The goal for this weekend was to get the engine subframe mounted into the vehicle, along with the assembled swing arm and tire, and get it finally sitting on the ground. Well I made it, but barely! I can see why the original Vortex design called for a single rail on the front end of the engine subframe. It is a lot more complicated getting all 4 corners aligned using the modification that I made, but for me I feel that it was worth all the extra work.

It was a snug fit, if I had to do it over I would have allowed at least an extra 1/8" clearance on all sides, as well as the height of the engine subframe. I had to use some 1/8" spacers under the upper mounting brackets to get the subframe to fit properly. Simply cut some plate, drill holes for the mounting bolts and sandwich it between the chassis and the mounting bracket.

Here is a picture showing how I mounted the front of the engine subframe. It shows the modification that I made behind the seat back area so that I could bolt the mounting brackets vertically instead of horizontally.

All of the mounting brackets are backed up with 2"x2" angle iron on the opposite side and bolted through in both directions. Be sure to mark which mounts and backing angle iron go where, if you disassemble them later on you can put them back in their proper location!

It looks like I will have to modify the shock mounts as my shock might be a bit longer than spec as the side rails should be roughly parallel to the ground once the vehicle is fully loaded, right now they have too much of a downward rake on them. I still need to put the stiffer spring onto the shock, after I make the motor mounts and get the engine into the subframe I can see it fully weighted, then will address this issue.

Here are a couple of shots showing the back end finally resting on the ground.

The plan sheet #11 looks pretty complicated, but it really boils down to only a couple of measurements, the 12 degree angle formed by the jig, the 6.7 degree tilt of the main upright section, the same angle for the lower control arm mounting brackets (A, B, C, D), and finally the distance from the bottom centerline of the upright to the upper control arm mounting brackets.

Also marked are the positions for the brackets A, B, C and D - don't forget about the 1/2" offset of the centerline of the holes for these brackets as it relates to the reference point from the bottom of the main upright!!! I guess that another way to do it would be to make 2 full size copies of the sheet and using double stick tape, tape it onto the jig. The picture below shows the results of laying out one pattern onto the jig.

Next using scissors I cut out the upright from the copy, taped it onto a piece of 1-1/2" x 2-1/2" steel and adjusted the angle of my horizontal band-saw to match the angle to the 6.7 degree end and locked it down. To get a better fit up between the two parts I decided (similar when I built the chassis) to cut the mating parts each at 6 degrees rather than one square and the other at 12 degrees. The ends are compound angles so I measured how much 12 degrees was over a 24" distance (about 2") and using the appropriate spacer elevated the steel from a stand and made the top cuts. To get approximately 12 degrees on the bottom cut I elevated it 4". This all sounds pretty crude, but the resulting mating cuts fit together very well, and with very little effort!

The beauty of laying out the pattern on the jig is that you can take the steel, lay it down on the jig and decide how you have to position the piece to get the second cut, at times compound cuts can be mind boggling and having the pattern traced out makes it more straight forward (at least for me!).

Due to my using 3/4" plywood (rather than 1/2") I will be using 3" steel plate (instead of 2") for the lower fabricated angles and shifting the mounting holes appropriately so that they locate better on the inside backing angle iron.

Got bolts, nuts, etc for bolting upper A-arm mounting brackets to the subframes. I also got the threaded rod to align and hold the lower control arm brackets in place while welding. This should help to ensure that once setup, I get the correct spacing, alignment of the holes, and angle as well. I will assemble the brackets onto the threaded rod, space them apart, use nuts to hold them in their location and use a carpenters square to ensure that they are perpendicular to the main uprights. I got a 36" piece so that I could make 2 - 18" lengths, welding spatter may stick to the threads and might need to cut it to get it off.

Tonight I started welding the front subframes, first order was to cap the open ends with some 1/8" steel, then I clamped the main uprights to the jig and TIG welded them together. I then located and clamped the bottom plates, top plate and main upright into their proper positions, cranked up the output on my MIG welder, tacked them all together and completed the welds. Along the bottom plates that bolt to the chassis it is not necessary to fully weld them together, I spot welded them about 1-1/2" long and skip an 1" along the entire length. Finally I turned them around and welded the back sides of the main uprights to the plates.

Got all of the major pieces welded together tonight including the mounts for the upper control arm, and afterwards I noticed one small mistake. I forgot to set back 1/8" from the surface the mounts for the upper control arm. At this point in time I decided to leave them alone as the holes for mounting the lower control arm were about 1/16" outwards as well. I will assemble the vehicle and address this issue when I bring it in for a front end alignment at a later date, then if needed I will cut them off and replace.

I trial fit the subframes onto the vehicle by locating per specifications and saw that they were located further forward than I originally guesstimated so will have to cut off some excess length from the front.

Continued working on fabricating and welding the front end subframes and brackets. Completed the upper A-arm mounting brackets. Instead of using standard 3/8" washers I opted for 1-1/4" diameter fender washers, and I cut off some tubing that I put onto the end and using the castle nut held the fender washer in place on the bracket for welding. I used the subframes and bolted the brackets to it for welding, this way the holes will align up when done.

Here are the semi-completed front subframes sans holes in top plate and upper shock mounts.

One thing that I have noticed in the plan sheets is that in a number places (such as the lower 3/16" plates for the front subframes) a total length is not given so you have to add up all of the hole spacing measurements to get the length. But I guess just get out a calculator and do the math! Also the dimension for locating the subframes is dimensioned off the front end of the plates and not the back end - which to me seems backwards.

When I build stuff I try to take all of my measurements off from a single datum line (or 2 perpendicular lines) in a single direction, I find that errors can creep in taking measurements from multiple points/directions.

Once I knew where the subframes actually got located I marked out a series of locations and drilled holes along the lower plates, right now they are 1/4" but I will be drilling them out for 3/8" mounting bolts. I then fitted them to the chassis and drilled a couple of 1/8" holes through the chassis at the corners of the top plates so that I could double check where holes had to be drilled for mounting.

The picture below also shows the enclosed area that I made up for the electric motors to raise/lower the front pop-up headlights. Since the subframes are a bit more forward than I originally imagined I may need to adjust these. Once front end assembly is completed and tires/wheels are mounted I will run the front suspension through it's range of motion to see if I have issues.

The plans stated a reference point of the front of the steering tunnel for locating the subframes so I measured and clamped a small piece of angle iron onto the subframe to help position it from this location. The picture above has a red line that shows the subframe on the opposite side, simply move the subframe forward until the angle iron hits the spot. This will signify that the subframe is in the proper position, then drill your holes through the chassis using the holes in the subframes as a guide (be sure to drill perpendicular).

Here is picture of shocks:

The 2 that bolt onto the lower rails (passenger compartment and front trunk area) have to be modified from 90 degrees to 102 degrees. I used a small 6 ton hydraulic bench press to do this and was amazed at the amount of pressure it takes to do this! You probably could put the angle into a bench vise and using a pipe wrench manually bend it if a press is not available, just be careful that you get the bend as far back as possible. These pieces are visible inside the front of the trunk area, so don't mangle them too much, and try to keep them as uniform as possible.

In the press what you have to do is to put the angle iron face down and push at the top corner to get it to bend, do a small section at a time. The angle does not have to be perfect just close enough so that you can drill the holes through the bottom and sides, then it will adjust properly when you tighten up the nuts.

As previously stated the upper portion of the shocks are the 'normal' stud style that is used on the Triumph Spitfire, and the Vortex plans use a different style upper mount. So I spent some time studying the front suspension that came directly off of the Spitfire, luckily for me the setup that I purchased also had the complete original shock towers. I quickly realized that a couple simple brackets just would not do the job. I was going to have to replicate the original to some degree.

The original setup had an plate which holds not only the shock but the spring as well, what you do is to use spring compressor and put the spring onto the shock using a retension plate at the top end of the shock. This retension plate has 3 bolts that connect to the upper mount on the shock tower.

I mocked up what I needed onto 1/4" plywood and made some templates from which I could use with my plasma torch and cut out the parts from 1/8" steel plate, I needed a flat plate which the shock/spring assembly bolted onto which is drilled to accept the shock unit. The entire shock/spring assembly should be able to be installed/removed intact, the central hole in the upper shock mount should be big enough to allow the rubber bushings to pass through. Here is a picture of the completed upper shock mounting plate.

This plate would need some reinforcement with some sort of gussets. I would not have looked right if I used simple flat gussets so I decided that what I needed to do was to "wrap" it using 1/8" material that would reinforce the entire structure. I welded the shock mounting plate onto the front subframe at about a 65 degree angle. This angle is needed so that it is roughly perpendicular to the shock when bolted onto the lower control arm. Be careful not to place the shock too far away from the subframe, just enough so that the spring clears it, as there could be interference between the spring and the trunion on the spindle assembly!

Next I cut out some 1/8" flat plate and tack welded it as I bent it around this upper shock mounting plate, once the steel completely wrapped the mount I welded it all around and ground the welds flush. I'm pretty happy with the results, and the following photos show the completed upper shock mount from a couple different angles.

I also got the completed front subframes, assembled the suspension components and mounted them onto the Vortex. Here are pictures of drivers side and passenger side.

The vehicle is almost standing on the ground - almost... I wanted to replace the original wheel studs as they are pretty small diameter with some 7/16" or 1/2" studs and began what turned out to be a bit of a quest to find ones suitable. Below shows the rough dimensions of the original Spitfire wheel stud.

$20.00

$73.90
$16.60

$19.95
$35.95

$11.95
$19.95
$14.95

2 - #95071 hatch lift nitrogen cylinders

Order bunch of parts from Moss Motors for steering/brake rebuild
2 - #525-215 front hub bearing kits from Moss Motors
2 - #661-430 grease caps

1 - #680-058 steering rack gaiter boot kit (pair) from Moss Motors
2 - #668-430 tie rod ends

1 - #583-160 brake caliper repair kit from Moss Motors
1 - #585-570 brake pads (set of 4)
1 - #583-170 brake pad fitting kit

When I took off the swing arm I noticed that the aluminum end caps for the front tube contacted the mounts a little strangely. When welding on the gussets the angle iron pulled making the angle slightly off. So I put them onto my mill and milled the face so that it was flat.

A while back I had bought an additional Spitfire steering rack to have for spare/missing parts. Rather than make up some extensions for the steering rack and bolt them onto the ends of the rack (Moss Motors calls them ball pins), I decided to permanently weld them on. The original length of the rack was about 45" from tie rod end to tie rod end. Measuring up the front suspension I figured that I needed about 52-1/2". So I took the ball pins from one rack cut it off near the thread, took another one and cut it off near the ball and TIG welded them together to get the desired length and then ground the weld. Below shows the 2 parts in a Vee-block and then the finished part. It came out great and looks better than cobbling together some extension! The finished part looks like it belongs there and like original equipment.

The spare rack also included a steering coupler to attach the steering column to the rack as well as the end of the steering column. I can use this end and mate it to whatever steering column that I will eventually use. Here is a picture of the completed steering rack.

I also took the shrink wrapped engine off from the pallet. Here are a couple pictures of it.

It looks like these studs will work just fine for the front Spitfire hubs. The same issue is with the rear wheel flange on the axle as the plans simply call out for 1/2" holes for the studs so I will be using the same wheel studs and lug nuts all around.

Today I finally got the wheel studs into the front hubs, the 13mm drill worked perfectly and once drilled, the studs went in (with a little persuasion). They look like original equipment.

I have not mounted the steering rack to the chassis yet but connected it via tie rod ends to the front spindles. It looks like I might need to make some clearance for the ends but will determine that when I actually mount it.

After 6 months worth of work it finally stands on it's own 'feet' and has the ability to roll. This is a major accomplishment at this phase of the project. It may look a little funny at this point as it is basically just the skeleton.

Here are some pictures obviously without the outside 'skin':

There are a lot of things to consider when positioning the engine:
1) air flow to engine
2) air flow to radiator
3) clearance for exhaust
4) proper alignment of chain to clear the drive belt pulley on intermediate shaft

The VFR750 V-4 engine also poised some interesting problems, the exhaust for the rear 2 cylinders extended almost 7" from the engine (see picture farther below), probably to clear swing arm on the motorcycle. Not to mention that when the headers went from 4 into 1, that the exit pipe pointed directly into the engine subframe, so I cut part of it off and will modify it when complete. I also tried to see if I could 'wrap' the tubes around the engine subframe, but then they contacted with the intermediate shaft.

In some ways fitting an inline 4 cylinder engine and the exhaust system probably would be easier! I had not initially considered this in my engine choices!

In order to use the relatively stock exhaust I would have to position the engine farther forward than I might have wanted to. It all boils down to a couple of decisions, modify the exhaust or modify the radiator position. I had hoped for some sort of compromise that with some tweaks to the exhaust (rather than total custom rebuild) that I could reposition the radiator so that it was directly in front of one of the air inlets.

Another consideration to using this style V-4 engine is that on the motorcycle they use a highly unconventional frame style, and attempt to use the engine/transmission as frame components. On this transmission there is a single back mount that uses a single 8" bolt, and 2 separate mounts on the front side. There are also mounting points on the cylinders as well as the heads!

My initial plan is to work in fabricating the rear engine mount as it will help me to square and align the engine for the tighter space up front. After a couple of hours to figure out all of the angles and lengths and then TIG welded the tubes together. Then fabricated the side mounts (sans slots). I used 3/16" x 2" steel plate cut 2-1/2" long for the mounts to the engine subframe, otherwise they were pretty much as spec'ed out in the plans.

Once the side mounts were welded up I then MIG welded them onto the ends of the tubing, next I eyeballed where the bolts to the engine subframe went and then drilled a hole in each mount. Then double check that the holes are at about the right location and make any adjustments, finally mill the 7/16" wide slots for about 2" long. Even though the mounts are bolted to the engine subframe with 3/8" bolts you will need a little bit of slop to account for error.

Here is the completed rear engine mount:

When computing the width of the tubing you have to remember to figure in the thickness of the metal for the mounts on the ends (3/16") plus a little extra for clearance. My engine subframe measured 18-5/16" on the inside of the tubing. Here is a diagram that shows how I made it: