Nervous Man's Engine and Tranny swap: sbc350 and sm465 (1 Viewer)

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So...... after many, many hours of contemplating how to fix the unsolvable problem, I made up my mind. I would just have to order some different exhaust manifolds. So, I tried this company since if the exhaust flange was just a little lower, it would have fit just fine.
Exhaust manifold.

Unfortunately after a week of waiting for these to arrive, they did not fit either. Apparently these were not designed to match up with clamshell motor mounts.

After some more debate, I just bit the bullet and ordered some sanderson headers. They fit perfectly and look sharp too. I have learned when Poser recommends something, might as well just get it!:cool: At $400 they are expensive, but I needed em since I wanted to keep manual steering. There were other options I am sure out there, but this problem was slowing me way down. It needed solving.

The headers came with directions that said to heat them up to 250 degrees and then coat them with exhaust manifold paint. I cooked them on the barbeque and then painted em purdy.

There was a funny story about me bashing my skull open on the steel bar I suspended them from, but I was all alone when it happened so no pictures. Funny thing was it occurred just as the manifolds were ready so I had to use one of the dirty paper towels I had handy to staunch the flow of blood so I could start painting. I didn't realize it, but I had bled all over my face and head. When my wife came home a short time later she freaked out. Said I looked like Braveheart after one of the battles.:bang:
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With the annoying and expensive exhaust manifold problem out of the way, it was time to turn to the next big thing. Transfer case mount time. I have heard so many bad things about the AA mount, I didn't want to use that. Plus I thought it would be cool to try designing my own. I like the idea I came up with, but I have no idea how it will end up working out.

I used a polyurethane bushing because I couldn't find anything else and because I read some reviews about the rubber ones coming apart too easy. The internet told me that it was a bad idea to mix rubber motor mounts with a poly transfer mount, but I am glad that I did because the poly one seems to flex easy enough.

I don't have any pictures of the fabrication process because the memory card in my phone crapped out about this time and I had no camera for two weeks so you will have to be content with the finished product pictures. I used the old cover to trace out the shape and holes and then cut it out using a jig saw and grinder.

I was up in the air about what to use for the mount attachment between angle iron and square tube. The forces in my head assured me the square tube would direct the stress forces better, so that is what I went with. I think I used a receiver tube for a trailer, but I can't remember if it was the female or male tube part. The holes in the top are unnecessary, but I thought they would look cool and allowed me to use a socket on the bolts instead of having to use a wrench from the opening in the side.

For the bar that attaches the mount to the frame I went with 1" by 2" by 1/8" thick tube. I tried that, 1" tube, and solid stock and the 1 x 2 was the most rigid.
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I was very nervous about welding that mount up. I had spent such a long time making it that I didn't want it to warp all over the place. I ended up clamping it down to a very flat table and welding it over the course of 2 days. It seemed to work pretty well and only warped the plate enough to raise it about a 1/16" on one corner. If I did it again, I would clamp it more and only do about two 1" welds at a time to offset each other. I think I did about two 2" ones when I welded it. But that is what happens when you are working with a one :banana: brain.
 
The mount looks great. I'll probably rip off your idea when it comes time to support the Orion.

So what was the final outcome with the motor mount folks? Obviously they sent them. Any reasons given as to why their comm was so bad?
 
So...... after many, many hours of contemplating how to fix the unsolvable problem, I made up my mind. I would just have to order some different exhaust manifolds. So, I tried this company since if the exhaust flange was just a little lower, it would have fit just fine.
Exhaust manifold.

Unfortunately after a week of waiting for these to arrive, they did not fit either. Apparently these were not designed to match up with clamshell motor mounts.

After some more debate, I just bit the bullet and ordered some sanderson headers. They fit perfectly and look sharp too. I have learned when Poser recommends something, might as well just get it!:cool: At $400 they are expensive, but I needed em since I wanted to keep manual steering. There were other options I am sure out there, but this problem was slowing me way down. It needed solving.

The headers came with directions that said to heat them up to 250 degrees and then coat them with exhaust manifold paint. I cooked them on the barbeque and then painted em purdy.

There was a funny story about me bashing my skull open on the steel bar I suspended them from, but I was all alone when it happened so no pictures. Funny thing was it occurred just as the manifolds were ready so I had to use one of the dirty paper towels I had handy to staunch the flow of blood so I could start painting. I didn't realize it, but I had bled all over my face and head. When my wife came home a short time later she freaked out. Said I looked like Braveheart after one of the battles.:bang:

I'm running those same headers and just as an FYI they will burn through the spark plug boots on pistons 5 and 6 in less than a week. This will also happen every few months on pistons 7 and 8. The only solution I have come up with to solve this is switching to Ceramic Boots from Weapon X http://www.weaponxperformance.com/w...5.html?zenid=f2301ef247005cf2cde58c963a53813b

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I'm also running fire boots on plugs 5 and 6. This has solved the burn up issue.

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They were absolutely terrible to work with. It just went downhill from what I had previously wrote. First they told me it was done and being shipped. Then, after a week I started calling to check up on them. I literally called over a hundred times over the course of two weeks. They would never answer the phone. I left phone messages and email messages. They never got back to me. I finally tried calling from work and they answered once. (Guessing it showed up as a different number is why they answered it.)

Again they said that they were just finishing it up and it was going out that day or the next one. About a week and a half later I started calling again since I was by now waiting on this part. Never answered the phone again. The package finally showed up a week later. There was none of the hardware that was supposed to be included. I called, but of course never got an answer.

I just spent the $20 and bought all the hardware myself. I was never anything but cordial when I talked to them, and they were always nice when they talked. But, I CAN NOT I ANY WAY RECOMMEND THEM! If I could have gone somewhere else, I would have done it in a second.

The mount looks great. I'll probably rip off your idea when it comes time to support the Orion.

So what was the final outcome with the motor mount folks? Obviously they sent them. Any reasons given as to why their comm was so bad?
 
Thank you so much for giving me this info. It will help me a ton. Glad I learned it this way instead of having problems later on.:grinpimp:

I'm running those same headers and just as an FYI they will burn through the spark plug boots on pistons 5 and 6 in less than a week. This will also happen every few months on pistons 7 and 8. The only solution I have come up with to solve this is switching to Ceramic Boots from Weapon X http://www.weaponxperformance.com/w...5.html?zenid=f2301ef247005cf2cde58c963a53813b



I'm also running fire boots on plugs 5 and 6. This has solved the burn up issue.

 
After doing all this fitting and having everything in its final position, it was time to yank it all out so I could install all the mounts permanently. Here's some pictures of the mounts I welded to the frame to support the transfer case mount. It is 3/8" angle iron with supports welded on the side. Probably way overkill, but it was fun so it was worth the extra work.
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Next up were the motor mounts. I drilled them for bolts, but since the frame has holes in it, I couldn't securely mount the last bolt on each side, so I decided to add some welds just for extra piece of mind. But, I still wanted it to be somewhat easy to take back off if necessary, since I can never trust my own skills completely and worried I screwed something up.
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I started to work on the transfer case shifter. I wanted the threads on this shifter to be the same as the chevy transmission shifter. I took a bolt and cut the head off of it and put it in the lathe to true it all up and put a champfer on it for easy welding. Then I put the shaft I was using in a lathe and drilled the right size hole in it and cleaned up the bottom of the hole to make sure the bolt sat straight in the hole. I then welded it up. I made the shaft by bending up curves and then cutting them apart and re-welding them together. It turned out pretty good, but probably would look nicer if I had a bender more suited to the task.
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Since the sm465 is wider than the stock tranny, the shifter bracket arm is too long. The arm is at an angle so if it is shortened, it will move in, but it will also move upwards. Too much and it wouldn't engage the transfer case correctly. I noticed that I had a little room to fudge things so I mounted the bracket 1/4" lower than the stock setup. This meant that I was free to shorten the arm and it would still sit where it was supposed to. I also custom cut that little cylinder piece that connects the arm to the transfer case. It turns out I didn't need it, but I kept it anyway since I had made it.
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For the bar that attaches the mount to the frame I went with 1" by 2" by 1/8" thick tube. I tried that, 1" tube, and solid stock and the 1 x 2 was the most rigid.

I'm hopefully going to be doing much the same thing soon with the T-case mount...so I thank you for those pictures they will be a huge help. I had planned on using solid stock for the cross-bar between the fame, specifically because it should be able to flex a little more than a square tube. The objective is to allow for some flexibility, while still supporting the t-case. My thought was the solid stock would be preferable in this case.
 
You could be right. I really don't know. Even the 1/2" solid stock seemed to flex quite a bit. The urethane mount also flexes a lot.
 
What did you do for your oil dip stick? The one I bought doesn't seem to work.

I'm running those same headers and just as an FYI they will burn through the spark plug boots on pistons 5 and 6 in less than a week. This will also happen every few months on pistons 7 and 8. The only solution I have come up with to solve this is switching to Ceramic Boots from Weapon X http://www.weaponxperformance.com/w...5.html?zenid=f2301ef247005cf2cde58c963a53813b



I'm also running fire boots on plugs 5 and 6. This has solved the burn up issue.

 
:bang::bang::bang:Ughh. In a low spot right now. The problems never seem to end on this build. When I started this build I thought I would have it done in a month or two. I am now in month 7 and probably still won't be done until december. I have often wondered if it was even a smart decision since I had a good running cruiser before I started this. I sure hope things turn out ok. It is a big fear of mine that something big will go terribly wrong and I will ruin the cruiser.

Every time I look at the beast of an engine and how tough the cruiser looks it makes me happy, but there sure are a lot of things that can go wrong.

The current problem is the heater again. I made enough space for the shifter to clear the heater, but just barely. Now the shifter boot is hitting it. Too bad too since I really liked the way the boot looked too. It seemed like things were back on track until this problem. Ughhh. After a lot of thinking, I think I figured out a way to modify the box to get me an extra 1/4" or so. I will post some pictures of the problem when they upload to the cloud.
 
Heh, I think similar thoughts every time I start on something as there always seems to be quite a bit of project creep :)

You might not strictly "need" a heater, there will be a fair amount of heat coming off the firewall, unless you have some insulation on it. I know mine gets pretty warm, though depending on how NorCal you might need it for a defroster.

Another option is an aftermarket heater, I have a Mojave Heater that came with the 40 (mounted so that all it would do would keep the passengers knees hot) that I will put back in someday. It is possible to mount this heater in the stock position, with the fans tucked up inside the dash. There is a thread somewhere with pics of doing this very thing.

edit: found it https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=1746712&postcount=9
 
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I guess it doesn't really matter, but shouldn't the small inner plates on your motor mounts be sitting on top of the frame, rather than an inch or so above the frame? Perhaps you just didn't want to re-drill those parts when you re-drilled the main portion of the mounts?

I used Firestine/Bier mounts, on which your's seem to be based, and I had to modify them quite a bit to get the engine where I wanted it. If I were to do it again, knowing what I know now, I would just build the mounts myself.
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I don't like the cold that much and I have no top on the cruiser so the heater is a much needed commodity for me. If it wasn't, it would be long gone since then I could have raised the motor up a bunch.

You might not strictly "need" a heater, there will be a fair amount of heat coming off the firewall, unless you have some insulation on it. I know mine gets pretty warm, though depending on how NorCal you might need it for a defroster.
 
To be truthful, I really have no idea. The mounts came with no directions. I actually only set mine up the way I did largely because of your build. If I was to just look at the parts in a vacuum without any input I would have guessed the little plate should go on the inside of the frame. This is where most of the force is going to be placed. I would assume the extra plate was to brace the frame so that it wouldn't crush toward the bottom where it isn't supported as well there. I can't really see the plate serving much purpose on the outside of the frame.

In regards to the plate being placed on top of the frame, it would probably be a little better but the only point of that would be to keep the bracket from sliding downward on the frame. If I had to elongate the holes of that plate, that bonus would be nullified since it could just slide down anyway. I just added some weld beads to add extra support.

If I was to do it all again, I would actually design the mounts myself too. I guess it is too bad we didn't have this discussion prior to both of us using the mounts, lol.:doh:

I guess it doesn't really matter, but shouldn't the small inner plates on your motor mounts be sitting on top of the frame, rather than an inch or so above the frame? Perhaps you just didn't want to re-drill those parts when you re-drilled the main portion of the mounts?

I used Firestine/Bier mounts, on which your's seem to be based, and I had to modify them quite a bit to get the engine where I wanted it. If I were to do it again, knowing what I know now, I would just build the mounts myself.
 
Ok, so the problem I am working with is that the heater and the the gear shift boot are contacting. I made enough clearance for the transmission to be free of the heater, but I didn't realize the shifter boot would take up so much space. :bang::bang:

Here's what it looks like:
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