Hawks Motor & Trans Mounts - Install with Pics!

[MECH-E]

I've never seen a thread where someone documented how hawks mounts actually mount up and are installed.  So I took a bunch of pics when I did mine for all to enjoy.

 

Chassis Mounts

 

Here's how the mounts look in your hand.  I'll explain what each location really does as we move along.

 

 

And here is the back of the plate that you must weld onto the frame.

 

 

As you can see, you must clearance the frame in order for the plate to site flush again your frame rails.  But before we get into that, lets see how we locate the bracket (front to back).

 

So here is the mount just resting on the frame rail, without the backing plate,

 

 

 

You can see now that the lower location of the bracket lines up perfectly with the lower control arm bolt.  Now all you have to do is loosen the LCA bolt, remove the nut, and thread the bolt into the bracket (yeah its threaded down there).

 

 

Once you have it threaded in and snugged (not tight), you've got it located front to back.  So then I attached the backing plate to the bracket and swung it back into place on the frame rail.

 

 

Obviously the backing plate wont sit flush until you clearance the frame.  So now, mark the front and back of the backing plate on the frame like so.

 

 

 

Now remove the backing plate from the main bracket, also remove the main bracket from the LCA bolt.  Place the backing plate on the frame and mark the hole locations.  Note that they will be off because you still cant set the bracket flush.

 

 

So here are my marks.  Let me save you some time and suggest that you cut the frame like the pic below.  I tried counterboring the holes to make room for the tacked on nuts, but its harder to get the position correct.  Notching the frame is easier and much faster.

 

 

Now you can check to see if the bracket will sit flush.  It might not sit perfectly flush, but pretty close.  Heres how mine looked.

 

 

If its good enough for your taste, put the main bracket on the LCA bolt and bolt it back to the backing plate.  This will ensure that when you weld it, it is in fact correctly positioned.  You probably want to go ahead and grind off the paint on the frame as well, I dont have a pic of that but you get the idea.

 

 

Now your ready to weld.  Just for reference, the side of the frame rail is twice as thick as the top.  So you can get a little more heat into that side.  Here's my ugly flux core madness, but it will get the job done.  The second one turned out much prettier after I found a rhythm.

 

 

 

 

And here is the finished product.

 

 

 

 

Engine Mounts

 

The mounts on the motor are fairly straightforward but I figured I'd show them for documentation purposes.

 

Here is where the original mount goes.

 

 

And here is the backing plate for the new Hawks mount.

 

 

Dont put that lower right bolt in though, that comes later with the actual mount.

 

And here is it all bolted together.

 

 

 

At this point, I dropped the motor in to position the trans mount.  I'll write more on that in the Trans Mount section.  Here, its just to show you how the motor sits in the bay.

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2016 by MECH-E

[MECH-E]

Reserved for Trans Mount

[Marks260z]

Thank you for posting this. I am looking forward to the rest.
 

[Klmykvl]

Looks nice.

[Klmykvl]

What motor are these designed for?

[str8pipez]

What motor are these designed for?

LS correct?

[MECH-E]

Yes LS motors, I'm doing a 99' LS1 T56

[Stock Car Mafia]

Very nice write up MECH-E.  I'm curious to see how this comes along for you!  Overall I really like the design of the kit.  I did write up a bit on this kit as far as fab work needed in my build thread but didn't dedicate to a specific thread like this.  I went with the LS3/C6 Corvette oil pan on mine and I had to cut and clearance the motor crossmember to avoid any rubbing with the pan as the motor "twists".  It was too close for my comfort.  

[hornedcow]

Nice pictures! Looks solid and I doubt there is a motor mount design that gives you any more clearance than those.

[Richard Oben]

What about headers?  Do any of the current headers fit? CXR, JCI, JTR?  Looks good though.  R

[MECH-E]

Pretty sure all of them fit, I'll be ordering JTR headers when the time comes.  I initially thought only Hawks' headers would fit, which are $1200 ouch.  After talking to a few people that have run them, I know JTR will fit and I dont see any reason that any others wouldnt.

[MrPhotographer06]

I was acutally comtemplating cutting a hole in my lower framerail and doing the EXACT same thing for making my new tubular crossmember a bolt in thing.. glad to see someone else has proved it works.. lol

looks awesome! If you're ever in need of any paint, body or metal work.. Hit up Brent Click at Hyper Formance. He's in Greeville. Tell him Scott sent you!

[spitsnaugle]

Pretty sure all of them fit, I'll be ordering JTR headers when the time comes.  I initially thought only Hawks' headers would fit, which are $1200 ouch.  After talking to a few people that have run them, I know JTR will fit and I dont see any reason that any others wouldnt.

 

 

you might want to look at CX racing long tubes, I bought hawks, cx, JTR/Sanderson headers for test fittings with another builder. The CX headers are nice stuff and they use a very similar motor mount location to hawks so they might work. 

[MECH-E]

you might want to look at CX racing long tubes, I bought hawks, cx, JTR/Sanderson headers for test fittings with another builder. The CX headers are nice stuff and they use a very similar motor mount location to hawks so they might work. 

 

Dang, those CX headers look pretty darn legit....and less than half the price of Hawks headers.  Heck, they arent even much more expensive than the JTR/Sanderson shorties.  This might actually be what goes on my car!

[spitsnaugle]

Dang, those CX headers look pretty darn legit....and less than half the price of Hawks headers.  Heck, they arent even much more expensive than the JTR/Sanderson shorties.  This might actually be what goes on my car!

 

 

I just-so-happen to have a brand new set I'm selling ... and I'll be in SC this weekend hiking the Foothills Trail about an hour or so outside of Greenville. 

[MECH-E]

Updated the post with the mounts on the motor.   Will hopefully finish the trans mount next weekend.

[Stock Car Mafia]

MECH-E, how close is your oil pan to the crossmember?  Any rubbing there?  MY oil pan touched the crossmember AND the steering rack bushing and brackets.  

[MECH-E]

MECH-E, how close is your oil pan to the crossmember?  Any rubbing there?  MY oil pan touched the crossmember AND the steering rack bushing and brackets.  

 

If you look at this picture, you see what looks like an exhaust C-Clamp?  I have no idea why its there but my oil pan is actually resting on that.  I didn't realize it until I was closing up.  So I dont know how low it will sit once I remove that clamp.  I'll update the first post once its gone.

 

Edited April 4, 2016 by MECH-E

[Stock Car Mafia]

Good feedback MECH-E.  This is making me rack my brain too, but yes I had to remove that clamp as well.  I do believe that keeps the steering rack from re-orientating along its axis.  I don't think it is necessary, but I will post if I find otherwise.

 

Once I removed that clamp the motor dropped down and rested on the next lowest thing.  The steering rack clamps.  Once this was clearanced, it dropped to the crossmember.  Let me dig up some pictures for reference.  I don't want to thread jack your findings, but this is good information for all others trying this set up.  

 

 

This is all the material I had to move to feel comfortable.  I tack welded the new plating in and test fitted again.  It still is quite tight on the driver side near the steering rack mounts.

 

[JoeK]

I'm pretty you do want the steering rack clamp, to keep the rack from rotating. I read that somewhere when researching rebuilding my rack. It could probably be relocated easily enough though.