a bit of this and a bit of that

[mygasser]

today we unpacked the power rack so we could bolt it in place. mmmmmmm............ the power rack is held to the crossmember with long bolts going through thick parts of the end castings, one each side rather than the 2 u shaped clamps of the non power rack. doh! so after cutting the brackets off of the crossmember we clamped the rack in place with wooden spacers, measured, adjusted and remeasured until it was central and low enough so it'd clear the engine's sump. next we drilled through the wooden blocks and crossmember to lock in the position. with the rack out of the way we could open the holes up to allow a tube each side to pass through to the backside which then stops the crossmember crushing when the bolts are tightened. we then bolted the rack in place to tack the tubes in position. it was then we noticed the body of the rack sat against the top front edge of the crossmember. so off with the rack.... again and we 'relieved' that part with a slitting disc and the welder before bolting the rack on... again. all good this time so we could now tack the tubes each side. guess what we did next, yup unbolted the rack..... again, but this time to fully weld the tubes along with 2 short bits of bigger tube sleeved over the top to double the thickness of the mount. lastly, of course.... we bolted the rack on..... again, lol.
neil.

[mygasser]

we got the 2 front struts put back together today and 'refitted' to the car. i use that word loosely as they didn't want to fit which was nice. it seemed either the struts were too long or the crossmember was mounted too high in relation to them. i've spoken to my mate and the capri stuff and the essex v6 were in the car and running but after stripping the car and starting some of the welding he'd swapped the struts for a pair of 'coilover' bilstein's he had in stock. sooooo to confirm the crossmember's ok where it is i asked him to put a straight edge across under the sump in line with the mounts and measure up to them so i can compare that to the car (the chassis side engine mounts are welded to the chassis not the crossmember). once we've established that we'll need shorter softer springs (the ones fitted would hold up a blown big block) at best or shorter struts altogether. the only alternative to shorter struts (softer springs are a given whatever) is mounting the crossmember lower down under the chassis rails. either will work and bring the geometry back into capri 'ish' spec'.
neil.