That's a nice-looking engine cradle Rocket and I can see why you like it. I toyed with the idea of using something like that and bolting it in but the biggest problem was --- what do I bolt it to ? The VW floor pan is thin, somewhat rusty 40+year old metal and there's no way it's going to support anything safely. I'd have to add some type of subframe to bolt that engine cradle to and to be honest, instead of adapting an existing cradle it's a lot easier to just build a medium duty frame to bolt to the existing "chassis" of the VW pan which torsionally, is really stiff. At least it's a lot easier in my situation...
When you do yours, you'll most likely have to strengthen the area where the cradle will bolt to. Especially so when you think about the crazy power you're going to be putting to the ground ! You'll have enough power to rip the whole works out of the bottom of the car.
Like you wrote, you'll probably have to either fab upper control arms and figure out where to mount them or figure out how to use a factory strut to locate the spindle (and figure out where to mount them !). You probably remember that I originally wanted to use the stock Capri strut and spindle but as you know, everything snowballed when I realized I had a wheel adapter / wheel bearing /offset problem.
When I get a few more steps down the road with this engine cradle it'll become much more clear why I decided to do it the way I did it. I think this is going to come together nicely.
What you're looking at in those last pictures is a combination of the engine cradle AND the frame itself. The 2"X3" rails on top (where the stock motor mount is sitting on) - that's the rear part of the mostly unbuilt frame. Those 2"x3" frame rails - that's where the upper control arm mounting points, spring/strut mounting, cantilever pivot points and motor mounts to. Additionally, the lower engine cradle (the 2"x2" structure) will bolt to. So it's gotta be strong 'cause in one way or another, pretty much everything is going to be bolted to it and when all's said and done, the whole car will be bolted to it as well !
The lower engine cradle is where the drivetrain and lower control arms will mount to. Obviously, that's gotta be pretty tough too.
I understand what you guys are saying about weight and I COMPLETELY agree. That's why I cheated a bit - the stuff that isn't essential for structure and strength are a much thinner wall steel. You know those "X" braces on the back of the cradle in the last pictures ? All that stuff weighs a total of 3 pounds. Triangulated though, they're strong as Hell. 95% of the bracing is thin wall (like maybe .083 ?) 1"x1" steel and in total, I'll be surprised if the bracing adds more than 10 pounds when the frame and cradle are finished.
But it's stiff, adds an incredible amount of strength and I think it looks cool as Hell. (Which is the most important part
)
As it stands now, all the steel in my frame/cradle totals 72 lbs and other than finished welding, it's pretty much done.
In the end, I KNOW it'll be MUCH stronger then it needs to be, I hope it'll be cool to look at and yes, I'm sure it WILL weigh more than I'd like it to
But really, it's a safety issue and you don't want to mess around with stuff like that. Overbuild it and don't EVER worry about it.
I went on Friday and bought all my Grade Eight nuts and bolts and the guy at the store asked me if I was building a tow truck. So maybe "overkill" is the right word...
Thanks a lot guys for your comments and for keeping up with this project. I sure appreciate it.
Dave