Drive Chain Installed

Today I cut a slot in the axle with an angle grinder for the keyway slot. I then welded the sprocket onto the hub and slid it onto the axle. I then put the cv joint back together and put it on the car. After that I had to make a limiting strap to keep the suspension from dropping real low when the car is jacked up. I didn’t want the chain to have enough slack for the 6 inches or so that the wheel drops down when jacked up so I set the strap to only give it an inch and half of downward movement. After that I just had to bolt the motor down and cut the chain to length. I will have to take the chain and motor back off one more time to finish weld a few spots on the mounting brackets and to dent in the cover on the side of the transmission to give the chain lots of clearance. The chain rolls nice and smooth though so it looks like this setup should work out ok.

The radiator only had to be moved two inches. I could have actually left it but it would have been right up against the motor mount and that might damage it over time. There is a lot of room to move it over so that was no real big deal. Just drill new mounting holes and slide it over. I didn’t move it enough to have to modify the hoses. The sprockets I ended up using are the 36 tooth and 9 tooth. That gives me a 4:1 ratio so with my 175/70R14 tires I can do 67MPH at 4000 RPM

Next up is to take it apart and finish weld and add a brace or two. From there I will start wiring it up and see how it does. It won’t be long now before it is moving under electric.