Hi,

Just dropped my engine in the car and been toying with a different cradle design to replace the standard Stuart Taylor agricultural one which is made from 2x1 and is very bulky:
Rescued attachment original.jpg

If I cut out the "R" tube (engine bay diagonal) and replace it with this A shaped frame, would that be ok?

All the engine mouting points would be in the same place.

I would drill directly through the 1" box and weld in a tube and bolt straight to the engine.

The beauty of this design is that with my shallow sump, there is nothing below the bottom chassis rail and I can panel the whole of the bottom of the car.

Pat...
Rescued attachment 1.jpg

Another angle:
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There will also be two mounts for the gearbox at the bottom.

Pat...

Very good, the more triangluation the more stiffnes you create.
Its a kind of Westfield solution.
Just make sure that you make a support at the underside of the V on the right hand side of the car.

i like the look of it. You should probably try to add a bracing bar to the peak of the A, maybe diagonally down to another braced point. I've never seen a bike engined car up close, do they use an engine mount on the nearside of the car, is it just the top and bottom of the box side? A panelled bottom will get messy but will probably greatly help aerodynamics, and probably smooth air flow through the engine bay, provided it has somewhere to leave!

Yeah, will stick a vertical in from the underneath of the peak of the A to the bottom chassis rail.

Pat...

I could always leave the diagonal bar that is already there in and cut the top of the A short and weld it to that bar???

Pat...

better the first way IMHO, then theres only the one point to reinforce, not two!

this one is overkill, but fully braced
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But doing it this following way is almost the same as the ST one so wouldn't need any extra verticals:
Rescued attachment wert.jpg

Hi Pat

As erwe said, its similar to the Westie solution which might be worth looking at, as that would add even better triangulation than your A frame. Have a look at this link of my mate Ed's Megablade build.

Chris

Best I can do is this due to the steering shaft:
Rescued attachment X1.jpg

Yep the column mount on top of the tunnel does limit this slightly, but dont forget that the X doesnt have to be truely straight / symmetrical, if you look closely at the Westie one at least one of the crossmembers is bent where they cross to get it into the chassis corners.

Actually, looking at it again the blade one looks fairly straight, but the Busa version of the cradle does have a bend in the middle, as shown here

[Edited on 5/1/06 by ChrisGamlin]

With the position of my steering column and the bike thermostat, I think my A is gonna be best and easiest with the removal of the normal engine bay diagonal and a vertical brace.

Pat...

If the X was to sit on top of the chassis rather than in it, but bolted via plates, would this be ok bracing wise???

Pat...

Actually, looking favourite is copying the Stuart Taylor one, but in 1" box with different end mountings that drop onto flat plates like most other manafacturers.

Pat...