silver01z6

Hello Everyone.

I am currently trying to connect the crossmember from AJE to the car and ran into this issue.

I have the Team Z motorsports K-member for a modular motor with stock 4.6 motor mounts on the engine.

Any ideas on why it is off this much?

N20neenee

iTrader: (3)

Is the shifter hitting the tunnel, mine did, the tunnel might have to be trimmed some to allow the shifter to come up thru the tunnel to allow the crossmember to bolt up

silver01z6

Unfortunately it is not. Do you think since I am using 4.6 mounts and a k-member designed for a 4.6 that has altered the angle now?

usdmholden

Yes. You are going to need to figure out where the motor or trans is hitting.

The 4.6 motor mounts and k member place the engine very high in the engine bay. There are several tabs on the sides of the T56 which will interfere with the trans tunnel on a manual trans chassis fox body if you are trying to use OEM style 4.6 mod motor mounts. I was unable to get the trans high enough to maintain a 3 degree inclination with the 4.6L k member and mounts. I ended up dropping the engine about 1.450" to get my LS1/T56 to set back at 3 degrees on a MM k member, and I plan to drop the whole thing down to about 1.800" total.

From the looks of your trans tunnel, I'm going to guess your car was a 4cyl automatic. The trans tunnels for 4cyl automatics were smaller than for T5 cars. I'm not sure if the 5.0 autos had the same trans tunnel as a T5 car. If this is the case, the getting a T56 in there in the position where the 4.6L mounts would put it will be challenging.

silver01z6

Thank you for the feedback. The car is an original 5.0 with an auto. I wish I had know about the trans tunnel difference between a manual verses auto beforehand.

What did you modify to drop the engine 1.450"? Did you shorten the motor mounts on the k-member for the difference?

Miles.

Why didn't you use the AJE k member and ls1 mounts?

silver01z6

The fitment of the AJE on my last mustang was not that great, and I did not want to deal with that issue again. Looks like I created more work for myself anyways I have Team Z's Ls k-member as well.

Looks like I will am going to modify the motor mounts on the k-member to adjust for the height.

usdmholden

I am doing several things:
1) made new motor mounts.
2) notch oil pan
3) made new trans cross member
4) building headers
5) had to cut MAP sensor fitting off the back of the intake because there is not enough firewall clearance, am relocating MAP and am making an plug for the back of the intake
6) had to hammer firewall behind pass side cylinder head (mostly for clearance to be able to drop LS1 / T56 in as an assembly and because engine is .600" behind "stock" location)

My original mounts, which were too tall, were CJ Pony Parts cheapo solid mounts for a 4.6L. Originally I cut them and welded on angle steel to remove the long leg and eliminate the need for adapter plates. My second iteration of motor mounts are angle steel and 3/8" bar stock which I milled in the Bridgeport to make my own mounts. The second iteration mounts set the engine down 1.447" (+/- whatever that's why I said 1.450" previously) and set the engine back .600" (it was about .180" forward of "stock" location with the old mounts prior). By eliminating the 5/16" adapter plates and decreasing the height of the motor mounts, they sum to drop the engine about 1.450" from where it would have been.

I do not believe my oil pan notch is in the typical place that everyone else notches. It is in the front portion of the pan directly above the windage tray. There is about .107" clearance between the windage tray and the angle aluminum which creates the notch.

I had to make a trans cross member to fit. Really it's just the stock cross member, extended such that I can run exhaust through the humps like the OEM setup does. All the steel channels I used are boxed at this point for stiffness (not shown in pic). I can fit a 4" diameter tube with enough clearance to get my fingers all the way around the tubes, without hanging low, but I only plan to run a 3" tube. I just had left over 4" mandrels sitting around to test with.

Moving the engine back makes the stock LS1 intake manifold not fit. The MAP port hits the firewall. I cut the MAP port off and am relocating the MAP. Eventually I will run an Edelbrock Pro Flo XT 7140 intake, and the engine is now low enough that it will fit under the stock hood. Pro Flo XT has a relocated MAP so I don't care about cutting the mostly undesirable OEM LS1 intake manifold.

Let's be realistic here, no swap headers are going to fit this, so I'm building my own.

I believe most Mustang swaps need to have the firewall hammered, but this is the only one I've done so I really don't know.

To drop the engine down to roughly 1.800", I cam going to run .500" k member spacers, and move the engine upwards .150" with spacers between the motor mounts and k member. This will give me more clearance between the oil pan notch and the steering rack. Right now my steering rack is set upwards .250" using the MM bumpsteer kit. I am hoping to get to the .375" bumpsteer setting while still gaining space between the Edelbrock 7140 intake and stock hood. As of now though, my hood closes with clearance above the 7140 mock up I built (4x4 and 2x4 lumber) for testing.

Anyway, maybe this is more than you expected. I guess I need to do a build thread, I've been working on this project a few nights a week, after the kids go to bed, since about May.

silver01z6

Thank you usdmholden for your in depth description of the work you are performing on your car.

Are you using the stock k-member on your car(What year is your Car)? Did you designed your motor mounts for a solid application and have plans on using the Edelbrock Pro Flo XT 7140 intake from the beginning?

I was able to drop the engine and trans as an assembly into the car. The angle was extreme and the rear passenger cylinder did hit the firewall.

I have include a pic of the clearance of the passenger cylinder head and firewall without any modifications to the firewall.

usdmholden

My car is a 91 hatch, which I have daily driven since about 2009. It was a 2.3L T5 originally.

I have a Maximum Motorsports mod motor swap k member and front end kit. I did not have plans to run the Edelbrock 7140 from the beginning. I redesigned the mounts to drop the engine and move it back as far as possible because I want the mass center as far back and as low as possible. After working on the car for a couple months (a couple hours 3-4 nights per week) I ended up realizing I would like whatever intake I upgrade to in the future to fit under a stock hood, and also that the FAST intakes are really expensive. The Edelbrock intakes do not have the MAP port in the back, which is also a requirement for me, since the MAP port won't fit. The FAST LSXRT will also fit under the stock hood, and does not have the MAP port in the back, granted it's twice the price of the Edelbrock.

Drop the intake on your engine and make sure the MAP port on the back doesn't hit the firewall. I believe this is where people normally hammer for the 4.6L k member swap cars, but again, I don't know 100%. I attached a pic of the clearance between my intake and the firewall after the MAP port had been removed. I can get my fingers between them, and according to my calipers, my fingers are just over .700" thick.

I also had the rear of the pass side head hit the bump out on the firewall shown in your pictures. I hammered that bump out so it is nearly flat. Your pic shows alot more clearance behind the pass side head and the firewall than my car had. Probably due to differences in the k members? However, after looking at your pictures, I'm wondering if I got my calculation and measurements wrong, because setting my engine back only .600" should provide alot more firewall clearance than I actually have. I'll have to check later, I'm wondering if it's actually back farther than I wrote down originally.

The engine in my car is shifted more towards the pass side than yours looks to be. Unfortunately I don't have a good pic of it, I could take one tomorrow night. My engine is shifted mostly because of the 2.3L brake booster diameter being much larger than the 5.0 brake booster diameter. Also, the Ford engines were offset from the factory, and the MM k member copies the location.

silver01z6

I'll will pick up the ls3 intake and turbos next Tuesday so I can check the clearances. I am expecting Stainless steel works up and forward headers this Friday(Can't Wait).

I took two more pictures with a tape measure because I would like to compare the clearances from the back of the engine to firewall and valley to the pinch weld of the firewall to yours. It looks like I should clear the stock hood without any issues using the stock intake.

I have the brake master cylinder from a 2003 Cobra in the car for extra clearance when I mount those headers this weekend.

usdmholden

I didn't see the hydraboost setup in your previous pics. You have a ton of clearance on the driver side there. I have only a small amount of clearance between the #7 coil and the 2.3L booster. I could not get my fingers between them with the old motor mounts, but I can with the new mounts. The pic shows the old "high and forward" motor mounts.

The LS car intake will fit under a stock hood, no problem at all. I doubt the top of the intake runners will even go above the pinch weld.

I pulled the engine out of mine last week and dropped the engine crane off at my dad's house so he could replace the long block on his Ranger. My engine is on a stand right now and I'm replacing seals, oil pump, and timing chain. I can get those pics you are asking for, but it will probably take a week. I forgot about that when I offered to take a picture of the engine offset this evening, sorry about that.

However, I do have some other pics which may give you some reference. Take a look at the two pics of the bolt hole which is highlighted in red, that bolt hole sits just forward of the highest point on the steering rack. The yellow line in the other picture sits nearly exactly above the highest point on the steering rack. The crankshaft picture shows the clearance between the connecting rod bolt and the steering rack. At one point I actually got worried about how much oil pan notch was required and whether or not my con rods would hit the steering rack.

silver01z6

The stainless steel header arrived today, but the passenger side is hitting the strut tower.

I may send them back and bring the car down to a fabrication shop to have some custom headers made for this application.

silver01z6

A little update on the turbo headers. These were fabricated by Justin at Samberg Performance. I have not seen them in person just yet, but I am very pleased so far. Now its time to order the cold and hot side piping.