The front bar is hardly a xmember..
If we did it again we would just weld another bar infront and cut the old one out and tidy up so its not noticable... In the pics and engine above..
This car is turbocharged runing 270 rwkw with C4 ..
Btw my Turbo V8 only uses the top part or engine bolts on bellhousing as std.. It has 483 rwkw with manual trans.. It has NO issues in this area.. Both a*** are engineered...

Actually, thinking again, surely the engine's torque is transmitted to the
chassis via the engine mounts, and through the gearbox shafts and
innards. If this is true the engine's torque, even a hot engine's torque,
wouldn't put any great strain on the bellhousing bolts.


Looking again at the supplied photo, i can't see the braces that are
normally on the EA to EL motors. Did the AU replace these with the
extended sump?

It would be a shame for me to buy an AU bellhousing then have the
gearbox die in the near future and end up buying another gearbox which
would likely have another bellhousing on it.

After some mulling i am now thinking i will use my EB bellhousing mated
to the AU motor, as per EBXR8380's photo with the red bolts. Although, i
will also conside fitting the braces as well, i have a spare pair so would be
okay about trimming and drilling them. Thanks EBXR8380.

I'm still welding mod's to the front 'crossmember' though, particularly for
off road use.