914 GT 3.6 Ferrari Build, - Mechanicals coming along, electronics soon! Options

[tygaboy]

Hi 914 World -
A bit of an intro, if you'll indulge me.
I've always been a believer in fate and karma. A believer in serendipity. A believer that the universe presents thing to us for a reason. Sometimes good, sometimes not. Fortunately, the journey of adventure I'm about to begin is one of the good ones!

Maybe a year or so ago, @Krieger Andy calls and says he has a buddy looking to buy a rear valance for a 914 and do I have one I'd sell. I said that I do, give my contact info to your friend. A few days later, this guy calls and we arrange for him to come by the Red Barn and see if the valance meets his needs. He arrives and we start "the dance of the car guys"! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) He talks about his car experiences, I talk about mine. We talk 356s. We talk 911s. We talk 914s. Obviously, we have a ton in common, including a love for my LS build. He pours over my car, noticing not only the big stuff, but all the little things I've done, too. On this day, he buys the valance and we agree we'll stay in touch. And we do!
Over the course of the following months, he stops by pretty regularly, I visit his place and it's clear that beyond the car stuff, he's a good guy, we get along well and we're going to be friends.

So, one day, we're chatting about RacerBenz. my 2001 Mercedes CL500, Corvette suspension, mid engine, center seat track car build. Yes, I know, a horrific waste of time and money. But anyway, I say "What would be cool is to build "Benzo Ferrari! Find a Ferrari engine and trans and..." He interrupts and says "I have one! From a 360 Modena. And the trans, harnesses, ECUs, etc. I'd love to see it get used for something. Why don't you come get it?"

Wait, what? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Fast forward to last week where I do just that. Here's what's in the Red Barn now: 3.6 liters, 400 hp and 275 lb/ft of Italian automotive porn.

[tygaboy]

Drive train mounting: Initial planning
I initially assumed this part would be easy. Just do it like my LS. I mean, the Ferrari has mounts on the side of the block, same as the Chevy, so just run a cross bar underneath and work out how that'll mount to the chassis. Easy!

Turns out, not so much. Being a dry sump, there's no room for a cross bar. We'll there is a small area towards the rear of the engine, but it's in the way wrong place, relative to the mounts on the block. So, I started looking for info on how the engine mounts in the 360 chassis.

SURPRISE! The one video I found shows it being removed out the top of the car. Not what I'd expected. You can see in the pic, the chassis has the two outriggers that support the engine mounts. I could do something like this but then the engine would have to go in/out from above - which means all the rear of car chassis stiffening and transaxle mount would have to bolt in. I don't think I want to go that way.

I'll get into more detail later but at this point, it's looking like there will be a couple removeable, intermediate "hanger mounts" that will bolt to reinforced areas on the chassis to provide those "landing pads" for the engine mounts. These will bolt in once the engine is raised up from underneath. For transaxle mount, there'll be a cross bar/support structure, similar to what's in my LS car, that will grab that single trans mount.

Lots more planning to do but I think I'm getting an idea of how it'll all work.

[ClayPerrine]

Drive train mounting: Initial planning
I initially assumed this part would be easy. Just do it like my LS. I mean, the Ferrari has mounts on the side of the block, same as the Chevy, so just run a cross bar underneath and work out how that'll mount to the chassis. Easy!

Turns out, not so much. Being a dry sump, there's no room for a cross bar. We'll there is a small area towards the rear of the engine, but it's in the way wrong place, relative to the mounts on the block. So, I started looking for info on how the engine mounts in the 360 chassis.

SURPRISE! The one video I found shows it being removed out the top of the car. Not what I'd expected. You can see in the pic, the chassis has the two outriggers that support the engine mounts. I could do something like this but then the engine would have to go in/out from above - which means all the rear of car chassis stiffening and transaxle mount would have to bolt in. I don't think I want to go that way.

I'll get into more detail later but at this point, it's looking like there will be a couple removeable, intermediate "hanger mounts" that will bolt to reinforced areas on the chassis to provide those "landing pads" for the engine mounts. These will bolt in once the engine is raised up from underneath. For transaxle mount, there'll be a cross bar/support structure, similar to what's in my LS car, that will grab that single trans mount.

Lots more planning to do but I think I'm getting an idea of how it'll all work.

Why couldn't you make a support frame that bolts to the engine/transmission. Then make the support frame bolt to the 914-6 mounts on the firewall and to the factory trans mounts in the rear. You can then just raise up the front of the engine, hook it to the mounts on the firewall, and pivot it up into place.

Just a thought (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)