No room for a starter - help!

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Mopar-Man said:
Hey, thanks for the offer! I have consulted with a different fabricator and he believes he can section the frame like you guys have suggested. Of course, I will have to check the driver's side header but I think it had plenty of frame clearance. I have a welder and air tools at my house so maybe I can talk him into coming here and doing the work. Thank you guys for all of your help. This is why I like Mopar people! :cheers:
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No problem, I'd be glad to help if you need it. Mopar people do rock!

As for the centered thing, is the trans centered in the tunnel or the rails offset inward the same amount. What I'm getting at is don't take anything for granted as far as measurements are concerned. Measure everything so you don't end up with anymore surprises when you get into it. I'd spend some time drawing it all out to scale.
 
Boy, that sounds narrow. I'm not at home right now, but I can measure one later if nobody chimes in first. Also, if the engine is centered between the rails, are the rails centered in the car? I would guess that they are, but you never know. Also, are you still using the stock trans mount or has that been modified along with the trans tunnel?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it is likely that this car is so butchered now that the only fix is another chassis shop that knows what they are doing or starting over with, at least, a complete front clip cut out of a donor car.
 
I think I need to take some more pictures for you and upload them. I'll bolt a header up on one side to show you what I have to work with. The front wheels are also mounted inboard pro-mod style which I did NOT ask for. It looks odd to me.
 
Ok, I measured my GTS and my Barracuda, just to be sure. Right about 30" between the rails, so you're 10" narrow AND the engine is too far to the left. No wonder you have problems.

So, you have three ways to fix this as I see it:
1. Modify what has been done to clear a starter and HOPE the car drives fine.
2. Cut out what was done and replace it with a factory front sub-frame and use factory suspension or an AlterKtion (or other).
3. Start with another car and sell that one to somebody to build an all-out race car with it.
 
This may sound dumb, but me and my dad were sitting here and I was talking about your problem and we kind of sat here and thought about it... the guy builds promods right? Promods don't even use starters do they!? Aren't they started by those big electric ones via the blower? We aren't really sure but it crossed our mind. It was obviously a goof-up on his part... but maybe that's where the initial mistake came from... he never even planned for a starter?
 
My buddy who is a master welder came over and helped me yank the engine and trans out. He did an awesome job notching the frame and re-boxing it. He didn't like how the steering shaft was routed to the rack so that go cut out and will have a more straight path to the column when he is finished. A funny thing happened when we pulled the engine... the transmission was bolted to the block but there was NO flexplate on the back of the crank! Unbelievable. It was RUNNING when I dropped it off at the shop. So now I need a flexplate, crank bolts and torque converter bolts.
 
I think the man that did the work the first time would have to come up with that.and i would be dam shour he would see pictures of what you did to fix his shabby work .because I'm shour you paid good money to have it dun.that's my thought.
 
Sounds like your builder suffers from what we all go through from time to time. CRS ( Can't Remember **** ), multiply that by the 4-5yrs it took to do the build.....That's a lot of stuff that gets forgotten.

I hope it's not too soon to make light of the situation BUT, If it didn't have the starter in it, why would it need a flex plate....or a trans for that matter.... :lol:
 
That's not CRS... I have CRS...lol. That, is someone way out of his league in terms of chassis work. Did those pro mods ever WIN??! That work stinks, plain and simple. If there was any chamce of it I'd go back after your money. Missing parts documented and unsafe work (that shock mount still seems flimsey with the way it's attached). What does the back half look like? Would this thing even pass NHRA 9.99 standard or be able to get an inspection sticker?
 
moper said:
That's not CRS... I have CRS...lol. That, is someone way out of his league in terms of chassis work. Did those pro mods ever WIN??! That work stinks, plain and simple. If there was any chamce of it I'd go back after your money. Missing parts documented and unsafe work (that shock mount still seems flimsey with the way it's attached). What does the back half look like? Would this thing even pass NHRA 9.99 standard or be able to get an inspection sticker?
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Karma is a real ***** - his shop just went under! No, after I saw his "work" on the front half the back half job was out of the question. I think he got bent out of shape over that conversation and then slapped the car back together and called it "done". I am making great progress on the car now and am not going to back-half it since I went 8 3/4 with Cal-tracs and Rancho shocks. I have no idea if the front will weight transfer when it is all said and done. These coil overs do not have much travel. :angry7:
 
I have a fix for you it worked for me.....

http://www.darkside.ca/cuda-starter.asp

I simply put the starter under the engine... the way a lot of promod guys do it... since some alum blocks don't have a starter pocket on the side of the block (stock position) and tube chassis's have a tube there any way

starter1848.jpg
 
darkside said:
I have a fix for you it worked for me.....

http://www.darkside.ca/cuda-starter.asp

I simply put the starter under the engine... the way a lot of promod guys do it... since some alum blocks don't have a starter pocket on the side of the block (stock position) and tube chassis's have a tube there any way
Click to expand...

I got the frame notched so the problem is solved. Thanks for the input everyone! It turned out to be pretty easy once the motor was pulled. No I have the engine on a stand so I can go through it. I will most likely be taking the milled 452's off of it and swapping on some larger chambered aluminum heads to get the compression down for pump gas.
 
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