DOHC engine/3650 tranny are in too-but tranny mount is ?

[rick8928]

Yesterday, friends Don and Ron helped install resurfaced flywheel, pilot bearing, new clutch, mate transmission and engine, and install in Mk 4.

• As a point of information, an '04 Mach 1 DOHC powertrain can be installed in a Mk 4 with the reversed stock headers mounted to the engine. Needed to remove two manifold studs (between header and J pipe) in order to clear the steering shaft.
• Using stock motor mounts, did not appear to have any mating issues (gaps/angular variance) with the chassis motor mounts
• BIG QUESTION: transmission A frame mount is bolted at the apex of the "A" to both the chassis and the modified transmission mount, but there's no where to bolt the base of the "A" legs to. Are there supposed to be brackets welded to the main chassis tubes to which the two ends of the A Frame are supposed to bolt to? Or, am I just totally confused and out to lunch on this one?

[STL-Scott]

Congrats on the install. I remember my DOHC was a mother to get in with 3 guys helping.

Yes - there should be (2) little plates welded on the side of both main 4" tubes for the A-frame to bolt to.



HTH,

Scott

[rick8928]

Thanks Scott. Just as I suspected. Was fearful that I was being even more stupid than usual.

[Shawn]

Congrats! Looks like we were doing the same thing at the same time yesterday. It definitely felt good to get the engine and tranny in and clear out the garage quite a bit. Are you going with a dieted wiring harness or something else?

[rick8928]

Thanks Shawn and congrats to you as well. As no doubt thousands before us have experienced, it is a great feeling.

I had intended on doing my own diet, but ultimately chickened out (i.e. decided that discretion was the better part of valor for me on this one) and had Art do a wire diet. Prior to dropping in the engine/transmission, i had already installed the rear harness, the fuel tank harness, the battery wiring (including a home made sunken battery box, remote terminals for trickle charging, and a battery cutoff switch on the rear bulkhead between the seats), and have run the wiring to the front of the car, to the dash area, and mounted the computer in the passenger footbox outside wall. Today, attached all the engine and transmission wire harness connectors (my donor harness had a stripped main engine connector, so had to disconnect all 30+ connectors and send the entire engine harness to Art-major victory today in that my notes worked so was able to reconnect that bundle of snakes w/o any issues). Next up, building my dash and connecting all the gauges.

I'm very pleased with Art's Wire Diet so far - the installation has been strait forward, and I'm a numbnuts when it comes to wiring.

[Negoti8r]

Earlier this week I dropped in mt Mach 1 DOHC and Tremec 3650. I found that I needed to add the Whibey shims to the motor mounts and that went fine, but when I attempted to tie down the tranmssion mount I found that there was interference between the A-frame and the bottom rear of the transmission housing and the very front of the A-frame. The bottom of the transmission mount is about 1/2 to 5/8" above the A-frame. I've asked the FFR Tech guys about this but haven't heard back yet. I'm concerned that accelleration and shifting torque would overstress any spacers that I might put between the A-frame and Trans mount. Spacers would have to be 3/4" high to provide clearance. Am I just being parnoid or is this thing really out to get me?

[ClemsonS197]

Forte sells spacers for this very thing. You'll need to call and see if they'll work with the 3650 mount. Take some measurements and call and have him compare to what he sells.

[rick8928]

As an update to my original post and as relates to Negoti8r's yesterday post (are you William Shatner?):

1. FFR ended up sending out Mark Doughtery to weld on the missing frame tabs
2. I ended up adding the whitby spacers to the motor mounts in order to raise the bottom of the FFR 4.6 pan above the main frame rails
3. Negoti8r: I did not have that clearance issue. Did you modify the transmission mount with the adapter supplied with the 4.6 kit, and did you mount the apex of the A-frame per the manual ("If using a 99-04 T-45 or 3650, bolt the transmission mount to the underside of the frame mounts.
Do not use any spacers if using the stock mount and adapter.")

[Negoti8r]

Rick,
A-frame is in per instructions (only fit that way ) and Trans mount supplied with the 4.6 kit is on as well. My real problem is that the bottom rear of the tranmission housing is resting on the front of the A-frame about 1/4". Trans mount lines up fine with the slots in the a-frame, it's just that the bottom of the mount is 1/2" above the a-frame surface.

My tag refers to my profession in a prior life, when I was looking for an avatar Shatner's pic just came naturally. If I were him I would have hired a mechanic to help me by now - and an electrician and an upholsterer, but where's the fun in that?