Once again, I had hoped to be able to use the standard Fast Forward front lower motor mount shown in this photo, maybe finding a way to bolt it to some sort of lower chassis cross beam.
Another option was to try and fabricate a lower motor mount out of aluminum, such as is frequently seen in Formula Atlantic. As the photo of this Atlantic motor reveals, this option would still require some sort of cross beam to bolt it to.
But, on the plus side, the dimensions were scalable and aluminum bars of virtually any size could be readily obtained from McMaster-Carr.
This drawing represents what I came up with for the lower mount. Much like the Atlantic lower mount it was in two parts: One that would bolt to the pan, the other to bolt to the first piece and then provide through-holes to allow fasteners to bolt to some sort of chassis cross beam. It could be scaled to whatever thickness or width was desired according to chassis necessities.
A concern began to develop that I was perhaps approaching design overkill. Both Dennis and Dan have had extensive successful experience in campaigning vehicles in both Formula Atlantic and vintage F1. Their concern was that the cross beam approach would add unnecessary weight. The proposed approach was to fashion a piece of aluminum block that would bolt directly to the standard ARE Zetec dry sump pan. This piece would then bolt to a simple piece of angle iron of suitable rigidity, which would then be welded to the existing chassis frame. The four top holes are through-holes to allow fasteners to pass through and bolt to the pan. Four lower holes would be threaded allowing fasteners to secure the angle piece to the aluminum piece. Once again the design philosophy was direct and straightforward, and it would be scalable so as to be adaptable to any Formula Continental chassis.
The above drawing is simply a tracing of the lower motor mount pan bracket. Dimensions are noted though the thickness and the width could both be readily varied should any specific chassis require any such variance.
Front lower motor mount in place. Aluminum piece bolted to the pan. Angle piece bolted to the aluminum piece. Welding yet to occur.
Whenever I raised any concern regarding the sufficiency of the strength of the mount, it was suggested that I take a look at how the Ford Cosworth DFV Formula 1 engine was secured to the Formula 1 chassis of that era. We were probably still, by comparison, in the engineering overkill zone.
Total time for this task was 4 hours. Components, including fasteners and metal, did not exceed $30.
Zetec Conversion 