K Frame Alteration

[rod7515]

66 Dart, preparing for a 408 with 8 Qt Milodon oil pan. I did as much research on here of past threads and contacted many members about their experience with this. Here are my thoughts on how I decided to try and strengthen my K Frame. First as many members have done I cut the circle support out as you can see in the pic.
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Next I made some gussets to hopefully add strength back into the K Frame. They are 1 1/2" wide and 10" long and 1/4" thick.
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After I cleaned up the inside for welding them into place I found that the welder head is to big to fit down into the K Frame so all I could do was tach them into place. I will have to get them stick welded next week some time.
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I plan on boxing them in once they are welded into place to finish them off. I will need to cut sluts in the new metal that will box them in then weld the gussets to that metal as well. That should make them very solid without adding a lot of extra weight.
Clearance should be no issue this way as I have already had the K Frame bolted up on the engine stand. Im also adding a Schumacher torque strap that will get welded onto the K Frame as well.
In one of the pics with gussets welded in you will see a white line on the top of the frame. I am thinking about cutting back to this line before boxing it off. This will set the metal on a slant but allow for oil pan removal if ever needed.
Do you think this will be enough and is there anything else done while this is out.

Since some of the pics didnt post I added them in the next 2 replies.

Thanks in advance for any help
Rod

 

[rod7515]

here are the first two pics that wont post in the original post. Not sure why that happens!
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I will post the other pics just below on next response.

 

[rod7515]

the last 3 that didnt post in original post.
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[Valiant63]

Looks good. Want to work on one of my cars whan you done? ha! We are never really done with them, are we?

 

[chewy]

Hmmmmmmmm.

I am patiently waiting to see the end result. I may be wanting todo something similar on that 66 i will be building up this winter.

 

[rod7515]

ok, Got the k frame back after being welded. He welded the gussets in place using a stick welder since my mig weld head wouldnt fit. I will add the pics at the end of this post. I couldnt beat the price as he wouldnt take anything for doing it. I spent last night working on finishing it off. As you can see I cut an additional 3/4" off the top to add some clearance to remove the oil pan if needed once its together. I didnt have enough long pieces of metal so I had to use some smaller pieces. Once painted no one will ever know! I am very happy with the way it turned out. I will post more pics in my restoration thread showing how the k frame fits after I set it in place tomorrow night, but here are pics of my final fabrication.
Rod
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[amx364]

You have test fitted the block and pan for clearance, right?

 

[rod7515]

Yes, there are pics of the clearance in my restoration thread that I just put up. It has just over 3/8" on both sides as it sits on the stand.
Rod