No new photos today, but I moved another step closer last night. Over the weekend, I took a road trip to buy another transmission, a shifter and linkage, pedal cluster, and the "correct", if there is such a thing, motor and tranny mounts to put a VW drivetrain into a Dodge L-body vehicle.
I spent some time mixing and matching motor and trans mounts last night, and coming up with a vision of how to get the entire drivetrain in and out of the chassis more easily. On these trucks, it's possible to pull the trans while leaving the engine in place, but it's a royal PITA. It's possible to pull the engine while leaving the trans in place, but it's an even bigger PITA. It's kind of a toss-up whether it's easier to pull the engine and trans out the topside as a unit, but that's a PITA also. The easiest way to remove the engine and trans is out the bottom, but that means jacking the truck way up in the air, and having a good way to slide the engine/trans once it's on the ground. I would not look forward to any of these options if I was in a time crunch.
The big issue is that there is a large "box" shaped bracket that the transmission brackets attach to. The box is welded to the driver's side stamped subframe rail. The size and location of the box is what makes it so difficult to pull the drivetrain, or either the engine or trans as an individual piece.
Last night, I think I came up with a vision to drill through the existing bracket, all the way through the subframe rail, reinforce the rail and bracket interface with some tubing, and make the entire box removable with four 3/8" bolts. As long as it works the way I think it will, pulling the engine and trans as a unit will be MUCH simpler, resulting in 90% less cussing and busted knuckles.
I also managed to get one more piece of roll cage tubing cut and fitted.
Thanks for reading,
Steve.
