Quite an exciting time now we have the gearbox adaptor plate ready, which in turn means we have assembled the engine, adaptor, clutch and transaxle all together ready to sit the whole drivetrain into the chassis for the first time ever and I’m glad to say that all of the wishful thinking and pre measuring worked out well and it’s a good fit.
There’s some changes that need to be made to allow the gearbox to clear as it was just too tight at the rear to allow the gearbox to move in and out easily, so we removed the upper rear bar and we will put a new bar in that’s a little higher to give the room we need, but it’s an easy fix, but apart from that it’s pretty bloody good !
Obviously since this chassis is primarily designed for a V8 and not a V12, there are going to be some considerations for the body to deal with later on, as you’ll notice the transaxle sticks out of the rear quite a bit more than the current body will allow for. It’s around 70mm too long to fit so we’re going to have to adjust there, but I don’t think anyone will even be able to tell the difference once we stretch it.
Although the photo’s make it look really easy, it was actually a full days work to get the engine levelled and centred in every direction that it needed so that I can start to make the engine mounts. It’s worth taking the time to get it right now rather than having an engine and gearbox that’s not straight in the car, that would be a disaster.
We’ve decided again to play it safe with a known quantity and used OEM rubber liquid filled engine mounts. These are quite possibly too soft for what we need, but I also didn’t want to have a lot of engine vibration so I thought I’d play it safe and go with these and then at least if they’re too soft I know I can get something aftermarket that’s a bit more “sporty” and it should bolt in as a straight replacement.
There’s a newer entry in this story, please click here – FZ12 – Part 15
If you’ve missed the last part of our story then click here FZ12 – Part 13
or if you want to go right to the beginning then click here FZ12 – Part 1
