Motor plate preference

I have a 69 Mustang with a Mustang II suspension and will be installing motor plates. I know a lot of you here have experience with using motor plates, so I am wondering if there is a brand preference, and for the mid plate steel or aluminum?

Staci

Call Keith Fulp 1-678-458-2033 he make some nice motor plate and mid plates he can also custom make you one.

X2 for Keith, hell of a nice guy and his parts and prices are second to none

Mike R wrote:X2 for Keith, hell of a nice guy and his parts and prices are second to none

"hell of a nice guy" Geez not sure I'd go that far. lol seriously though, I'll 3rd this because he is super to work with. Especially with custom orders.

X4 for Keith! I have a steel mid plate but aluminum works fine also just thicker.

My Setup ---> Aluminum front late and steel (nearly same thickness as the stock block plate) mid plate with fore-aft limiters.

Yep. Give Keith a call. He's wheelie58 on here. I sent him my AutoCAD file of my midplate, he tweaked it a bit, added the starter location and sent it out to the laser to get cut all while on vacation! That's customer service!!!

Thanks for your responses and the referral to Kieth.

I contacted Kieth, a nice person to talk with and knowledgeable. He emailed drawings of his plates. They look good, better than the generic stuff out there. I especially like the design of the mid plate. I think I am going to use the steel mid plate so I don't have to use a spacer for the converter.

I will be sending the car off to the fabricator in April. He is going to smooth the firewall and inner fenders, install a manual rack and the engine plates and fab up a set of headers. I am leaning toward using the stiletto rack.

The engine is a 71 CJ block, 545 CI, ported BT heads, victor intake, 1150 dom. It should make a little power.

Staci

Not to hi jack your thread but can somebody please post a pic of there mid limiter set up.

Kieth made me a custom plate for my Mustang based off my design requirements. Really easy to work with on the design, it fits great and the price was good too.

these are when I was making mine. Pretty simple but it works. I plated the area I needed the mounts to be welded to. I welded 3/8" nuts to the back of the tabs to make installing the engine easier.

I was cruising the forum and found all of the nice comments.
Many forum members have my front and mid plates and also gone through the custom plate process with me.
If it has a BBF bolt pattern on it, and you can dream up a size and shape, I can make it.
As I bring the motor plate work to my own in-house CNC mill this year, it will make the process smoother.
Thank you all !
Keith Fulp
President - Keith Fulp Motorsports
678-458-2033

Keith, Why don't you get a CNC plas or laser. The thought of finding a source that could give me timely response for all my custom metal designs just gets me all giddy. lol.

Actually it is something I am investigating for myself.

Keith made me a plate while he was on vacation a few weeks ago...

[quote="HorsinAround"]Keith, Why don't you get a CNC plas or laser. The thought of finding a source that could give me timely response for all my custom metal designs just gets me all giddy. lol.

Actually it is something I am investigating for myself.[/quote

Allan,
The CNC Plasma machines are affordable and work for many things, but the finish lacks the appearance and precision that a laser has. A large production laser is over $200,000. The shop that lasers all of my parts currently is shopping for a new one in the $400,000 range.
I usually get fast turn around with my current vendor, who happens to be a buddy. He gives me a fair price and I have lots of flexibility and access to his shop. I will just keep outsourcing the laser work. There are several laser shops around here to choose from also.

I did recently purchase my own 3-axis CNC milling machine. It is a very heavy duty production machine that I rescued from repo and now have ready to run. It has a 40" X table travel, making it great for motor plates and mid plates. It has enough room for a BBF block. All along, I have been using the big 4-axis CNC mill at Engine Systems. He keeps it busy with engine block work, and some times I had to wait to use it. Now, I will be able to just walk out in to my own shop and whittle out parts instead of driving 40 miles.

Thanks,
Keith

Wheelie58 wrote:

HorsinAround wrote:Keith, Why don't you get a CNC plas or laser. The thought of finding a source that could give me timely response for all my custom metal designs just gets me all giddy. lol.

Actually it is something I am investigating for myself.[/quote

Allan,
The CNC Plasma machines are affordable and work for many things, but the finish lacks the appearance and precision that a laser has. A large production laser is over $200,000. The shop that lasers all of my parts currently is shopping for a new one in the $400,000 range.
I usually get fast turn around with my current vendor, who happens to be a buddy. He gives me a fair price and I have lots of flexibility and access to his shop. I will just keep outsourcing the laser work. There are several laser shops around here to choose from also.

I did recently purchase my own 3-axis CNC milling machine. It is a very heavy duty production machine that I rescued from repo and now have ready to run. It has a 40" X table travel, making it great for motor plates and mid plates. It has enough room for a BBF block. All along, I have been using the big 4-axis CNC mill at Engine Systems. He keeps it busy with engine block work, and some times I had to wait to use it. Now, I will be able to just walk out in to my own shop and whittle out parts instead of driving 40 miles.

Thanks,
Keith

That is good to know. We have 3 4 axis CNC mill's and 4 CNC wire edm's at work but it's difficult to get my projects in. For some reason they think production stuff comes first lol.

gmsmkr wrote: Not to hi jack your thread but can somebody please post a pic of there mid limiter set up.

Here is mine. Coan supplied the plate,spacers and all to attach the BBF-Powerglide.


Front plate is one of Keith's that he custom cut. Awesome piece.


Don't forget a limiter too.

That looks nice!
Thanks
Keith

That does look nice thanks for posting

Wheelie58 wrote:

HorsinAround wrote:Keith, Why don't you get a CNC plas or laser. The thought of finding a source that could give me timely response for all my custom metal designs just gets me all giddy. lol.

Actually it is something I am investigating for myself.[/quote

Allan,
The CNC Plasma machines are affordable and work for many things, but the finish lacks the appearance and precision that a laser has. A large production laser is over $200,000. The shop that lasers all of my parts currently is shopping for a new one in the $400,000 range.
I usually get fast turn around with my current vendor, who happens to be a buddy. He gives me a fair price and I have lots of flexibility and access to his shop. I will just keep outsourcing the laser work. There are several laser shops around here to choose from also.

I did recently purchase my own 3-axis CNC milling machine. It is a very heavy duty production machine that I rescued from repo and now have ready to run. It has a 40" X table travel, making it great for motor plates and mid plates. It has enough room for a BBF block. All along, I have been using the big 4-axis CNC mill at Engine Systems. He keeps it busy with engine block work, and some times I had to wait to use it. Now, I will be able to just walk out in to my own shop and whittle out parts instead of driving 40 miles.

Thanks,
Keith

8)Cool, maybe one day I'll have to get you to whittle out one like this for me.  

Doug,
That is a beautiful drawing!
Looks like like an aircraft person designed it....:-)
Keith

Doug Rahn wrote:

Wheelie58 wrote:

HorsinAround wrote:Keith, Why don't you get a CNC plas or laser. The thought of finding a source that could give me timely response for all my custom metal designs just gets me all giddy. lol.

Actually it is something I am investigating for myself.[/quote

Allan,
The CNC Plasma machines are affordable and work for many things, but the finish lacks the appearance and precision that a laser has. A large production laser is over $200,000. The shop that lasers all of my parts currently is shopping for a new one in the $400,000 range.
I usually get fast turn around with my current vendor, who happens to be a buddy. He gives me a fair price and I have lots of flexibility and access to his shop. I will just keep outsourcing the laser work. There are several laser shops around here to choose from also.

I did recently purchase my own 3-axis CNC milling machine. It is a very heavy duty production machine that I rescued from repo and now have ready to run. It has a 40" X table travel, making it great for motor plates and mid plates. It has enough room for a BBF block. All along, I have been using the big 4-axis CNC mill at Engine Systems. He keeps it busy with engine block work, and some times I had to wait to use it. Now, I will be able to just walk out in to my own shop and whittle out parts instead of driving 40 miles.

Thanks,
Keith

8)Cool, maybe one day I'll have to get you to whittle out one like this for me.  

I did have an Engineer friend at work help with the design, his numbers said it's just as strong as a solid plate, just lighter. Solid one would weigh 11.2 lbs. and my version weighs in at 7.7 lbs., plus mine looks cooler