll cage hoop to the rear of the passenger side suspension upright. I couldn't make these bars symetrical due to space requirments for the driver (me). The reverse lockout of the transmission among other things got in the way.
Also, in the picture about you can see the removed portion of the firewall, I kept cutting and sliding the engine back until I was happy, I'll obviously have to go back and fill in the missing portions.
I can't get a good picture of it but in the picture on the right by the bar you can see the transmission bell out at the bottom for the starter. I did have to notch the frame for the starter and part of the bellhousing, the portion that was removed was then boxed in with plate to retain rigidity.
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