Jason454

I'm ready to weld my motor mounts in a 40 ford. I noticed in pictures of stock silverados the back of the valve cover is lower than the front. Is it about 5 degrees?

Jason454

I'm putting a truck 5.3/4l60e in a 40 ford coupe.

i r teh noobz

iTrader: (4)

3-5 degrees is the general spec. I think mine sits about 5.

Jason454

I have mine mocked and ready to weld. Its at 4. I was thinking it looked right just wanted to be sure. Thanks

Prorac1

iTrader: (4)

Ill also confirm. The general spec is 3-5 degrees of lay back. Eric L

Toddoky

The degree at which allows you to acheive proper U-joint working angles is what you are shooting for here. Settling on some arbatrary degree between 3 and 5 degrees is in no way going to tell you what those are, you need to get under your vehicle with it sitting at its final ride height/stance and start taking pinion and engine inclination measurements to determine where it needs to be. The engine inclination angle and pinion angle should match within 1/2 a degree (unless you are building a dedicated drag race car that can benfit from a few more degrees of static pinion down angle) and the U-joint working angles should be more than 1/2 a degree and less than 3 degrees for proper joint operation and designed lifecycle.

69 Ghost

The general rule of thumb is all motors are placed at a 3 degree angle down. The rearend 3 degrees up. Measurements should be taken on level ground. You should be not be off more than 1 degree.

http://www2.dana.com/pdf/J3311-1-DSSP.pdf

bczee

iTrader: (12)

As far as correct driveline angle.. it is more than just setting the engine at 3-5 degree.. the engine/trans angle need to work along with the rear end pinion angle (as Toddoky stated). If you are un-aware with this, suggest you do a Google search on "Correct Driveline Angle". You will find many articles on it.

Tip.. if your car is lowered and you have a hard time getting under the car.. the engine / trans angle can be checked by measuring the crank stout / Balancer as it is in direct line with the output of the Trans output shaft (which is where everyone measures).

Prorac1

iTrader: (4)

My reason for this spec is that you have to start somewhere. I have always set the motor and transmission at a specific spec and adjusted pinion angle accordingly. Again, you have to start somewhere. Eric L

Toddoky

The closer you can get to 3 degrees to use as your "starting point" as you say the better. Trust me on this one, you don't want to start at 5 degrees engine inclination angle as some rear pinions are a P.I.T.A to get more than 1 or 2 degrees of adjustment out of them.

Jason454

I'm building the suspension from scratch so no problem setting the pinon angle. Its triangulated 4-link with air ride. Thanks for the help.

Toddoky

That adjustment will allow you to get the U-joint angles the same within 1/2 a degree as you should, but you still need to ensure the working angles of the U-joints will be at least 1/2 a degree and less than 3 degrees. Proceed with determination to measure all these angles BEFORE you do any final welding of your mounts or you may end up spewing a few curse words before your swap is done.