So ever since we came up with our motor mount solution it's been bothering me how high and forward the motor sat. Unfortunately I didn't have much choice in the matter, the location of the steering rack dictated that either the motor sat high or that it would sit far forward. Honestly I didn't like either of these options but I went with trying to mount it high. Well, it's been nagging at me since I started, and today I decided to do something about it.

This is what a factory subframe and steering rack looks like on an FC:


The first thing I did was gather some information. The oil pan is a front sump, hammer head type. There is a flat spot just behind the pan itself, and that would make for a great place to run a support beam and elimanate the section of beam that is blocking the motor from sitting properly.


After some measurements and a couple of quick calculations, I knew what I needed to do. I obviously didn't want to start cutting away and risk chassis flex, so the smart thing to do was to add the new support beam first. For this I turned to D.O.M roll cage material.



After marking it up I started cutting. Now, I am no Master Fabricator or even an Amateur Fabricator, just a yahoo with a zizwheel lol. So it took a few minutes to get everything to flush up, but in the end I got it. The cut outs from earlier became top caps/ reinforcements.



After the bar was in and I didn't have to worry about flex, it was time to start cutting.



With that bar out all that was left was to move the rack. These mods will allow the motor to sit lower and further back, allowing for better weight distribution than the old set up. To handle the rack mounting we decided to utilize what we cut out. Waste not want not and all that. First up was shaving it down, then bending the metal in and addind some flat stock to the rear for strength.



After this was done, it was time to move the whole rack forward and down. To do this more thick flat stock was used as mounting plates. These pics are from early mock up. Currently this is where I am, everything in mock up as we started to run out of time. The rack is in, the geometry is fine, and the only hitch at the moment is that the shaft on the rack needs to be extended.

With the joints on this binds badly.



The square in the middle should cradle the oil pan, and the new cross bar should go neatly into the raised section of the pan allowing for maximum clearance. Next week the rack comes back off, gets converted to a non power unit and we extend the shaft. But before all that I need to drop the motor back in and see where we are