700R4 Struts....Do I need them?

Hey Jeff, michael or anyone with a thought-
I am in the final phases of a 700r4/np241 transplant. My question is about the case-to-engine struts (rods?) that connect the bottom of the dust cover to each side of the engine block in a stock GM application. Obviously the stock ones won't work, but I could fab up a pair if you guys think its necessary. It appears they add some support to engine/trans connection to take some load off the bellhousing bolts in heavy bouncing/flexing conditions. The cover is cast aluminum, so it is definitely beefier than the 2wd sheet metal version. And since its the only cover I have, I could add the rods later.
Let me know what you think. Trying to wrap this up by new years.
Great forum, btw. An honor to be a part of it. Merry Christmas!

Ps- tried to post pic of cover but was denied....try again later.

Pic loaded finally.

I haven't done one of these conversions myself yet...but I've eyeballed several of Jeff and Darren's setups and I'd have to say yes to the support struts!

I don't feel that the GM tranny bell housing area is near as beefy as the tf 727. For normal street use it'd be ok...but for hd use, towing, trail bashing, etc. I don't think so.

And even though we like to think that drivetrain stuff is "solid"...in reality there is a lot of flex that takes place, even in normal use. The rear of the engine block is solid/rigid, but everything else is aluminum and not near as rigid.

Since you've already gone so far with the conversion...why not go all the way and bulletproofitize it?

Yes, common sense tells me its the right thing to do as well. There are tapped blind holes in the side of the block, in a triangle shape, similar to a GM deal. I was planning on tagging on here since those guys did it on their engines. You don't see any problem strength-wise with that do you?

Ps-still can't post pics. Something about a page not found on this server...??

I can post pics?

As for the 700r4 have you seen the pictures Jeff posted on his buildup's? I noticed he made some rear engine supports. The IH motor mounts are on the front of the engine, so they added some rear engine supports to help carry the load of the engine. I might add some to mine and I run a 727.

Not sure why GM added those bars, but they must have found an issue with weight, not torsional flex. As for flex I have noticed ( junk yard reviews)all oem cross members are bolted to the frame and the bushing is located in the center. You need to make sure you control flex in drive train components. So if you not running the rpt motor mounts, get some today!!

I would love to see some pictures of your setup. You can e-mail them to me and I will post them. Z50r @ yahoo. Com

As already pointed out the motor mounts on a Scout II are all the way in the front of the engine unlike a small block Chevy which has the motor mounts under the mid portion of the engine. With the mounts all the way forward it puts a lot more strain on the bell housing. We are now offering more parts for these 700r4 conversions such as a torque converter cover with the lower strut rods.



Installed the torque rods will look like this -





We also highly recommend the addition of struts added to the back of the cylinder heads. These head struts really help take the load off of the transmission and hold up the engine even with the transmission removed.

Well, now I'm bummed. Are all of these pics in the threads? If yes, I dunno how I missed them. Bottom line is, I should have given you a call before I went down this road. Not that I have done anything wrong, but you have obviously put some serious thought into this and engineered a product and accessories that work together. I very cool stuff. Coulda, shoulda...
The cylinder head mounts are cool, but are they accessible with the body on? Its really too late for me now either way. Wish I would have seen this/called you a few weeks back before the motor was back in....
Anyhow, how much do you charge for the rods/brackets? Or are they part of the whole kit? I have not seen this on the web site yet. I have a pair of your front mounts, and they are great. My cross-member borrows from that design. I'll get pics when I can.
Way to go on the projects. They look fantastic. I am feeling pretty humble...

Ps- just some recent pics. I have a lot of document shots that record the saga. I'd like to post it up at some point. I already have a member's offer of help, but I'll shout out if I need more assistance.

No worries, you can still add something. My motor is shoved back a few inches, so I was going to make something to attach to the block, I see Jeff has already done this on mc Scout.
You can always figure out a way to bolt stuff in if welding is not a viable option.

You definitely need to start a build up thread, as thats a good looking Scout

wow Jeff I need to cruise over your web site. I saw all the work it took to put a 700r in and thought no way, but now that I see a kit. Humm