I had a minor setback on the car. The trans. crossmember fell out!
The welds holding one side were bad, and had been that way for a long time. In this car, the front and rear motor plates hold all of the weight of the engine and transmission. There is very little downward force on the trans. mount (at least with the low power engine that the past owner had in the car). I spent the last two days fabricating a new cross member and I am still working on mounting it. That left side header that I said should not have to come out, well, it must come out to do the welding on the crossmember attachments and the frame.
Thanks to Reggie Jackson, who talked me into replacing everything under there and reinforcing the frame where the old one was attached, I will be much safer and everything will be rigid. Reggie did a quick inspection of a lot of the welds under the car. One of his (many) jobs at the Nuclear Plant is welding inspection and approving welding packages.
When the power of this 555 hits the slicks, I expect the front end to come up (hopefully not too much) and there will be some downward force on that transmission mount and crossmember.