Crossing the Rubicon

There's no turning back now. The floorboards have been cut to receive the (yet to be built) battery boxes.

I used a metal cutting blade on the circular saw to cut most of the straight lines. It could not reach into some of the corners, nor did it cut deep enough to cut the reinforcements below the floor. For the final cuts I used a reciprocating saw.

A close-up of of the rear cut:

And one of the front cut:

Bracket? What Bracket?

The mounting bracket on the A/T doesn't fit the M/T, and the used M/T didn't come with one. So now part of the project is blocked until I track down the part. I can't test fit the transmission until then.

Little stumbling blocks like these are never fun.

I've gotten the adapter plate, but I've held off ordering the motor & controller until I am ready for them - which basically is when I find a bracket.

I've sent a email to the guy I bought the MT from (off eBay) with the hope that he still has the car around. The local Chrysler dealer can probably order one, but I don't want to pay retail for a new one.

Wish me luck.

Motor Out!

The motor is out. Via Craigslist I was able to arrange selling all of the ICE components sold to a single buyer. It will be absorbed into another PT Cruiser some day. The car had a 2.4 liter DOHC engine. It is a tight fit with the automatic transmission - I would not want to have to work on one of those.

Most of the stuff that came out before the engine:

And a pic of the engine on its way out:

On the right side of this photo you can see the manual transmission. It has a red adapter plate on it for a test fit. More on that later.