I finally got round to making the bracket I wanted to support the front end of Dolly’s gearbox. For those who are wondering, the purpose of the two-part bracket (which closes snugly around the circumference of the long end of the transmission case) is to secure it in place to prevent any movement, to augment the stock gearbox mounting at the very front of the gearbox!
As you can see, it’s a very tight, narrow space down there, and the bracket has to fit round the contours of the gearbox and between the chassis fork – while avoiding the clutch cable and battery earth cable very precisely!
To get the exact fit, I first used a length of slim gauge wire to get the shape just right, and used that as a template for the actual bracket.
To make the bracket, I repurposed an old TV aerial bracket for the job – it’s made of galvanized and folded steel! You could use a plain mild steel length of flat-bar too if that’s what you have handy! A coat of rust converter for protection and high heat black paint helped seal it for protection against the elements.
Fitting it in place was much easier because the engine is out of Dolly at the moment! Jacking the car up also helped make room for me to fit, as I also had to drill two holes through the inner flanges of the transmission mounting fork to install the finished bracket!
In order to reduce the amount of fiddling with spanners in tight spaces, I welded the two bolts to the upper bracket, which made tightening the nuts after fitting the bottom bracket so much easier!
There you have it – one strong gearbox support bracket equivalent to an imported manufactured item (which costs about R4000) – which cost me… let’s see… a tin of spray paint, one welding rod and 2 hours of effort… not bad!
Pictures included – enjoy!
Have a DIY week!
Cheers!
This website is about Christina Engela’s inspiring and innovative DIY projects. Follow Innovation DIY on Facebook.
To view her main website, visit Christina Engela – Author. To view Christina’s previous human rights advocacy work, visit Sour Grapes: The Fruit Of Ignorance. You can also visit Our Ghost Encounters, a website about the paranormal.
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