Pulled out our newly acquired Echo and got to work. It took a few minutes to get the tube front end square but I've got it pretty close. Slight a slight issue with the center fender mount holes, but not too big a deal. After squaring it up I made some marks so I could get it back to that position again in the future.
With its final location marked I pulled it back off to cut off some excess metal and grind down some welds left from cutting off the stock front end. Once the necessary trimming was done I fit the tubing back up to start making some templates for my mistakes when cutting off the front end. On the driver side I got my measurement incorrect and theres a decent gap that needs to be filled with plate and reinforced.
This past weekend and Tuesday we had Mardi Gras. Being so I had Tuesday off (still had to work Monday :/) and I was able to get a good bit work done. I had set out to get the front tube setup final welded to the car to where I could now start collecting parts to finalize motor placement with the motor plates. Its been a while since I've used my welder so took a little time fo rme to get back in the swing of it. I am by no means a highly skilled welder, but im capable enough to make decent welds, even tho I tend to rush it every now and then. Really need to work on my patience with that aspect lol. They aren't the prettiest welds and I will have to do some clean up and such before we spray the engine bay in the future but they will do their job.
With the tube front end welded on I turned my attention to starting to shave the firewall. As im sure someone will point out yes I have welded up the master cylinder hole. I will be running manual brakes with my Tilton pedal setup. Its left over from my previous build.
The other day someone posted the same intake and intercooler setup im going to run showing its total height. Its F#$%ING huge. 17'' tall. With tube front end welded on I was able to roughly mock up motor height with the motor plates. Yeahhh these aren't going to work. Motor sits too low and there will be too much flex mounting the lower off the frame rail that low. Luckily I've found a different set that will work better. However im hoping I won't have to space the k member down for clearance. New hood I wil be getting should provide enough room.
Its looking like how I want to route thinks just wasn't going to work with a big single. I couldn't find headers to sit where I wanted with the motor sitting as low as needed to fit the intercooler/intake setup I wanted.
Drew out an idea on the fender for a twin turbo setup. Id originally wanted to run a low pro hood, exhaust out the back etc to give it a more "sleeper" low profile attitude. going twin turbo vs big single with shorter intake would allow that. I still want proper ducting for front airflow and I feel this would work well.
Also did some mock up with some 3.5'' tubing and theres ample room to run a downpipe down each side with the block with the manifolds I want to run. Also issue I have is steering shaft. It will be right in the way, however I can shorten the output from the steering rack and use some custom joints to move it over slightly for exhaust routing.
After taking al this into account I was able to put the motor where I wanted in reference to the chassis while sitting on my trans jack. Soon I wil be ordering the front suspension to set the chassis level and motor will be ready to be placed accordingly and bolted up via motor plates in its permanent position.