The mother of all transmission mounts!

I looked at the options for transmission mounts and decided $300 for a hunk of pipe cut in half and welded to 1x3 box was a bit steep. I also did not like that the frame supports are so far from where the transmission is bolts to it.  This is what most kit mounts look like.

Boss Frogs is a little better with their side gussets but still way out of my budget.

Speaking of gussets one of the things a lot of racers do is tie center of the car to the corners of the chassis with an X brace. Flyin Miata makes a sweet brace that works on that concept for Miatas:

I love this brace but at 300 bucks it's not going to happen.  

 

So rolling both concepts around in my mind I started in on a trans mount.  First up was to set the exhaust in place and do some eyeballing with a hunk of 3” steel pipe.

After a few hours of measuring twice and cutting once I came up with a trans mount I like a lot.

The black 1" box on fhe floor pan bolts to the seat support beams where the floor is double thick and very strong.  I'm a little concerned about it transmitting vibration to the seats but we'll see how it goes.

I'll go over those tack welds when I pull it out to paint it.

I had planned on tucking the diagonals up higher and ending them on the tabs that hang on the inside of the frame but when I saw how low the exhaust hangs I decided to put them down where they can protect it some.
Those tabs will still get used though because there is more to come going rearward.

The mount may look like a beast but I am keeping close track and it only adds 12.7 lbs to the car.  The total weight of all my added braces is 39.1 lbs not counting welding wire or the roll bar.  Now if I could just lose that much weight we'd both be in good shape!

Building the mount went well but the rest of the weekend was frustrating and not very productive. I was planning on welding in the rear end mount but found out I don't have all the stuff I need for it.  Moving on to other things I found out Flyin Miatas instructions on how to use their kit parts is grossly inadequate. The power steering kit contains no instructions and I couldn't figure out how it works.  The clutch master cylinder kit instructions say “Assembly should be pretty straight forward” How is that helpful in any way?  Such minor frustrations are good practice for the real storms of life and drive me to the truth. God alone is my rock, my salvation and my fortress and in Him I shall not be shaken!  Psalm 65-5.