ftjandra's worklog version 2.0 (including e153 trans swap)

[therieldeal]

watch out, he's gonna bug you to make a copy of it now lol

[SgtRauksauff]

Just beautiful, man!

I need a shop like that, and the tools, I've got SO many ideas and so little time....

--sarge

[FE3-323]

Epically missed this thread- as always well designed pieces ferdi

[ftjandra]

Small update

Haven't had much time to work on it, but I did manage to finish the new crossmember and the front and rear mounts. Next up is notching the frame rail and making the mount for the intermediate shaft.









The rear mount is very close to the steering rack, but everything should fit...hopefully.

--Ferdi

[therieldeal]

coming along very nicely

i like how you mounted the front of the crossmember, should help w/ ground clearance!

[Turpro]

Man I need skills like yours lol. Looking good

[Mazda_Powered]

Very nice man!!!

[Sockington]

I thought you had to notch the driver's side "unibody frame rail" near the transmission? I remember reading about Jon pounding the **** out of that to get a 1/2" (if I recall correctly).

Is this not a needed step? I'm about to pull the motor to do some body work RIGHT THERE, and it'd be good to know if I should make the opening a little larger for the tranny if I go to the E153 on this chassis.


You know, might as well when I'm right there doing the work anyways.

[therieldeal]

you do, but thus far Ferdi has been test fitting with the 5th gear cover and transmission gearshafts removed.

[ftjandra]

Yup, I need to clearance the area just a tiny bit. Right now, the 5th gear cover just touches the very bottom of the frame rail - the same exact area where Mazda already clearanced it. So, all I need is ~1/4". I am thinking about rigging up a hydraulic jack braced on the passenger frame rail and just pushing that area out. I think that should work and would save a lot of work versus cutting and boxing the frame rail.

Hard to see in the pic, but it's touching at the very bottom of the frame rail.



But, you have to remember that this is not with the adapter plate from the groupbuy. I did not have to move my engine up the 1" like Jon did, so that surely makes a difference in where the cover interferes with the frame rail.

--Ferdi

[therieldeal]

but before everyone backs out of the GB, remember that Ferdi's plate is no good for AWD

Plus the clearancing really wasnt THAT bad.

PS did you test fit axles and all that already too?

[ftjandra]

but before everyone backs out of the GB, remember that Ferdi's plate is no good for AWD

Plus the clearancing really wasnt THAT bad.

PS did you test fit axles and all that already too?

Just to clarify, I will not make my version of the plate ever. The only reason I did was because I did not want to wait on the group buy. And, yes, my plate only works on 2wd because I rotated the transmission to move the axles up (instead of moving the entire engine/trans).

Yup, I did test fit the axles and everything is good.

--Ferdi

[therieldeal]

it's awesome to see another swap proceeding smoothly

[Hadoken]

I am thinking about rigging up a hydraulic jack braced on the passenger frame rail and just pushing that area out.

Won't that end up just pushing both frame rails outward? A jack only raises your car because the car has less mass than the ground that is supporting the jack. Since both rails should have the exact same characteristics the force from the jack will spread evenly at first until one side becomes weaker than the other.

Kind of like trying to push a parked car. It might nudge forward a little at first, but eventually the mass of the car will overcome your mass and the force being exerted pushes you backwards instead.

[ftjandra]

Won't that end up just pushing both frame rails outward? A jack only raises your car because the car has less mass than the ground that is supporting the jack. Since both rails should have the exact same characteristics the force from the jack will spread evenly at first until one side becomes weaker than the other.

Kind of like trying to push a parked car. It might nudge forward a little at first, but eventually the mass of the car will overcome your mass and the force being exerted pushes you backwards instead.

I thought about that and figured that if I spread out the load on the passenger frame rail (let's say 1 square foot) versus the part I want to bend at like 1 square inch, the small area would give first. But, if the other side bends too, that wouldn't be bad either - gives me more room by the crank pulley since the engine is now moved over that way some.

--Ferdi