Tried getting my engine/trans in today...no dice. Suggestions?
10-07-2011, 06:22 PM
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Tried getting my engine/trans in today...no dice. Suggestions? Carbed 5.3/th350 going into a 79 Malibu. I'm using the stock motor mounts and sbc clamshells along with my adapter plates. The problem I ran into was that the clamshells did not want to line up/set down on the mounts. When the clamshells are mounted to the adapter plates they are ~17 1/4" from the middle of the hole to the middle of the hole; the motor mounts on the frame are ~16 1/4" from middle of hole to middle of hole. Long story short, my mounted clamshells are too wide to fit down on the mounts where they should. Anybody ever run across this problem? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I'm at a loss...Adapter plates are 1/2" thick, thought maybe they were too thick causing the geometry problem, but even if they were 1/4" that would only buy me half an inch. I'm stumped.
I thought about widening the holes or drilling new ones in the clamshell, but due to the 'ears' on the shell and the way they sit down in the rubbers in the mounts I would have to mangle them up pretty good to make them work.
I thought about widening the holes or drilling new ones in the clamshell, but due to the 'ears' on the shell and the way they sit down in the rubbers in the mounts I would have to mangle them up pretty good to make them work.
10-07-2011, 08:25 PM
#2
What plates are you using? I thought my setup was too wide too, but when I pinned one side then cranked on the back of the motor with the cherry-picker, everything rotated into place perfectly. I used edelbrock plates and a set of energy suspension poly clamshells.
10-07-2011, 09:11 PM
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I'm using some made by a guy over on maliburacing.com. The thing about them is that they're 1/2" thick which makes me think they are the culprit throwing it off. I could be wrong as I don't know what the thickness is of other plates; this thickness might be the norm.
I had one side in as well, and the engine was a little cocked, but I tried just about every which way and it wouldn't go. I'm just using the stock mounts, stock shells, and the adapter plates.
I just can't find barely any people who had this problem and/or how to fix it.
I had one side in as well, and the engine was a little cocked, but I tried just about every which way and it wouldn't go. I'm just using the stock mounts, stock shells, and the adapter plates.
I just can't find barely any people who had this problem and/or how to fix it.
10-08-2011, 01:22 PM
#4
I had some pretty thick adapters too. About 3/8-1/2 inch thick. I did like mentioned above and it settled into place. May have to loosen the frame mounts a little and tighten them up when you get the motor mounts on(if possible). I had to do that with the LT1 to LS F-body swap I think, I know I did for sure on the v8 s10 swap.
10-08-2011, 05:38 PM
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Got it in! Had to drill out some new holes (tack welded on some little pieces of plate for some extra rigidity) on the shells and ground down some of the ears that were causing me problems.