I searched far and wide on the internet, at dealerships, and machine shops, and made countless calls to GM trying to locate three-view drawings of the F40 transmission and the Cadillac Northstar engine to no avail. I needed the data for several reasons:
a. to avoid designing a suspension that would interfere with the powertrain;
b. to know where the powertrain had to be installed longitudinally in the chassis to ensure the output of the transmission aligned with the rear knuckles;
c. to know where the powertrain had to be installed vertically in the chassis to ensure the oil pan didn't hang below the lowest portion of the frame, nor above the underside of the decklid; and
d. to know where the powertrain had to be installed laterally in the chassis to avoid interference with the lower frame rails.
I could have done as many do and simply used a trial and error process, physically manipulating the powertrain in the engine bay until it fit, then designed the suspension around the remaining space. I didn't like that approach simply because I believed it very unlikely that I would find the optimal engine and transmission location on the first try. Manipulating them on a drawing seemed much easier after the initial investment to draw them out electronically. So after more hours than I care to admit, here are the drawings of the Northstar engine, painstakingly measured and drawn out to within approximately 3 mm tolerance (the eagle-eyed will notice I didn't include the water pump and coolant manifold):
Rear View:
Top View:
RH End view:
The transmission was next, and although it was more manageable, the tolerances aren't nearly the same as the engine drawings. The unwieldy shape of the transmission made it quite difficult to assign index points to it from which all other measurements should have been taken. Nevertheless, these drawings should suit my purpose just fine.
Rear View:
LH View:
Top View:
With this monumental task completed (trust me, it was monumental), I could now scale the engine and transmission to fit my earlier chassis drawings and adjust their locations with the click of a mouse. In the next couple posts I'll show how I used them to decide a host of factors as I began to design the new engine sub-frame.