mounts fab'd

It took a few hours, but Ed the welder knocked out a set of serviceable mounts for Hapy today. After a quick consultation, he took off to Home Depot for steel stock and assorted supplies. I, then, took the boys and a friend to the local Easter Egg hunt, with the dog. Unfortunately, the dog gets very excited around big groups of kids all hopped-up on sugar, so we had to stay off to the side. Shortly after we returned, Ed got back from Home Depot, and we (well, he, really) got to work.

I just realized I didn't finish the engine extraction story all the way. I left off last Saturday with uncertainty about jamming the new engine in, or fitting in the faux one. I chose the faux one after double checking measurements, and figuring that I was very close if not spot-on. We'll know when the engine install happens in a few weeks. I attached the adapter plate to the transaxle, and fitted the engine to the adapter, aligning it at the 15* angle mostly by eye. I knew where the driveshaft was supposed to go, so centering it was pretty straightforward. The challenge was figuring out where the block-to-adapter points were. I was able to identify one on the bottom and used that to align the rest. A little bailing wire to hold it in place, and the bus was ready for mount fabrication.

The how and the why:
First, we took an old moustache bar from a 72-79 bus, and cut out the middle section. It was then bolted into the stock frame mounts. Starting from the left (driver's) side, a down piece was fitted. Ed worked his way across, then constructed an engine tie-in for each side. On each end of the new moustache bar he attached a mount-point out of basic flat stock. He then welded up a bar from the side of the faux engine to the frame in front of the stock mount. There's an extra plate of flat stock welded in there too, to help support. Between the new bar and the mount-point on the moustache bar, an additional connection was made. At each end is flat stock that will require a bolt-hole boring when the engine is fitted. This design provides a triangular support on each side, connecting the side of the engine to the moustache bar and the frame. Once fitted, there should be "about an inch" of adjust-ability in all directions. The bolt holes will be drilled once the engine is set right, so it is torqued down solid. The picture here shows how they looked when he was finished, and before I metal etched and painted them.

The design did not include a vibration isolator, and we talked about that directly. It was his opinion that, since the transaxle was direct-mounted, any isolation effort would be wasted. We'll feel the vibration because of the direct transaxle-to-frame connections. If this proves to me incorrect, there is opportunity to adjust the design to incorporate an isolation solution later.


While Ed did all of the welding work, I set to work on the fuel tank. He only had the one shield anyway. The tank really wasn't that bad. I found that it had a very clean VDO fuel level sensor that I'll be reusing. The inside of the tank had some light rust, but it was all on the bottom. There wasn't any above the seam, which made my efforts much easier than other folks. The process is pretty straightforward and well-documented on the web: hot water & soap, metal clean, rust treat, metal etch, new tank seal. I was able to get as far as metal etch when the rain and hail began. While the metal etch dries completely overnight, the harsh weather should move out. I'll spread the new liquid seal tomorrow morning and spray-paint the outside shortly thereafter. The tank should be ready for re-install next weekend. Before then, I need to clean, noise-suppress and insulate the fuel tank bay. I'll be doing that next week at some point, work schedule willing.

Lots of progress, and more to come. It feels like this project is starting to gain some momentum. All the prep-work is starting to pay off. More later--