Ok, here is some info I promised you. For those of you who may be thinking of doing a V-8 engine drivetrain application, this may be of some interest to you. The 1st picture below is a shot from inside the passenger side of my 2002 PT Cruiser. This picture is from the 1st drivetrain application that I had installed which was the Chevy 3.8 V-6 from a 1998 Camaro. As you can see, the cut I made on the firewall is all the way up to the bottom of the stock PT Cruiser ac/heater box. I also had to trim off the top two bolt hole mounting stubs from that transmission to clear the firewall cut. Here, you can see that the engine is all the way up against the firewall. Note that the passenger side head from the engine is still not in view. That is because it sits up a little higher on the engine block. This is why I'm suggesting that for those of you who are contemplating a V-8 conversion, I'm quite sure the ac/heater box assembly has to be removed permanently, and your firewall cut has to be made much higher. As you can see from this picture, a portion from the heads of a V-8 engine will end up under the dash. The dash itself does not have to be removed, just various parts from under the dash has to go. I have seen a Hemi engine installed in a PT Cruiser, with the dash remaining, just everything under the dash was removed. Ok, for the 2nd picture. Here is a shot of the bottom of the engine, which shows the wooden mark-up that I was fabricating at that time for the front engine mounts, which includes the mounting brackets for the rack and pinion assembly. The rack and pinion assembly I believe is from a 2002 Dakota truck. When you do a RWD drivetrain application, your steering assembly has to be set-up forward of your wheel hubs. The stock PT Cruiser rack and pinion assembly is located just below the firewall, mounted to the main cross member which is aft of the wheel hubs. You have to make sure that you use a rack and pinion assembly that mounts forward of your wheel hubs. This will get your wheels turning left when you turn your steering wheel to the left, and right when you are turning your steering wheel to the right. ASK ME HOW I KNOW! Yes, I made the mistake of trying to use the stock PT Cruiser rack and pinion assembly, and found out the hard way, when I went to turn the steering wheel to the left, the wheels would rotate to the right, and vise versa. Well, at lease it worked. When you have to do things by yourself, on your own, it is a learning experience. This is good to know info for those who are attempting something like this on your own! Anyway, as you can see from the picture, the engine oil pan can be removed without removing any interferrence. There is more than enough room at the forward portion of the engine oil pan to clear the wooden mark-up crossmember. The 3rd picture, is the finish product of the front engine crossmember from which I followed the measurements from fabricating the wooden mark-up crossmember. The crossmember is made of steel tubing which measures 2" x 2" x 1/4". The green circles are the flanges which bolt to the stock PT Cruiser engine and transmission mount areas, on the driver and passenger side frame area's. The pink circles are where the engine mounts, bolt to, and the red circles are where the rack and pinion assembly bolts to. Ok, the 4th picture is of the front wheel hub mods that I made. That shot is of the driver side after the mod was completed. If you look good, you will notice that the steering arm on the hub assembly is facing forward. That is actually the steering hub assembly from the passenger side of the PT Cruiser. I switched the hubs out so that the steering arms would face forward. This has to be done to keep the steering assembly clear of the engines oil pan. Due to the tight clearances we have to deal with for our PT Cruiser drivetrain conversions, modifications like this become necessary. Ok the 5th and final picture, is a shot from one of the CV Joints that I modified. I utilized only the outer portions of the driver and passenger side CV Joints. Portions of the CV Joints were trimmed off that were not necessary. I then re-installed the CV Joints which will keep the bearing assemblies intact, and the PT Cruiser safe for driving. Hope this helps. Thank you. Aloha, Tommy.
