This A-pillar body mount tie in area is giving me fits....
The front of the factory body mount outrigger was fairly easy to make a body mount for. After removing the factory sandwich style mount in this area, I wanted to convert to a regular universal bushing assembly. That bushing will provide the body mount isolation, as well at the tie into the 'cage' structure of the body.
The other side is where things get complicated. There is a large multi-thickness flange with a rather complex shape. The outer part of the flange is a different level/thickness than the rest. This is where come of the outer factory door/dash/cowl structure ties into the body.
The hole in the floor is the factory drain plug.
This was my 1st try at a bracket for that area. I had to use a spacer under it and it just fit like crap....
I decided the first thing to do was to 'flatten' the drain plug area. That gets rid of one of the 'levels' that the new bracket will need to conform to. I made a tool to mash the surfaces together using a bolt to apply the pressure. that actually worked better than I thought it would on a feature that deep. I did have to do a little hammer/dolly work to clean things up. The area doesn't have to be perfect.
This is what I came up with. I was able to use my press and some scrap material to build a laminated tool to form the 3d shape I needed to conform to the floor.
The bracket now confirms to the floor much better. I will have to build the bracket in two parts. I will add a vertical part that will connect to the bushing tube. I don't think I could have formed it in one part without a very complex die. For one part I don't think it was worth chasing.
I decided to add a 4th fastener to the pad slightly behind where the A-pillar tube will be for the cage. The only place for this fastener was 'up' on one of the ribs on the floor right at the inside of the door panel.
That spacer will be tig welded to the bracket. I will probably be welding all these brackets into the body eventually also to tie everything together.
This is basically the configuration of the fasteners on the top side along with where I want to stick the A-pillar down tube. The fasteners are upside down right now for a little more clearance on the underside. I will be making a 'top' pad for the this part of the mount also. I am also going to try and tie into the factory vertical door pillar structure to spread out the load between the front and rear portion of the mounts. That still is still a little bit out, but on the horizon maybe. I try and plan as many moves ahead as I can....