where do i cut the chassis rail

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:15 pm

Hi team,

i have been long perousing the byb forum and as im now part way through the conversion i wanted to see if anyone had an exact measurement or picture to guide me on the final cut.

i am putting a GC8 wrx in a brumby, and thought if i too a photo of the rail someone could point me in the right direction.

http://ausubaru.com/coppermine/displayi ... 2&pos=-851

thanks for any help fellas.

Phizinza · Post by **Phizinza** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:40 am

Tape measure is your friend...

I would,
measure the distance between the engine mount on the crossmember and the rear most crossmember mount. Then measure the distance between the mount and the back of the head. Measure the weidth of the motor, and where you have marked as the back of the heads on the rails measure there. Little bit of math and there you go.
Add probably 20 - 30mm for front and back engine movement. Maybe 15mm side to side.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 6:57 pm

Before you cut, there are those that have done this and those that have not. I am one who has not. I have though seen a twin cam EJ in a Brumby and about the only thing I really looked hard at was the not cut rails. What was done was like a one inch water pipe had been pressed into the rail in a vertical at where the plastic cam belt cases needed to clear the rail. One each side. Dunno how they were done - maybe heated up and porta powered in between two vertical pipes at same time? further along back down the rail had the top square edge smacked in at an angle to clear the rocker covers of the twin cam. This technique obviously caused no problem for the engineer to certify it.

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 1:46 pm

so i gave it a go on the left hand chassis rail, but havent tried fitting the engine at the moment, too busy at work. Anyone know if its in the right spot?

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 5:33 pm

so decided to get off my arse and try and fit the EJ engine with gearbox attached, and no joy.

i obviously need to cut it a little further toward the front of the car?

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:13 pm

dude.....easiest way is to test fit the engine (as you have now done) and just look where you need more clearance. If the engine is fouling on a part of the chassis....then that's the bit you need to cut!

brute · Post by **brute** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:49 pm

Can you post pics of the final position / cuts made, Im intending to do the same in the coming weeks...

tex · Post by **tex** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:31 am

There is a really good post already on this site but seriously don't cut until your certain where to cut as it wont need that much out of it. But a good idea apart from the pipe one it to cut a little triangle out of the top and bottom of the chassis rail first then push the sides of the chassis to meet the edge cut then tack it into place test fit the engine then seam weld it once your happy with it! last of all to brute talk to your engineer before you do anything and show him what and how your going to do it that keeps them happy plus they can advise you on the best way of doing it.

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 11:46 am

Will the engine fit in without the rocker covers? if it does you could take them off and do a test fit to see where to cut the rails.

tex · Post by **tex** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:24 pm

Mine did in the brumby but it was more of an issue of the timing belt covers otherwise I would have just built new rocker covers instead of butcher the chassis rails

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:09 pm

Right all done,

well you can tell me what you think, but im finished now and it looks pretty good, and yeah i probably could have cut less but its done now and hopefully the engineer doesnt have any issue.

First photos are before i beautified it.

woooohooooo

brute · Post by **brute** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:39 am

Thanks for the pics, looks good 'beautified'.

Im in Qld and have been speaking with several engineers this week (hard to comeby - details from Qld Transport). All of them are saying it will be an extremely costly exercise to get the chassi rail modification approved in Qld, torsion tests may be requested, etc, etc, rethink doing it, blah, blah, blah.

Not sure if anyone has a better engineer contact that is not so negative to the mods.

Has anyone modified the timing belt covers to make it fit? Also it was mentioned somewhere that positioning the engine further forward would also clear the rails but could not dig up much info with the many searches ive done.

Will be removing the Ej20T from the half cut this weekend so full steam ahead one way or another.

mattw · Post by **mattw** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:15 pm

Queensland is notorious for that.
Don't cut until you have Engineering approval, or you may blow the whole plan.
good luck.

stamp_licker · Post by **stamp_licker** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:43 pm

brute wrote:Thanks for the pics, looks good 'beautified'.

Im in Qld and have been speaking with several engineers this week (hard to comeby - details from Qld Transport). All of them are saying it will be an extremely costly exercise to get the chassi rail modification approved in Qld, torsion tests may be requested, etc, etc, rethink doing it, blah, blah, blah.

Not sure if anyone has a better engineer contact that is not so negative to the mods.

Plenty of brumbies in qld engineered for the turbo ej.Quite a few on the board, maybe contact some of the owners of those for info on engineers that have done it before.

Brrrummmbeee · Post by **Brrrummmbeee** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:36 pm

It would be good to have an update on the engineering aspect with this mod, pls let us know how it goes.

SUBIIE · Post by **SUBIIE** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:44 am

so i know that most of you will be waiting an engineers report.

Stay tuned to the thread on 'my car' for updates on the progress and when i get an engineers report then i will post that up (and thier name).

cheers

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:24 am

the mod I have mentioned before was a QLD engineered mod and was not cut rails