Perhaps, you speak of me, Rascal!!!
I promise you will hear more and SEE more. I'm just real busy in the doing
at the moment. AND since I type at the rate of 3 words per hour, it'll take
a little time. I am also feeling more comforatble with the way it is going
now.
I can report this much. It fits pretty darn good. I have just completed the
adapters to mount the engine on the old engine stands, so I can use the
spool mounts used by the Gen I engines. Basically they are just a couple of
plates that adapt Hemi mount bolt pattern to spool mount bolt pattern.
I have approximately 3.5 inches to the core support in front and about 1
inch clearance to the firewall. The passenger side exhaust clears the upper
A arm by about 3/4 of an inch and the driver side exhaust clears the upper
A-arm by about 4 inches leaving ample room for the steering linkage to
connect to the rack just as before.The only real clearance problem appears
to be the pan. I will notch the crossmember about 3/4" X 9" tomorrow and
replate it to accommodate the oil pan. Shouldn't cause any problems.
The tranny is a tight fit. It is much larger in diameter that the A500 that
came out. I have flattened the pinch weld that mates the firewall to the
floor pan to gain clearance and I now have about 3/4" minimum to the top of
the tunnel. Side clearance appears to be ample for wiring and cooling lines.
I haven't addressed the shift linkage yet. The 45RFE is cable shifted in the
new trucks and I am pondering whether to adapt a cable or use the old
linkage with "minor" mods (mainly a longer final rod from the bell crank
back to the shift lever). The old tranny crossmember and mount will bolt up
to the 45RFE with a little notch in the bottom plate that holds the tranny
spool mount. However the tranny mount is about 2" further back than it was
on the A500, so the crossmember will have to be relocated. I 'think' I'll
add an extension to the frame rails that the crossmember lands on to
accommodate the difference.
The original drive shaft fits nicely, yoke and all, but needs to be
shortened about an inch to allow plenty of travel on the tail shaft of the
tranny. I am real concerned about the ability of the drive shaft and rear
end to handle the power of the Hemi, but due to budget I may have to live
with them for a few months. This, of course, means keeping my foot out of it
for a while. (Fat chance of that.)
There are a bazillion details left, but they will get tackled one by one.
Hope this gives you a taste of what is going on.
Ron
'89 Dakota Convertible (with goodies)
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