This is one of the caps I made for the cut off cross member. Welded on both sides and ground smooth for that factory look.

Next up was installing the Pinto rack. I will eventually buy a new aftermarket replacement rack but for now I borrowed an old factory Pinto rack from a friend to use for “mock up” purposes. The Pinto style rack is much smaller and more compact than the later style Mustang manual unit I had been using. It also mounts easily with two flat brackets welded to the new cross member and drilling four mounting holes. The passenger side mount uses a rubber bushing and clamp arrangement from the factory but I will replace that later with a solid mount.

Along with the rack I also fabricated a new steering shaft to connect the rack to the factory steering column. I wanted to streamline the shaft and use as few of the U-joints as possible to give me more room for fabricating headers.

As it worked out, I only had to use one U-joint at the top of the shaft to connect it to the factory column. The end that attaches to the rack uses a simple straight splined coupler that slips onto the rack and the opposite end was welded to the shaft.

The front motor plate mount is not quite finished here. Notice the ledge/gusset that the plate sits on.  Bolt holes were drilled in place to assure a good fit.

For the shaft I used a length of ¾” diameter 1/8” wall Moly tubing. The new shaft is now slimmer, lighter, and straighter than the old. Cool beans.

Once the new cross member and steering setup was done I decided it was time to re-install the engine block and finish up the front motor plate mounts. The mid plate was already done and the transmission was being supported, so I dropped the block into place with the engine hoist and bolted it to the transmission. The mid plate easily supported the weight of the block and heads but I used a jack stand and some strategically placed pieces of extra tubing under the engine block to give a little extra support to the front of the assembly.

I also admired my handiwork on the new cross member and steering rack and measured a little bit over three inches of more room for the oil pan clearance than I had before the modifications! Whoohoo! Life’s little pleasures!

Next on the agenda was to fabricate the front motor plate frame mounts. With the newly fabbed aluminum plate bolted to the Yates timing belt cover, I made a mark with a black Sharpie on the frame rails in line with the plate. I then removed the plate to give me room to work.