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Make Your Own Elephant Ears

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Make Your Own Elephant Ears

Page 1 - Making a pattern

Page 2 - Patterns Part 2
Page 3 - Alternator Mount
Page 4 - Finished Product

Elephant ears are $99 at just about any performance dealer, but you know how some guys are...why buy when you can build. Thats me :) I'll try to build anything before I buy it, if only for the fun of doing it, if not saving money as well. I built these elephant ears for 1 reason... I continuously modify my front suspension as I find ways to improve it, so having the engine mounted to the frame rails saves a quite a bit of work when removing the K. I started this project with a 4" wide strip of 1/4" T-6 aluminum. Purchased ears are 3/8" thick for added strength, but I've seen a few 1/4" ears working without trouble.

If you're buying the aluminum, you'd be best off the buy 3/8" for added peice of mind. Also, my pattern started this way too. I cut a 4" wide strip and started trimming from there, so it matched the alum. I had. I made every effort to make this section as informative as possible, but be warned, it is long, with many pics to download. But if you're into this sort of thing, here's the scoop on making them yourself....

The first order of business is to get everything out of the way so you can work. If you're the clumsy type, you may want to get the rad out of the way as well so it doesn't get damaged.

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Next, grab yourself a shingle or two...yep, standard roofing shingles.

Its the perfect material in my opinion, to do this kind of work. It cuts with scissors, and is easy to make nice edges for patterns, yet its also stiff enough that you can drill it, it stays in place, and you can even bolt parts to it. Of course, you also have to be careful you dont break your finished pattern, but once you get used to how shingles behave, I doubt you'll ever use anything else. One tip...drill the holes. You may have the urge to whack a bolt throught it with a hammer to make a hole...you'll split the material instead of driving a hole through it and your pattern will be junk.

Start trimming your pattern until it roughly fits in the correct area..nothing special. Make sure its bigger than the gasket area and rests on the frame. Dont worry about any holes yet, just get the pattern to fit the desired area. If you cut too much, no problem...just grab another piece of cheap shingle :)

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To properly locate the mounting holes, put some common RTV on a gasket in a few spots and stick it to the block in place. Then put some on the outside of the gasket. Hold your pattern in place to stick the gasket to your pattern. You may need to put your finger against it to get it to come off the block. Now the gasket is on your pattern in the proper place, and gives you the exact location of the holes. Simply drill the holes out to 3/8. I drilled the coolant holes with a 1" hole saw to leave a little extra material around the bolt holes. With this done, your pattern should now bolt on to the block in the right position.

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With one pattern basically in place, it's time to decide how to mount them to the rails. I found this set of very cool poly bushings, which I believe are strut rod bushings from PST. I may be able to find a part number somewhere. They require a center hole of 1.125" and have an OD of 2" with a 5/8 bolt hole. I also have a set of rubber strut rod bushings, but I felt they were too mushy for this job. The plates might even cut into the rubber bushings. The poly bushings are very stiff and I felt they'd work fine here.

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If you have access to someone that can weld aluminum, it would be best to use a solid collar welded through the plate and install shoulder bushings. I simply had these in my box, so I used them.

The methods described here could be applied to build just about any type of mount, with the most common being a simple bolt through two uprights.

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I started with a piece of 3x3x3/16 angle. Since the bushings are 2"od, I cut a piece 2" wide, so the bushing and bracket would look good together. I placed the angle under the pattern and did some trimming so the pattern would clear the bracket and inner fender by about 1/2". It'll need room to move a little with the bushings. Trim your pattern as needed to fit the bracket in there. I then held the bushing on the angle and traced a nice radius. A grinder took care of the trimming.

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The previous photo shows the final results. Before welding it, I put it together and tightened the bolt a turn or two so the legs would stay close to vertical after being fully tightened.

NOTE-- After the engine weight is on the bushings, it will sit a touch lower. If clearances are critical, make sure to figure this in if you use bushings. Jack the engine up maybe an eighth before building the mounts.

Now, all you need to do is transfer your 5/8 hole from the bracket to the pattern to find the center. Drill your 1.125" hole in the pattern, and you'll now have a working package to fit in there. When you decide where to put the bracket on the frame, remember to not put it too close to the inner fender, because you'll have to weld fully around the perimeter. Also try to keep it back far enough that its not resting out on the small "overhang" on the rail.

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Now just do the same for the other side. Remember this side will be a different pattern, as the engine is offset. Dont try to copy the first side, as you'll end up with headaches and probably ruining the first pattern as well. Make a whole new one using the methods described.

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Step one complete.
That wasnt so bad.

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You can trim any excess edges now, as well as round off all the corners so it'll look nice when completed. An easy way to clean up the pattern is to just slide the edge across the pavement. It makes a real smooth edge, which makes tracing the aluminum easier later.
We're not done yet though.

Before cutting any aluminum, you still have to work out the alternator location.
Read on....


Page 2 - Patterns Part 2
Page 3 - Alternator Mount
Page 4 - Finished Product
 
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