Lining up the engine and trans assembly is the hardest part. I first
used a string going across the cradle from left to right spindle to mark
an axle centerline on the cradle, this gave me front to rear alignment
reference.
You will need to notch the rear of the crossmember to clear the trans,
cut out the original crossmember and cut a hole in the firewall to clear
the engine pulleys. Be careful because the cradle is very weak at this
point and can distort, you may want to cut the crossmember out after mounting
the cradle in the car. With the engine and trans assembly hanging from
the hoist I have about a 3 degree angle on the engine, nose-up.
Install the rubber engine mounts and bolt the 1/4 plate to the mounts.
Now bolt in the cradle. Use a level on the engine for tilt and twist.
Put a T-square on the CV joint flange and line it up with the marks you
made in the cradle for the axle centerline, this will give you front to
rear alignment. Use shims and duct tape at the engine pulley cutout to
line left and right. Then for the height, have the oil pan about 1/2 inch
above the cradle bottom, After checking and realigning everything I measured
for and cut and trimmed the front upright braces (which had to tilt forward
and have multi-dimenional angles cut into them) I tacked them to the 1/4
plate and the crossmember.
I removed the cradle, added additional braces and finish welding everything
up front. After that I installed the engine-trans back in the cradle out
of the car on the floor. Then I was able to line up the rear and fabricate
the mounts to the trans and box-in the rear of the cradle. The bottom
of the Trans differential housing is about 1 inch above the cradle. This
hopefully should result in the proper axle angle. It is very close to
the stock Fiero axle ride height.
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