Square Peg, Round Hole

This installment sees the completion of bolting together the parts of the old FrankEnSPRIT engine, installing the gearbox mounts and mounting the shifter. None of it too difficult, but satisfying for the progress and increased shelf space. First the engine:

The first steps were to install the alternator and the AC compressor. I'm still missing two spacers for the compressor - one behind the rear bracket where it mounts to the aux housing and the other between the rear bracket and the compressor itself.

The parts that really freed up space were the intake manifold and plenum. I finally have all of the parts up off of the floor! This assembly will be tucked under a sheet until either FrankEnSPRIT is on the road or I blow the engine in the '83 turbo. With the wastegate diaphragm torn in the '83, it's neck and neck as to which will occur first.

Gearbox mounts were next. This allowed the removal of the board under the gearbox and got the whole unit down to the proper stance in the frame. I also bolted in the rear crossmember to keep everything nice and rigid. This will be important when figuring out where to place the Sport 300 engine cradle brace. Fixtures for that will need to be welded to the tubes of the frame and then the brace is bolted through the fixtures.

Another part I need to source is the muffler support cradle. This is a small bit of framing that bolts to the open holes in the gearbox mount brackets that provides hangers for the muffler behind the gearbox and cable mounts for the "midyear" shifters. There is a set of cable mounts on both sides of the latest cradles so they will work on cars with either left-hand or right-hand translators. If I can't find a gearbox rear housing for the V8 shifter, I will have to revert to the midyear shifter. Fortunately, I was able to secure one at the Lotus Garage Sale.

The last task of the night was fitting the shifter and cables into the frame. Here is a shot of the opening for the shifter. Note the coolant and vacuum tubes inside the box section. The main engine coolant tubes have flats formed into them to allow clearance for the shifter side to side. The tubes in the bottom are deep enough to not interfere with the levers. If you look closely at the round in the upper right hand corner (click on the photo to make it larger) of the shifter opening you will see a small crack forming. Another upgrade I will need to do is to add the frame reinforcement around the shifter. These parts are no longer available, but hopefully I will be able to find one I can use as a pattern to make one.

There is another modification (also known as fettling) to make to fit the new shifter. Note the round section of the opening and the square section of the base of the shifter. Corners will have to be opened up in order to get everything to fit. I ran some tape from the straight sections as a guide and eyeballed the left edge. It looked like it need to be tangent to the circular section, so that is where I decided to make my cuts. If I needed more space, a grinder or file would make short work of it.

Here is the result of a few minutes with a Dremel tool, a flexible extension to get into the small area, a handful of (fragile) cutoff wheels.

My initial guess was spot on, as the shifter slipped nicely into place, in perfect alignment with the mounting holes. The hole is where the shift lever mounts, and the aluminum block below the mount is the reverse lockout. This is the bit you have to lift the collar over in order to shift into reverse. It will need some adjustment after I get the mechanism at the rear of the gearbox sorted out.