The engine mounts are stock pieces I purchased from Mancini. Since the mounts are not side specific, the mounting bolt is accessed from the rear side on the drivers side mount, which has plenty of clearance.


Since the mount is simply reversed for the passenger side, the bolt is accessed from the front but access is difficult with the oil filter adapter in place. The 3 mounting bolts for the oil filter adapter aren't easy to get to so the solution is the remove the welded on nut on the back side of the passenger engine mount. Then I'll be able to slide the bolt in from the back side (with plenty of clearance) and use a nut/washer on the front side. The picture below shows the interference of the engine mount bolt with the oil filter adapter.

K frame is now done. The last mod is a cut hole for draining oil. It looks different and some may not like the mod, but its not seen very easily with an engine in the engine bay and that's the way I wanted it!







Before


After

A closeup of the trimmed gusseting after cleanup

I feel your pain....but I would have loved to had that much room for the 5.7 in my Duster. I used a spool mount k frame, and hacked the drivers side mount TTI sent me in order to get the AC compressor in where it's supposed to be. I moved the saddle on the k frame, and spaced the compressor out to clear the header tube. Keep up the good work, it's lookin good!

Does he have any more of these bell housing left?

I bought the guys last bell housing...

I got the K frame back from the powdercoater. I went with Eastwood's Rally Wheel Charcoal.

The lower control arms were boxed. I believe the plates came from PST and were something like $22 shipped. They were blasted first, then plates welded on, then powder coated in Eastwood's stamped steel.

In bare metal



after powder coat

I also had fun with the a/c compressor and the TTI mounts. I ended up knocking the nut off the passenger mount and flipping the bolt. My drivers side has a flag nut that I welded up that keeps me from needing to get a wrench on it to tighten. I also drilled and safety wired the mounts to the block, I do NOT want those coming loose once the car is together.

I got my 6.1L heads back from the machine shop last week. These CNC ported heads were actually in the trunk of an SRT that I bought from the insurance pool. They were filthy so I had the machine shop do a valve job, replace the valve seals, and resurface them. The chambers have some nicks from a blown up piston but hey...they were free!! Plus they had upgraded PAC valve springs



Intake ports



Exhaust ports

The passenger side quarter panel was cut off; the whole quarter was dented and wavy so it wasn't worth saving. The driver's side quarter just needed a lower patch panel. the dropoffs/trunk extensions are also being replaced. All pieces are AMD

The passenger's side rocker had also taken quite a beating. A previous owner must have hit a pole. The damage:



Closeup carnage

First I took it to a local frame shop and had them pull out the dent somewhat.



I bought a new complete AMD rocker, with the hope that just a section could be used if the rest looked ok underneath.....but that's never the way that works out.



The front side of the rocker was very solid. The backside...not so much

For several weeks, I would go check on progress and I would end up ordering more AMD sheetmetal. That's just the way these projects seem to go. Originally the rear crossmember, which is behind the rear bumper, was just going to get some patches. But once the bumper was off, and the rust was exposed, I ended up buying the rear crossmember, the sheetmetal right above it, and the rear corner pieces that run between the crossmember and the quarter panel.



New rear crossmember.




When I first got the car, I looked at the rear window channel and thought it looked pretty solid:

It turns out i was wrong...

The rubberized coating that was put on the roof was extremely hardened and wouldn't budge with a wire cup wheel; it would just smear. We tried a heat gun and putty knife but it took too much heat to warm it up and warping the roof skin was a concern. Finally, this disc did the trick. The key was not to drive through all the layers at once but do keep moving around and take one layer off at a time.

figures they didn't damage the rusted area of that rocker. nice work.

So much for just a patch/splice. The whole right rocker ended up coming out





New AMD rocker in place

This next idea is purely Matt's idea. The profile of the inner wheel house is pretty much vertical but the profile of the outside wheel house slopes into the wheel tub and encroaches on available tire space. After looking at the gap between the quarter panel skin and the outer wheel tub, Matt took some measurements and cut out a section of the old outer wheel house. Matt made a plug that will allow more tire by taking the slope out of the outer wheel house profile

Great job on the outer wheel well modifcation!
Pat

I can personally confirm that the roof has been completely stripped!

Whew!

Yep! Mark (GY3) has been helping me out in a big way by stripping the rubberized coating and paint from the roof, drip rails, trunk gutters, etc. I know I won't get doe by the time baby #5 arrives in late March but some real progress has been made in the last 2 weeks! Thanks Mark!