Nothing like resurrecting a 13 year old post! Happened upon this as I was looking to see if anyone did mention a prefabricated connector.

I did the exact same thing in my few hundred year old house. Ripped out a very long wall, and fashioned a 3' tall LVL perfectly against the upstairs kneewall. Bolted the remainder of the studs to the beam, and fashioned some hangars from a 50' roll of Simpson strapping allllll the way from the top of the beam, around the joist and stud, to the top of the beam on the other side.

Some photos of the monster beam, as well as the custom fasteners ( you can see them wrapped around both the floor/ceiling joist as well as the stud).

Custom fasteners = measuring and bending per stud. Wife and I made them ourselves.
https://www.homeownershub.com/img/15om
https://www.homeownershub.com/img/15oo

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