913MOTOR

iTrader: (1)

When you do a motor/mid plate setup, obviously the front is bolted to the motor and the mid plate goes between the motor and transmission? I see the one offered by madman is just a flat plate that bolts in and is then welded to the car right? When setup do you have the motor in place on the factory mounts and then take them out once it is bolted in place with the plates? Forgive me for my newb questions, just trying to get an idea of the drag setups. I am trying to get my chassis ready and like hands on fab work.

Steve Burger

iTrader: (33)

No need to use the factory mounts. We go off the trans mount. Get the plates bolted on and mount the motor and trans, This will assist with placement of the front plate. Your way will work too but may be a lot more work. Check our site to see the way we mount the mid plate. There are a lot of pics of my car in the gallery section.

JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

I did it like the OP has it. Motor was already in the car, so I bolted up the plate, had the tabs welded on the chassis, then just unbolted the motor mounts.

This way I was 100% sure the motor was in teh same location front to back, and side to side as factory.

Steve's way, if the motor isn't in the car works best. Just bolt a dummy block to your tranny, bolt the tranny into it's mount, then get the motor set at the correct driveline angle, attach plates, mark chassis for tab location (tack them in whatever) and then get the plates out of the way and weld.

913MOTOR

iTrader: (1)

So steve, the tube that you supply for the mid plate, is it bolted to tabs like front plates? Seems like you could weld the cross bar to the car, make a tab on the bar and on the frame rails and make it bolt in so the engine and transmission can still be removed as one.

When using the motor/mid plate and urethane trans mount combo, is it still neccessary to use some kind of lateral mount to keep it from moving front and back?

JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

If you have a motor and mid plate no. If you have just a motor plate (front plate) on the motor, then yes you will need to put some lateral support on the motor. The a/c bracket location works good for this, diag. bar from there to the frame rail is what I did and it's worked out good.

Steve Burger

iTrader: (33)

The cross bar is weld in. It will still allow the motor and trans to go in as one. I have pulled mine a few times that way. With the stock core support the balancer tends to be a pain to manuver in but outside of that it is easy.

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

i didnt want my stuff in stock location.... i wanted it even side to side and as far back as possible....

JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

You're on a BBC though, you need to shift that back... pretty much against the firewall farther if possible just because of the weight/length of the motor.

As for the side to side, We've played with that in the past, didn't like what it did moving the motor to the center of the car.

There's a million people that will give you a reason for one working better then the other, so that being said I'm not for or against either way.

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

we set the driveline angle as straight as possible up and down and side to side... that was the main reason... lowered the motor and leveled it and all that jazz.... an inch one way or the other makes a big difference in corner weights too...

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

while your at it if your putting M-plates in you might as well cut the top of the core support and make it removable... you'll thank me later.

JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

Just cut the entire cor support upper and lower off and stuff the radiator up in the nose if you can. That way you can leave it in when you pull the motor, and with the upper support gone, the whole motor/tranny can come out as one piece.

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

easy cheezy

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

mine is not near as far back as i've seen madman put his or stenods... but they are some talented SOB's and have time to do it... they'll put the midplate mounts inside the firewall or behind it and make sheet metal adjustments around it.... mine is by far the generic "quick" version

but i also wont shed a tear if i put mine in the wall

Steve Burger

iTrader: (33)

That's how we are hanging the midplate. 2 bolts and the midplate is loose.

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

it does make for good header clearance and simplicity... i did put a travel limiter on the motor since i only hung the midplate with 2 bolts.

913MOTOR

iTrader: (1)

So the midplate is only bolted to the top of the bar that runs across? I figured that you would weld on some tabs like the front plate and attach at all three points.

I am planning on doing the tubular front rad support that can be removed. Its going to be similar that black camaro that Pharroh performace did. Make the front nose suppost and upper radiator all one unboltable piece.

Is scaling the car as neccessary for drag as in road racing? Can it be benefitted by lowering the motor or moving it back, side to side. I have plenty of time to play with the car and a waterjet to cut my plates and tabs, so I can basically cut the plates to move the motor around.

ty_ty13

iTrader: (42)

you can use the ears on the midplate... most people do but we were limited on clearance with the headers he used so we nipped the ears off and put a motor limiter on it and called it good.

913MOTOR

iTrader: (1)

Another question I still have lingering, since the midplate is .100 to .125 depending your sheet of steel, do you have to use washers to get the convertor to sit in all the way down on the input shaft?

JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

Uaually the converter is built knowing that you are going to use the plate, then they change the spacing on it so it will work.

Chances are you will need to call the converter company, and have it modified for the change in spacing due to the mid plate.

koolrayz

iTrader: (26)

I currently still use the factory style poly motor mounts.
What about just adding the front plate and keeping the motor mounts?
It looks like the location of the midplate would interfere with my fuel lines and regulator. I would have to cut the side mounts off for my down pipe to clear anyway so it would still have to have a motor limiter. If I kept the existing motor mounts it would still be easy to pull the motor in one piece.