1995 Mustang Super Stocker

[SBillinson]

Originally Posted by 1347

1/8" is too thick in my opinion, my Comp Engineering mid plate is the same thickness as my factory block plate. It came with a spacer to bolt behind the flex plate to.bring the trans/flexplate and started back to the original alignment. I'm gonna say its no thicker than .062.

I'm not sure where CE is sourcing their material these days. I bent the hell out my mid plate after about 10 runs. They're 0.90" thick I believe. I ended up having to weld two of them together and rosette weld all over the place to get them rigid enough.

[pmrphil]

Originally Posted by SBillinson

I'm not sure where CE is sourcing their material these days. I bent the hell out my mid plate after about 10 runs. They're 0.90" thick I believe. I ended up having to weld two of them together and rosette weld all over the place to get them rigid enough.

Rotational or forward/aft bending? Anything that leaves hard should have travel limiters that keep engine/transmission from moving in any direction.

[Kirk Morgan]

I was thinking about leaving the transmission cross member in to control the forward and rear movement of the engine. I have seen some cars with a strut mounted to the motor plate also.

[Hacksaw]

Add an engine limiter. You can't rely on the crossmember to control the movement.

[SBillinson]

Originally Posted by Kirk Morgan

I was thinking about leaving the transmission cross member in to control the forward and rear movement of the engine. I have seen some cars with a strut mounted to the motor plate also.

I can't speak for others, but I've always used motor plates and limiters, and a stock replacement transmission mount. The last thing I want is to break a transmission tail shaft housing and spray transmission fluid under my tires.

The stock mounts are forgiving, whereas tail shaft housings can and do break under heavy load especially when mounted solid to the crossmember.

[SSDiv6]

When I built my former 1994 Mustang Comp Super Modified car, I used the centered engine and mid-plate. As Steve said, not only for header clearance but also because the torsional loads have an effect on the suspension settings and adjustment when the engine is not centered.
For a transmission mount, I used a Polyurethane mount.

[SBillinson]

Originally Posted by pmrphil

Rotational or forward/aft bending? Anything that leaves hard should have travel limiters that keep engine/transmission from moving in any direction.

Thanks Phil. I have 1" chromoly tube limiters with rod ends on both sides of the engine.

Here are photos of the bends.

[pmrphil]

Originally Posted by SBillinson

Thanks Phil. I have 1" chromoly tube limiters with rod ends on both sides of the engine.

Here are photos of the bends.

Somehow, it's allowing the engine/trans to still move. Had a dragster once that would bend the plate with only 2 inches between the block and side rail - the limiters were on the frame rail which would move on launch. Moved the limiters to a tubing junction and the movement went away. Can't allow movement if it's placed correctly. Chassis twist, or flex, may be doing it. That's kinda ugly.

[SBillinson]

Originally Posted by pmrphil

Somehow, it's allowing the engine/trans to still move. Had a dragster once that would bend the plate with only 2 inches between the block and side rail - the limiters were on the frame rail which would move on launch. Moved the limiters to a tubing junction and the movement went away. Can't allow movement if it's placed correctly. Chassis twist, or flex, may be doing it. That's kinda ugly.

I had a couple of hard landings at the hit, which most likely caused the bend or at least contributed to it. The aluminum front motor plate didn't show any signs of stress.

I do a lot of welding and fabrication. If the steel was sourced offshore, then it's not ideal. That's not to say that domestic steel wouldn't have bent, but I doubt it would have to the degree seen in the photos. All of the offshore steel that I have used is substandard at best. You can tell immediately when you hit it with the tig torch.

[pmrphil]

Originally Posted by SBillinson

I had a couple of hard landings at the hit, which most likely caused the bend or at least contributed to it. The aluminum front motor plate didn't show any signs of stress.

I do a lot of welding and fabrication. If the steel was sourced offshore, then it's not ideal. That's not to say that domestic steel wouldn't have bent, but I doubt it would have to the degree seen in the photos. All of the offshore steel that I have used is substandard at best. You can tell immediately when you hit it with the tig torch.

Can't argue about quality of the steel, I agree. But, if the front (with any material) isn't bending, then it leads me to wonder if the rear is moving up or down (instead of fore and aft) on the hard landings - crossmember possibly flexing would sort of "pivot" on the front support and help to bend the midplate?

Tossing ideas out here because if nothing is moving, nothing can bend, I don't care what material it's constructed from.