December substuffing
With the engine in roughly the right place it's time to modding the subframe to take it properly.
This hole is required to allow the HUGE princess diff to fit. The hole is cut too big at this stage so I can still move things around a bit.
THis is the begining of the box section replacement for the side of the subframe - sorry it's a red box, next to a red trollyjack!
Almost finished and easier to see when wire brushed.
Yes, tubes have been welded through the bolt holes so the box doesn't get crushed when you tighten it up.
From the back of the subframe you can see the diff protruding a little, the spare bulkhead fits on ok and the rack doesn't foul, but in the real car a little 'ding' may be required from a lump hammer to help, but that's Minis for you.
The next stage the subframe bracing provides a full width box with this bit heading backwards. From the back of this a box will run at 45? degrees to meet the lower box shown earlier. There will also be triangulation to the upper shock mounts later - when I know what else I have to miss.
To make more solid temporary mountings a bit of angle iron bolted to the bottom of the gearbox flange, then a couple of 3" long bits of box were welded to the front rail.
Having checked the front still fits on, some more premanent mountings can be made. These are from 25mm x 3mm steel, which will be able to be bent for fine tuning when going into the real car. They will then have reinforcing gussets welded in to keep the right shape.
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