I want to use a motor plate as well as a mid plate in my truck.
1. How do you make them?
2. Where do they bolt to the motor?
3. Does anyone make themfor the fe?
Thanks, BTW I am blind so pics don't help. Please givbe text description of the procedure.

 

Grab ahold of Scouder, he dialed one in on that beast of his.

--Mike G

 

Ive been meaning to ask.....How do you plan on fabricating if you cant see. How do you even work on your truck for that matter...sorry not trying to be rude just curios.

 

I e-mailed Brian, He hasn't gotten back to me so I posted it here.
As for working on my truck. I see a little. I can't read text or see pics. I can't see a person's face from a foot away.But I can tell a intake from a cylinder head and I can see the block well enough to get the heads close, then I use my hands to line things up. Studs are great for putting things together. I use them everwhere I can. Alot of working on cars and trucks is done with your hands anyway. I do spend as much time looking for my tools as I do working on stuff. LOL
BTW I don't mind people asking me about my sight. It's normal to wonder about it.

 

Cool I can relate If I dont have my specs on I the TV just looks like a buch of colors moving around lol... I used to get in trouble cause people thought i was starring them down but I didnt even know they were looking my way. ah well uncle sam said he'd pay for some new eyes so im looking forward to that.

 

Yeah,before I started using my cane the same thing would happen to me. The cane lets people know I can't see.The way you see tv without your specs is the way I see the world all the time. makes for some pretty interesting memtal images. My mind is always trying to make sense of what distorted images it gets from my eyes. My imagination fills in the missing info with whatever it wants sometimes. My wife thinks it's funny when I tell her what I think is there . Then she tells me what it actually is. Most of the time I am way off base.
Just another day in the life of a blind guy. LOL

 

lol thats classic..

 

Randy,

I spend half my time looking for tools as well :-) And I see better than 20/15 ! I'm just not very organized.

 

Randy, If I remember correct on my Altered I used some of the Accessory holes in the block to mount my motor plate.. Of course, I didnt have to worry about putting on other things, like power steering or alternator and such...

And Randy all my friends are sighted, and they still cant find there Butt with both hands....

And Greg I hear ya there..If I could find all my tools when starting a job, it would be a walk in the park...It take an hour to round up the tools to do a 15 minute job!

Russ

 

Randy,

Sorry about the delay. I just saw your post and realized that I hadn't checked my email for 3 days. I will post the answer here so others can read it if interested. Also, moving the engine back 6" in a truck is impossible without moving the cab back, so I'm curious what you are up to. Must be something special.

Since I don't know how much you know about my plate, and you cant see the pictures, I'll describe it. My plate mounts behind the timing cover and water pump. The top of my plate is flush with the top of the block, and extends to the head mating surface, then starts to angle down toward the frame on each side. Since the engine in my truck is not perfectly centered in the frame, the angle on each side is different, and the plate is longer on the driver's side. The bottom of the plate is flush with the oil pan rail, and extends out past the block about two inches on either side before angling down toward the frame. I made the plate so positioning the engine was simple. It has ears that are the width of the outside of the frame that sit on top of the frame and provide vertical positioning, and then narrows, so that it fits down between the frame at the same time. This provides horizontal positioning. I made L-brackets that sit inside the C-channel of the frame on each side. They are bolted to the frame on one L, and bolt to the plate on the other. The provide both support, and the fore and aft positioning. Installing the engine is very simple. I lower it into it's general position until the ears rest lightly on the frame, then just slide it back until it touches the L brackets. I bolt it with 2 bolts on each side and it's done.

Since the timing cover is now 1/4" out from the block, the oil pan holes do not line up anymore. To remedy this, I elongated the holes in the oil pan that are in front of the plate 1/8" to the front, and the holes behind the plate 1/8" to the rear. now the pan bolts up fine.

Construction was a snap. I made a template of posterboard that I got from walmart. With the engine jacked up into it's desired position I cut the external dimensions, then just pressed on all the bolt holes with my fingers to leave indentations in the posterboard. I transferred this to the 1/4" 6061-T6 aluminum plate, and cut the external dimensions with a Skilsaw. After drilling the holes, I put studs in the front of the bare block and mocked it up. I then put machinists dye on the timing cover gasket surface and slid the timing cover on the plate to mark where the timing cover would sit. I cut the internal cuts with a jigsaw to match the shape of the timing cover, used a holesaw for the waterpump holes, and sanded the edges.

That was it. I've probably missed some things, but if you have questions I'll fill in the blanks.

-Scouder

 

Thanks Brian, That was a excellent description. Sorry if I seemed impatient. I am moving the cab back 6" also. I have a long bed truck so the longer hood and shorter bed will give the inpression of the truck being lower and sleeker. Since I am useing just bedsides it will be easy to mate the shortened bedside to the cab. This will allow me to use the tonoe cover as a cap for the rear of the cab also,since It is a roadster. Now, I just hope the picture in muy head matches the finished truck. LOL

 

How will you make up for the 6" in front of the cab?

 

I plan on getting the rear 6" of a donar hood and fenders. Then glass it to the tilt front end. I will be using a body shop for this part of my project. There is a guy here that is pretty good with glass.

 

Ahh the glass tilt.....I want it....only 1300.00

 

Scouder,

Would you mind posting a picture? I do much better with things if I can see them....especially when it comes to engines.