200R4 update

Okay. Got the adapter plate cut down. Brought it in and ground the sharp edges off. Everything bolted up well. Dropped motor in to test fit everything. The tall Moroso valve covers hit the brake booster, so we loosened it to give a bit more room. It was a tight squeeze and we had to lower an inch, go back three inches, lower an inch. Finally got the mounts to line up and bolted the motor in. Got it up on the hoist and put a tranny jack under it an cranked it up. It hits the upper partion of the crossmember that curves around the tunnel. I took pics and will post them here, but unless you can stand there and see it, it's hard to tell and describe. My initial thought was, just cut out that section of metal. The bottom gets the under tranny crossmember bolted on anyway. However, the rear of the torsion bars go through this piece, and I don't want to lose all structural integrity. I think we can notch out the front side of the offending piece enough to clear the piece of transmission casing that hits. That will leave the bulk of the cross piece intact and we will still have the lower crossmember bolted to keep it all rigid. I think this will gain us 5 to 6 inches more in height, which we really need. The motor is sloped toward the rear far too much as it sits. Technically this is not part of the tunnel, so I guess Art can still say no tunnel mods are needed. I think we are going to modify the mounting of the original lower crossmember to move it back a couple inches. Then we can turn the mount around and gain another 3 inches. That should be very easy and I can still use my Mopar mount from Schumacher instead of buying a new GM mount. I need to bolt a plate to the 200R4 mount and drill holes a little further out for the Mopar mount because they don't line up. That's the easy stuff. I did get all new door and trunk rubber seals installed today and also the front cross drilled rotors. Productive day, but somewhat frustrating.

Adapter plate cut down and being cleaned up. It was a ***** to cut. Must be billet.
View attachment Cut down adapter plate.jpg
View attachment Cut down adapter plate 1.jpg

Adapter plate on motor and with tranny installed. The top two tranny mounting holes have no place to attach. I am going to drill through the plate and use nuts and bolts to bolt it to the adapter.
View attachment Cut down adapter plate on motor.jpg
View attachment Motor, tranny and cut down adapter plate.jpg
View attachment Motor, tranny and cut down adapter plate 1.jpg

Motor and tranny going in and then in place.
View attachment Motor and tranny going in.jpg
View attachment Motor and tranny in place.jpg

Pic of the casing hitting the upper crossmember. I think we can notch out the front side, but we will have to cut so far back as to leave just a lip in front of the curve, and it will have to carry up to almost the top of the tunnel.
View attachment Casing hitting upper crossmember.jpg
View attachment Casing hitting upper crossmember 1.jpg
View attachment Casing hitting upper crossmember 2.jpg