This front cross-member was originally from the Dodge Project frame. The idea was that since the engine sat so high in the frame and we had adequate suspension clearance below, that we should just drop the center of the cross-member 3″ to allow the engine to sit further down between the frame rails. 

After adding the 3″ section of leftover rail from when I boxed and Z’d the frame to drop the center (you’ll be able to see where I added the pieces in the pics further down), I added the motor mount plates since there were none. The 9/16″ spacers between the rubber pads (gold anodized pieces in the 1st photo) may or may not have been used, since we were unsure at the time exactly how far we could go without incuring exhaust manifold clearance issues. 

The drop from where the cross-member was cut-out of the frame comes in at 2 3/4″. Add to this the fact this piece was mounted in between the framerails (not level with the top) and the thickness of the frame top itself and you’re right on the money at 3″ motor drop. Looking at the 4″x4″ wood that the engine was resting on and you can see that 3″ should be sufficient drop and still allow the engine some wiggle-room without the exhaust banging the frame when you tromp on it. 

The motor plate that bolts to the block would sit on the rubber pads and the bolt would run through the upper and lower rubbers, allowing the rubber to absorb all the nasty vibrations. It fits like it was made for it ;-) – with just enough room to get a wrench on the nut and the extra length of the bolt protruding through a hole in the bottom of the cross-member (below):

Since the guy ultimately wanted to go another route, I never did finish the underside so you can see where I added the frame-rail pieces to make the drop and where the little fittment pieces are.

That’s the good thing about hot-rodding. Everyone is entitled to do things the way that pleases them. As long as it’s safe, there’s no “right” or “wrong” as long as the individual is pleased with the end result. And since it’s his project, I did it his way for him; will hang this one on the wall somewhere; and wish him nothng but the best with his project.

Ciao

All that’s left in the front is to weld up a flat bracket on the cross-member for the motor mount to bolt through. Once motor is mounted with the frame sitting at "ride stance", the proper height of the tranny mount can be determined placing a level on the intake manifold and a jack under the tailshaft. As you probably know, the carbs have to be level for the floats to work right and this will be the done by trans mount location.

Once the drive-line angle is dictated (again, from the tranny mount) you’re able to determine the rear-end pinion angle and drive-shaft length. From there it’s just one relaxing, fun time after another of nuts, bolts, lines & wiring.

The body isn’t sitting on any mounts yet because I think the owner is still considering enough of a channel-job to hide the rails, but that’ll be dictated by his interior room comfort level. I think he’s in the thought process of sitting in it & trying it on "as-is" since we delivered it back to his hangar. (Maybe even making "Vroom, Vroom" noises 8-) )

Whichever way he goes with the channel will really have nothing to do with the running-gear work already mentioned and can be done at his leisure.

and a few more pics in The Gallery.

Last night after getting home from a 12hr shift at 7:30, I pretty much had made up my mind to pull an all-nighter to get this done and started by lifting the engine out so I’d have room to get to the front cross-member and boxing plates.

and with it out of the way, I could also get a final trim on the rails

Without exaggeration, after these last few days and getting off work I welded until I started to go so cross-eyed from the steady intense focusing that I wasn’t following my bead and my hand went numb at the trigger (You don’t get a break at the end of each stick when you’re using a wire-feed welder with a 10lb spool) but it wasn’t until after the heat got to be too much through the gloves the I decided to give the welder a break and sit back. 

Since I hadn’t looked at the clock beforehand, I couldn’t tell you how long it was, but when I realized that I had fallen asleep sitting on the floor between the rails, I got up, took a shower and went to bed. When I woke back up in the afternoon, nobody was home so I went back at it to finish what was left. I think I finished by 4 or 5 PM

The End.

More pics of this build in The Gallery

You can see the where the original frame rails need to be boxed in. I’ll be doing the whole frame while I’m off in a few days. I just threw the tranny crossmember on top and will have to cut it down to fit while I’m working on boxing the frame.

The gray vertical pipes in the pictures is my portable hoist frame. I set it up tonight in anticipation of lifting the engine out tomorrow to do the front boxing plates. If you look at the front cross-member in the pic below, you’ll notice the original rivet holes and that it’s not riveted to the frame. When I installed the front drop axle, I had to widen the frame ~ 1 1/2" to mount things up. I’ll widen this piece too, and get it back in while I’m off.

It’s almost 9" lower than stock now. There’s work to do on that Hemi but I’m not getting into that right now. I just needed it to fit and fabricate the motor and transmission mounts.

This is as far as I made it by midnight tonight:

I cut and fabricated the new, lower rails and welded them to the front original rails. It’s an 8 1/2" drop. The 3 Jack stands are supporting the transmission and both back rails since I was just getting ready to cut out the center section and slide the front & rear originals apart 2" to stretch the wheelbase… but I decided that since I need to get up to go to work for another 12hr shift that 4:30 is going to come quickly and enough is enough for one night.