[cornerstone]

Thank y'all for the kind words!

Even though I now had the motor sitting in a place I thought would work, I wasn't happy with the multiple brackets, shims, adapter plates and general mess that the mounts had become. It looked like a birds nest in there, and would have made it harder to have access to the headers later on when the truck is completed, if the need arises. While searching Fleabay I found a set of weld in Metaltek motor mounts for the newer style L83. It took me a while to figure out how to hold the motor up with no mounts in the way while I trimmed the new ones to fit in the right spot. It took some finagling but I got it done. I made a replica of the new mounts from cardboard and a piece of plastic tubing from an empty tube of caulk. This helped because I could trim the cardboard to get the right fit much easier than grinding a little, test fit, grind some more, test fit.....

Now Metaltek makes a set of mounts specifically for the L83 to bolt up to the 67-72 truck. If I were to do this again, I'd buy those instead of their generic style mounts.

The factory mounts form a triangle between the frame rail, motor and crossmember. Do you guys think what I have currently will be strong enough, or do you think I should add another bolt in piece from the rail to the motor mount for additional strength? I'm on the fence, I do like the open space for looks but obviously that takes a back seat over durability.