i laugh every time i see that.

good to hear that you think this will be the last driveline combo for this car. keep us posted.

 

It had better be. I'm tired of throwing money at the car.

 

Never thought I'd hear you say something like that.

Keep up the good work

 

Any updates

 

Ryan just got back from Columbus and spent most of his time during the last few months finishing a car for that show, so my project has been on the back burner until now. He said he'd get back on it towards the end of next week.

 

Jim,

I don't recall, but are you planning on going with power steering or did you convert your rack to manual?

 

My rack is converted, but there's no reason why a power rack shouldn't work.

 

This is what my friend Ryan does when he's not messing around with my crap.

 

And here's what it looks like after he's done...

 

I need a towel.

 

Thanks Jim.

 

wow thats just amazing..

 

WOW, phenomenal work by your friend. Good to see some progress on your car, the pics are always great.

 

Almost done.











FAQ...

Q. Those motor mounts look kinda flimsy. What's up?
A. The motor mounts aren't finished. They were just tacked on for checking engine position. They'll be boxed in and the frame will be gusseted at the steering rack mounts and front corners for additional strength. The entire assembly is TIG welded.

Q. What engine mounts are you using?
A. Corvette/GTO aluminum pedestal mounts with Street & Performance "biscuit" style rubber bushings. They're the lightest, most compact LSx mounts available, and they should provide more room for exhaust, especially for turbo piping.

Q. What does it weigh?
A. In DOM mild steel, 16.8 lbs., which is just a hair heavier than my CroMo LT1 cradle was. CroMo would probably save another couple pounds with no compromises in strength. By comparison, the OEM engine cradle weighs 19.6 lbs.

Q. Is that an LS7 dry sump oil pan?
A. Yep. We designed the cradle to work with any LSx engine oil pan without modification.

Q. You said there were going to be two engine mounting positions. What happened?
A. I changed my mind. There's not enough gain to be had moving the engine back an inch or so and most people wouldn't be able to take advantage of it anyway, because they'd have to cut/hammer the firewall or use a carb style intake (or a custom billet intake).

If someone really wants to do it, we designed the welding jig up so that the engine can be moved backward along the same plane by any reasonable amount. All that is required is moving the motor mount tabs correspondingly.

Q. Is a bump steer correction kit required?
A. Yes. The steering rack was lowered and rolled about 5-6 degrees forward for the steering box to clear the lower crossmember.

Q. Can I run a power steering rack?
A. Honestly, I don't know. Rolling the rack forward also provides more clearance for the top power steering line and fitting, but since I have a Maval converted manual rack, I was not able to confirm. However, the owner of the cradle shown does have a power rack and we'll know shortly after he bolts everything up whether the line needs to be bent/moved or if everything clears.

Also, keep in mind that this is an LS7 oil pan, and any other LSx oil pan will have more clearance at the front of the engine.

Q. How's the hood clearance?
A. If you want to run an LS7 or LSX intake, you'll probably have to cut the hood support like you would with Hinson's cradle, but you won't have to cut a hole in the hood and add a hood scoop or bump like you would with Granny's cradle. The best option is probably to just relocate the throttle body down and to the driver's side, which some are doing with adapters from other vendors.

Q. Will this engine cradle work with other vendor's transmission mounts and differential mounting systems?
A. It should. We located the engine in approximately the same spot as Hinson does specifically for that reason.

Q. Will JTR headers work with your cradle?
A. That has yet to be proven, because unfortunately I sold my set a few months ago. However, comparing pictures of them mounted on the same mock-up engine and how tight the Corvette motor mounts are to the block, they should. At the very most, you might have to slightly dent one of the tubes on the driver's side, but I doubt it.

Q. When can I have one?
A. As soon as this one is installed on the owner's car and he's happy with the fit, I'll talk to my fabricator friend about making a run of them and see if we can fit it into his schedule.

Q. What will the engine cradles cost?
A. Cost hasn't been finalized yet, but I can tell you that it'll be lower than any of the other cradles currently on the market, and no core is required. I'll work out the details with my fabricator and probably offer powder coating options as well.

 

Jimlab, you're my hero.

 

Ill take one.

 

Impressive work Jim. Got a question for you though....

Did you modify the steering pinion rod at all? This is the rod I'm talking about (red arrow):


The reason I ask is because if you lower the rack without modifying the rod, the rack will also be pulled towards the back of the car. This is because the rack pivots around the steering wheel-end of the rod, and rod is essentially the radius of the arc.

Or are you able to somehow lower the rack without modifying the steering rod and at the same time without pulling the rack towards the back of the car?

Howi

 

I'll take one too! Thanks again Jim for supporting the "community".

 

No. There's enough adjustment in the stock linkage that no modification is required.

Only if you didn't loosen one 10mm bolt...

Yes.

 

The picture below shows what I'm talking about. Loosening the 10mm bolt (labeled "1") allows the linkage to be adjusted in length. You can see a lighter section on the shaft (labeled "2") where it was protected inside the joint which shows how much the linkage has been extended (about 5/16"-3/8").

 

I see Jim. You must not have lowered the steering rack that much then. When I installed the 1JZ I had to lower the rack so much that I had to extend the steering pinion rod, otherwise the rack would be pulled much closer towards the back of the car, which of course would alter the Ackerman.

Looks like a solid piece of work Jim.

Howi

 

Damn....i don't know if i wanna tackle my own cradle build or buy one from jim....decisions decisions

 

Looks good Jim,
planning to make a chromoly version too?

Do you have one of the S&P mounts or know how thick it is? Are the biscuit mounts available in different thicknesses to raise/lower the installed engine height for different intake/oil pan combos?

Would it be correct to say the oil pan clearance to the ground is similar to the hinson kit if the ls1 pan is used?

If Ryan is willing to make more than 3 put me on the list.

 

I need one. Let me know if more are going to be available as well. Please.

-Jon

 

The weight savings won't be significant (~2 lbs., possibly) but if people want to pay for it, I'll make it available.

I can measure tonight.

No. But it wouldn't be terribly difficult to make a polyurethane or Nylon replacement that provided that option. I wouldn't recommend it, though.

If the top of the engine is in the same spot, so is the bottom.

The LS7 pan is fully protected by the front crossmember, but the other pans are deeper at the sump, with the GTO being the deepest, as you can see below. You could add a skid plate to the bottom of the cradle to protect the pan, but we're not planning to do it because it's A) unnecessary from a structural standpoint, and B) would add significantly to the cost of fabrication, since it would have to be a convex shape with several angles involved to mate with the sloping side rails of the cradle.