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It’s likely overkill since... It’s likely overkill since high-rpm drag launches aren’t in our plans, but we opted to run an SFI-approved QuickTime bellhousing from Lakewood Industries for the extra safety margin. We’ll never have to be concerned about clutch failure of any kind throwing shrapnel into the car (or our feet) no matter what we put Max through down the road. It’s admittedly been a while since we last wrenched on our ultimate incarnation of a street-legal road racer known as Max Effort, but we’re ready to get serious again. [Editor’s note: Last time was the Nov. ’11 issue, when we built the ’67 Cougar’s rollcage.] Now we’ve got a big step forward to kick things off again: We’re dropping in the drivetrain. But this isn’t just a simple bolt-it-to-the-mount operation. Since Max Effort makes use of CorteX Racing’s vintage competition suspension, which includes a complete swap over to a K-member much like modern muscle cars use, our options are wide open for engine placement. Typically, the CorteX K-member would be equipped with standard mounts for a small-block Ford, modular Ford (including the Coyote), or GM LS, depending upon the customer’s engine plans, but ours is sans mounts of any type. That’s intentional; we have no plans to use the block mounts. We’re going for the kill and building an engine plate. Why an engine plate? Well, we’ve got two thoughts working together here. First and foremost we can create increased rigidity on the front of the chassis by strategically tying the two sides of the rollcage and the framerails together. We’re also planning to set the engine back and down significantly for better weight distribution, so trying to use stock-style mounts becomes more of a chore than a convenience. Besides, by eliminating the block mounts we gain the added benefit of a very open area for the custom headers that we’ll need to build down the road. Since we’ll be eliminating... Since we’ll be eliminating engine roll from the equation, we only need a bare minimum of clearance for the pan to the crossmember. On the sump side of the pan we have about ⅛-inch clearance. For rodders who aren’t so concerned with those points, there are several other key benefits to positively locating the engine. You’ve likely seen racers at the track who’ve added a torque link to one side of the engine to prevent torque roll. That’s essentially because any side-to-side motion of the engine is just wasted energy that’s only doing two things: creating a slight loss of power since ideally we want the driveline to transmit all of its power through the crankshaft, and straining the mounts and the bosses they are bolted to. Additionally, that sideways roll can affect how a car handles as it creates a rolling force to one side of the car. That’s never good when you’re hard on the throttle. Solid engine and trans mounts might be the obvious go-to choice for eliminating the twist, but solid engine mounts transmit a massive amount of stress into small points on the sides of the block. The higher the horsepower, the more of an issue this becomes as the pushing and pulling forces can actually slightly deform the block under WOT. At a minimum, damage to the engine mount bosses can occur. By contrast, an engine plate works to distribute the stress on the block more evenly. Our 715hp 438ci Clevor from Ford Performance Solutions generates plenty of power to make all of that a concern. To make sure we’re channeling all of that power where we want it and not creating any adverse conditions for handling, we’re once again trusting the experience of talented fabricator Ryan Kertz at Kertz Fabrication in Sonoma, California. His years of experience building road race and extreme street cars are exactly what we need to make the most of our engine placement.  As a refresher, here’s what...  As a refresher, here’s what we’ll be putting into place in Max Effort: the FAST-injected 715hp 438ci Clevor pieced together by Ford Performance Solutions (FPS) from the Oct. ’11 issue. We’ve got several things to consider clearance wise, most notably the Aviaid dry-sump pump. By the way, CorteX Racing has partnered with FPS for a new Street & Track engine program, so if you’d like your own version of this engine, give ’em a call.  Running a proper one-piece...  Running a proper one-piece engine plate requires accounting for the added thickness of the plate. Luckily, factory Ford timing covers have plenty of extra material we can mill off without creating any issues.  Remember what we said about...  Remember what we said about setting the engine back a bit and tying in the chassis for optimum rigidity? The math told us that to get it where the two coincided perfectly we were going to have to trim the firewall a bit. Well, actually a lot. Want to see the sparks fly? Check out the video of us using Miller’s Spectrum 375 Xtreme plasma cutter on PHR’s YouTube channel. This thing cuts like a hot knife through butter!  We’ll be running a �-inch...  We’ll be running a �-inch aluminum engine plate on Max Effort. For perspective, here’s how much we removed from the timing cover to fit it in.  Building the engine plate...  Building the engine plate and determining the setback really requires the whole driveline. Our trans of choice for Max Effort is Rockland Standard Gear’s (RSG) road race–prepped T56, called the Tranzilla. RSG specializes in building bulletproof racing transmissions for professional teams competing in the Grand-Am Cup endurance series, the Speed World Challenge, and SCCA T1 and T2 classes, so we really couldn’t ask for a more perfectly prepped six-speed for a track car. We went with the close-ratio option: 2.29, 1.60, 1.21, 1.00, .85, and .76. We’ll delve a little deeper into the specs on this bad boy later.  This is the ideal location...  This is the ideal location that we want; the Aviaid oil pan is completely behind the steering rack with the ATI balancer just barely clearing it. From a handling standpoint, it’s always beneficial to get the weight as low as possible in the car, and sliding the engine this far back gave us the additional benefit of dropping the engine roughly 3 inches lower in the chassis than stock.  Thanks to our friends at Ford...  Thanks to our friends at Ford Racing, we got our hands on the schematic for the location of the all the boltholes on the factory Ford 351 Windsor small-block. Our block is from Dart, but the measurements were, of course, dead-on all around.  Since all the specs were identical,...  Since all the specs were identical, rather than try to transfer them from the paper, Ryan Kertz decided to use a spare small-block Ford with transfer screws (essentially an array of center punches) placed in all the appropriate holes.  Using a 2x4 to deaden the...  Using a 2x4 to deaden the blows, Kertz then tapped the aluminum plate that will form our mount against the transfer screws to get the exact pattern. The two most important ones are the locating dowels at the bottom of the timing cover, since everything else locates relative to them.  From those marks, Kertz knows...  From those marks, Kertz knows exactly where to drill out the holes so the plate fits like a glove. Note that he also cut out an oval for the timing chain. Once he has the holes drilled, the plate slides into place on the engine to verify fitment. It’s also a good idea to have your accessories on hand to verify clearance; that scallop on the left-hand side of the plate is to clear our Aviaid dry-sump pump.  While the concept of building...  While the concept of building an engine plate is very simple, it’s time consuming since it requires lots of trial fitments to make sure it fits precisely on all boltholes without any fudge factors. Keeping the holes as tight as possible also helps control fatigue on the plate itself.  This is also the point at...  This is also the point at which we need to set our driveline angle relative to the pinion. Ideally, we want a 0-degree pinion angle that creates a straight line from the crankshaft through the transmission, driveshaft, and the pinion while the car is under load. But to get that we have to compensate for the upward movement of the differential under load with a slightly negative pinion angle. For our purposes we went with a negative 2-degree angle, which should zero-out when under hard throttle.  To tie the aluminum plate...  To tie the aluminum plate into the steel of the chassis, Kertz needed to create two steel brackets. To do that, he used this exceptionally useful form finder. By pressing it against the area he wants to attach to, the plastic blades slide and create the exact line Kertz needs to cut to match the bracket to the car.  This is the result: a bracket...  This is the result: a bracket with a perfect fitment on the first try. The bracket gets welded into place here and the engine plate is bolted to it with two ⅜-inch Grade 8 bolts.  Here’s how it looks fully...  Here’s how it looks fully installed. Note the position of the plate relative to the CorteX Racing mini towers; we purposely welded it in the centerline for the great strengthening of the area where twisting forces from the suspension will be present under hard cornering. Once we have the headers and steering linkage sorted we’ll add engine limiters to control fore/aft motion, and a mid-plate of some sort.  How far back did we have to...  How far back did we have to slide the engine to get that optimum rigidity? Far enough that it’s technically a Front-Mid-engine (FMR) muscle car now! Theoretically that will translate into huge handling benefits, since moving the weight nearer to the center of the chassis spreads it more equally to all tires, which, in turn, reduces the rotational moment of inertia. This enables the chassis to more quickly respond to driver input and should increase stability and traction while turning, braking, and accelerating.  With the Clevor securely mounted...  With the Clevor securely mounted in place, Kertz turned his attention to mounting the RSG Tranzilla. This was a much simpler operation with tubing leftover from the rollcage.  The engine may be solidly...  The engine may be solidly mounted, but we definitely don’t want that for the trans. That’s because any twisting forces will now be transferred into the chassis and even as stiff as Max is, there could be deflection. If we used a solid mount, the tailhousing would be seeing all the twist, and we’ve witnessed plenty of cracked cases from solid tranny mounts because of this. While it’s mostly an issue for drag racers with big power, we opted for the shortest T56 mount available from Energy Suspension.  We’re a long way from being...  We’re a long way from being able to use the stock trans crossmember mounting location, so Kertz made these simple tabs to take advantage of Max’s tube subframe connectors.  The tabs were welded to the...  The tabs were welded to the subframe connectors with the goal of getting the tube as close to the floor as possible for exhaust clearance later.  This simple mount style not...  This simple mount style not only gives us extra exhaust clearance, it also optimizes our ground clearance by ensuring that the mount doesn’t hang any lower than the body of the trans itself. To strengthen the mount, Kertz boxed in the sides. The holes are mostly for style, though we’ll claim there’s some weight savings too.  The drivetrain is officially...  The drivetrain is officially positioned as perfectly as possible in Max for now. We don’t yet have our driveshaft since we didn’t want to guess on the exact length, but you’ll see that unique part in an upcoming issue along with the clutch system.  That, of course, placed the...  That, of course, placed the tube significantly above the Energy Suspension mount, but that’s nothing a simple drop bracket can’t fix. Kertz took measurements and eyeballed the angle needed to join the two.
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