Back in the shed today.... AND finally i have hit a milestone! The engine is now fully supported and no longer do i need the chain block!!!









Rear engine mount boxed up section



Finished LH engine mount Arm:



Finally.... can someone tell me whether i'll need these 2 lugs (shown in the upper half of the photo - sorry took a shot of it upside down!) on the rear under side of the inlet manifold? What are they used for in the Starlet?

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Answer the Question....
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If I remember rightly its for the IM support bracket which bolts to the block.

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"Not Speeding Officer..........Qualifying"

hmmm... not sure that it's near the block once it's installed. The flange bolts up, then those two lugs are somewhere above the diff....

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Yep it's the inlet manifold support bracket which bolts to the block, so it's not really needed.

Dont know if you have measured up your drive shakfts yet, but I would try to save some cash on the extending pole and make a small "gunter batern." They are a great tool, dirt cheap to make and very effective. We use them in the Navy when the doodoo hits the fan and they are very effective. See the link below on how to put one together.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f152/tape ... ndex2.html

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ANY SEA ANY TIME

Thanks all... I think i'll be removing those lugs - I probably don't have that bracket anyway - and seriously how much support does a 1kg inlet manifold need??!! At least that will make it so the IM will come in and out easily once all installed..

As for the Gunter Batern - nice one, you learn something everyday! And no i've not got to measuring them yet....

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Nick,

I think most of the starlet/mini owners removed that bracket and tossed it.

Its just a bit of overkill by Toyota.

Cheers,
Tricky

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"Not Speeding Officer..........Qualifying"

For an actual visual reference, have a look at this pic of my engine http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rP8rUqK1m3Q/SrTHHpVLsNI/AAAAAAAAAMI/OuBXvni1eBM/s1600-h/IMG_1620.jpg. Two of those lugs are used to mount the air(?) line. The other two are for the bracket that bolts to the bottom of the block.

On another note, do you have any pics of the subframe withotu the engine fitted?

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-Alan
I blame my dad for my love of minis. I think I was conceived in the back seat of one
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.

Thanks for the pic Mearcat - it will be ditched!

As for pics without engine, a few days and i should be able to get one. Gotta rip the engine out to notch some bits and pieces out as well as fully weld the subframe.

The front member of the subframe is not currently joined to the rear part (towers). I have to get some channel made to join the two under the sump and then join the front bar to the LH engine mount "arm". More work!!

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Finally got some more work done on the weekend... welded up the front sub-frame, it's pretty much complete now. Just need to do some cleaning up...

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Well that's a different design to normal. Is their anything joining the top and bottom of the front subframe together?

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

Amos, Has your engineer seen this design at all?

The original frame is something like 100mm deep running forward from the base of the towers. Do you think your design will be as stiff/strong as the original with what appears to be a single thickness of metal welded to the edge of one side of RHS? Remember it isn't just about hanging the engine in the space, it's transmitting all the loads in all the directions whilst driving. Your frame looks like it would struggle to hold it's own shape if you picked it up at the moment.

Granted you did say final welding is yet to be done, and I trust this includes some hefty gussets and other details not shown.

Please note I am trying to offer constructive criticism here, not bagging you. I'd rather you get annoyed at me and have another look at your design, than persevere and get a weak design knocked back, or worse get it passed and kill yourself.

I am not an engineer by any means, and I know how many compromises are in my own frame design but this is the heart of any conversion and it pays to get it right. It will make the difference between a sweet driving hybrid, and a deathtrap.

Madmorrie

Hmmmm... now you're making me re-think. Which, as you've outlined is the point of your post.

All loads from the engine are transmitted to the top of the towers and to the lower rear engine mount. There is a bolt-in member which picks up the front engine mount.

The only loads being transmitted to the front half of the sub-frame are the wishbone loads. They are fed into the triangulated pieces which are consequently fed to the front of the body..

I believe once it's bolted into the body it is stiff enough. I was planning on tieing in what is pictured with the member which picks up the front engine mount - it will have to be a bolted connection again however.

What are others thoughts? I guess i could model it and do some FEA, but I'm not really in the mood to do work at home!

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I think you need to tie the front of your subframe to your suspension towers otherwise have a look at this vid, the front of the car bends upwards under load. This frame has the engine and radius arms mounted to the suspension towers(like most you see this is why they are bad), yours I don't think will be as bad but will still suffer from some thing similar the front of a mini is quite weak definately not strong enough to put the force of the radius arms through.
Also the bottom rails should run back further under your subframe, they look at they are just tacked on the front of the bottom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rqQNaRrEFc&feature=channel

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4efte powered Clubman
supercharged 998 race car

Yeah I agree with madmorrie. I think the lower subframe rails need to be better joined the the rear of the frame. Like I said in my previous post I'd also like the tops of the suspension towers to join up with the front of the frame.
You could weld a vertical support from each front corner up to where the removable engine mount arms come to and make another bolt together face. That way you can still remove the engine as you have planed and it ties the hole lot together.

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.