Sunday went well with getting the motor mounts in.  I must say the motor drops in like a glove.  If only the rack & pinion fit as well. In fact the rack & pinion won't be going back in, just not enough room left.  I'll have to go with a gear box style steering system. I spent some time today at a local salvage yard and the steering out of a Chevy Astro van looks very promissing.  More on that after the transmission is mounted (with any luck tomorrow).

Here are some pictures of the motor mounts in:

Today I got the final material cut away from the crossmember and all the support tubing welded in.  I spent most of the week looking at pictures of the crossmember trying to determine the best way to reinforce the structure semetrically when the cross member isn't quite semetrical.  From the pictures I think you can see all my time analyzing it paid off.  The cross member is reinforced and welded to the cars frame.  If I had the rack and pinion installed I'd put it back on it wheels, but since I don't I'll just have to wait to see how well it sits.

Tomorrow I'm going to start the day by welding in plates for the engine mounts.  Then I'm going to spend some time seeing if I can relocate the rack and pinion about 5 inches lower then its original position.  After that I'm going to begin cutting away the firewall and floor to make room for the transmission.  I'm hoping the center hump will be enough for the driveshaft so that I won't need to cut it all the way back.

Here are the pictures for todays work, enjoy!

I spent the day cleaning and painting the Chevy V8 305 (seller thought it was a 350 but the block is stamped 5.0L) and began removing metal to get the motor to fit.  I have all the metal removed to position the motor where I need it, but I have a little more to go for the transmission and mounting the cross member to the frame.  Here are todays pictures:

The mounting holes for the upper control arms are angled back several degrees and designed to accommodate that angle, when I turned the assembly around 180 the control arms were pissed off being tilted the opposite way and did not leave much room for movement.  It took me all of five minutes to swap them and all is good that I can tell.

I'm picking up some tubing tonight so I'm prepared for a little framing work when I get the motor this weekend.  The drivers side frame is a little different then the passengers to make room for the transmission so I'll have to custom fit each side seperately.  I'm going to make some temporary brackets that will tie into the original bolts on the frame so I can get keep the assembly square while welding it back in.  I'll be taking pictures along the way.

Well, I spent much of last winter and this spring doing the fabrication work on a buddies '65 Dodge Dart to squeeze in a 440 big block.  Now it's my turn.  I just bought a '96 Avenger and have pulled the motor.  What is going in?  Well, since I'm on a very tight budget I'm going with a small block Chevy 350.  The goal?  Keep the car as stock looking as possible.

So far I have pulled the motor and waiting the purchase of a sbc 350.  I have one lined up for this weekend and will begin the fit.  The car is being converted to rear wheel drive.  I came up with a slick way to get the transmission to fit past the cross member.  I've turned the cross member 180 degrees.  I swapped the upper control arms so they remain on the original sides to keep the angle of the struts correct.  I'll be welding the cross member in after I have the motor and can locate the best position.

Back ground on the car: I bought it for $650 with 232,000 miles and a locked motor.  The body is rust free with a few door dings and a cracked front bumper.  I am planning on a body kit down the road so I wasn't concerned about the front bumper.  It must have got cought on a curb (probably quite common as low as they are to the ground).

My budget is $2500 for the conversion (I said I was on a tight budget!).

Hope you guys don't beat me up for not sticking with the original motor and high perf parts.  I'm always trying to be different with everything I do.