Engine Mount Mod
I finally received the beautiful oil pan from Calif I designed. When I started to bolt it up to the oil pan I found out the fuel servo was hitting the engine mount??? WTF???? After I checking it out I found out the fabrication company had welded on the mounting flange at 5 deg not 10 deg as I specifically directed in the manufacturing drawing I sent. What to do. I thought about machining the flange to 10 deg, but decided against that coarse of action as it caused other mounting problems with the servo and finally chose to modify the engine mount instead.
Here you see the fuel servo hitting the mount. It still needs to move upward another 1/4″ to bolt on the oil pan…
The engine being removed from the mounts.
I chose to grind out part of the tube. The 4130 tube is .050″ thick and I was surprised to see LOTS of linseed oil in it as is required to prevent internal rust.
I welded on a plate of 4130 steel .063″ to the mount after grinding away the cross tube. It looks like it is ground at an angle but that is becuase the tube is tilted when mounted.
The finished clearance. I LOVE welding 4130 steel. If you want to get good at welding, just weld Aluminum for a while. It makes welding steel or stainless steel seem so easy a cave man can do it. I now have 3/8″ clearence all the way around the fuel servo. More than enough mount clearance.
Re-injecting about 1/4 cut of linseed oil back into the tube prior to sealing. Tomorrow I’ll take the oil pan to the machine shop to have the mounting flange machined flat (should have been done in CA) as it warped during the welding process and repaint the engine mount.
Total mod time 4 hrs.
Engine, LongEZ Upgrade | Nick | 16 August 2010 |
