Sunday, April 13, 2008

Motor Mount begins


I've been thinking a lot about the motor mount. It's a pretty important part, especially since Miatas don't have transmission mounts, the motor mount secures 3/4s of the drivetrain. I went through a lot of ideas in my head until I came to this one - I think it's a good working solution.
I bought a 9" ring clamp from EV Parts when I bought the motor. It's 2" wide and made from 1/8th steel. I'm mounting it to the subframe directly between the front wheels using two rubber "biscuit" style motor mounts . I cut two pieces of angle iron about 10" long, thinned one down a half inch and welded them together into a long U shaped piece 2" wide. I then marked where the ring clamp will go and removed a semi-circle from each side. Looks pretty good. I was planning on adding some metal to extend the U up the side of the ring, but now think I should allow the ring to compress some, and this extra support would make the lower part of the ring too rigid. I didn't have a chance to weld the ring to the base yet, or drill the holes, but that will give me something to do next weekend ; )

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