Well, my LS1 is bolted into my 68, but it's coming back out to get rid of the friggin Hooker mount plates. I had read that the Hooker plates put the engine really close to the firewall, but this is ridiculous! I've got about 1/4" of clearance between the heads and the firewall--not even enough room to run a small piece of split tubing around the back of the head. So what mount plates should I get now? Will ATS plates work with my Autokraft pan and Hooker Supercomps? How much head-to-firewall clearance will I have witht he ATS plates?

A note to anyone who really wants to run the Hooker plates: it's not possible to get the engine far enough back to drop it down on the stands while a non-AC small-block heater core and/or wiper motor are still installed. Remove both before starting or you'll be replacing them... fortunately I was planning to eventually do a Vintage Air system and replace the wiper motor, so no huge loss to me (and not like I drive this car in the rain anyway).

 

Rodder - With the Hooker mounts, does it look like the stock F-body oil pan would clear the steering linkage. By the way, how do you like the Autocraft pan.

 

If you have an Autokraft pan, try the new Autokraft mount adapters. They just came in last week. I dont know what they look like, but Kurt said they are a billet aluminum design. I should have pics by the end of this week when mine arrive.

 

Rodder--- So what mount plates should I get now?

rodder,
save your money and make your own. all you really need is a piece of 1/4'' steel and a drill. the mounts can be made really simple or quite complex. there are a few templets on the web. here is a templete that i got off the web and then gave it my own touch(added some curves and text). it works very well and the motor sits about 1.5'' from the firewall. should be about the same as the s&p mounts. i cut mine on my cnc plasma table and i will post pics of them soon,( mounted in the car currently!! )

the ls1 pan will not clear the linkage(unless you notch it of course). i tested this while fitting my motor by placing the motor against the firewall. it will still touch the linkage.

chrisp3

 

I had the hooker plates sent them back. Same reason. Went with S&P
mounts,oil pan and Hooker headers everything fit good. Had to dent the drivers
side tube slightly and grind about 3/16th off the pitman arm

 

Thanks for the input. I had previous fabricated adapters out of 1/4" steel based on the S&P dimensions. A trial fit with a Unisteer rack showed that I needed approximately 1 1/8" - 1 3/16" of additional clearance for the oil pan. Another post in this forum stated the Hooker adapters sets the motor back 1 3/16" further back then the S&P style. So it appears that the stock F-body pan may clear the rack setup with the Hooker type setup. Any out there tried this combo? I haven't had the time to do anywork on the vehicle this year and just wanted to get things set for when I am able to make the time.

 

Would it fit alright in my car with the smoothed off firewall? I'd really like to get the motor as close as possible for some crazy reason. As far as the wiper motor you can still drive your car in the rain. Go to www.pro-touring.com and check out the body section. search for wiper motor. some guys on there are doing a reverse motor conversion. I think they get a different motor out of a ricer or some small car.

 

I just sent back a set of Hookers also. Their tech support was a joke and the fitment was horrible. I've never used S+P, but I've had good experiences with parts from ATS and BRP.

 

X-sprint: I like the Autokraft pan so far, it looks great on the engine stand ;-). I haven't fired the engine yet so I don't know how it'll function and hold up. Looks very well made so I'm expecting it to hold up pretty well. I don't know if an uncut stock pan will work with the Hooker mounts and stock steering or not. At the very least you'd have to pull the center drag link to get the motor to drop in--it was a tight fit angling my Autokraft pan past the drag link. I've never read anything good about rack conversions for first gens (other than a full Wayne Due subframe), so I just put a good AGR fast ratio box in it. But if you want to try the Hooker plates, I've got a set I'll sell you really cheap as soon as I get the off . Already modified to work with Energy Suspensions mounts too! (don't think Jegs will take 'em back...)

Chrisp: If I still had a vertical mill I'd probably do it. Sawzall and a hand drill are too much of headache for something that needs to actually fit.

topless69: where'd you have to grind on the pitman arm and which arm are you using? I'm using a 5-3/8 arm (new one from Rick's, same length as my original one) instead of the 5-7/8 Moog arm.

68LS1WANNABE: I not sure smoothing the firewall would make much difference unless you cut the whole thing out and moved it back. It's tight on both sides, not just the heater core area.

Whistler: mine fit OK other than firewall clearance. Mine look like they were hand cut/ground, so wouldn't surprise me if there was a lot of variance. Not the first time I've been screwed by Hooker... last time was headers for a '91 GMC C2500 pickup, the collectors were exactly in the middle of where the trans crossmember should be so I had to fab a new trans crossmember for it (not a big deal at the time since I was doing major frame mods to fit 13" diameter x 6ft CNG tanks under it). I'll learn my lesson eventually.

 

Rodder - Thanks for your input.

 

OK, so I bought the autokraft plates and put them on today. If I follow the stampings for drive and pass side, it puts the engine mounts upside down, and they won't fit on the stands. Anyone else using the Autokraft mounts? Are the mounts supposed to be upside down? I'll call Kurt on Monday if nobody knows, but would be nice to get the engine and crossmember bolted in this weekend.

 

You have them upside down. The 3 bolt mount needs to have the 2 bolts at the top.

Andrew

 

Rodder

i sent you a PM about the Hooker mounts. I am interested in them.
thanks
chris

 

Check the thickness of the plates.


Tyler

Edit:
I Have an idea why they don't fit into the chassis, but I'll give Kurt at Autocraft a chance to answer questions about his engine plates.

 

Hola Tyler. They're about .445 (can't get calipers on one right now, but a 7/16 open-end fits the plate pretty well).

 

I had the same problem. On the energy poly mount there is a .5" lip that I had to cut of off the passenger side mount. I have the ATS plates.

I can see the motor mount (the gold lip) hitting the frame stand in your picture.

 

Thanks Alky. Got the same advice from Tyler last night. Beer and wings were calling my name tonight so I'll have to wait until tomorrow night to give it a try. The lip was actually my 2nd problem. 1st was that I was using the pre-load plates that came with the Energy Suspension mounts--the Autokraft plates didn't come with instructions so I didn't know to toss them. Kurt at Autokraft blamed the need to grind the mount on 327 stands vs 350 stands, but he wasn't quite sure which were which. I researched that this afternoon and it looks like all 67-68 small-block used the same stands as 69 327's, and 69 302/350 had a different shorter stand. Mine are '68 327 stands. The 69 302/350 stands are shorter and have four "dimples" on top. Hopefully I'll just grind the mount and be done with it.

 

I got a '69 camaro that had a sbc in it. I don't know exactly what cubic inch engine was origanally in there. But cutting of that lip did the trick. And, that is correct, no backing plates on the poly mounts.

 

You should be able to get it in there without destroying the firewall. I have a 67 6 cylinder car that I use stock style 350 engine mounts on. It cleared my stock steering with a stock Camaro LS1 oil pan and i have pleanty of firewall clearance. I've got headers in there too, stainless works i think made them? I forget. I apologize for these pictures sucking...




As for the motor mounts, the suggestions here are completely right. I ended up grinding a little off my plates and having to grand the tab off the motor mount itself that you're speaking of. Once I did the little bit of grinding, it fit like a glove. For some reason, your pictures look like the motor is sitting too high in the engine compartment. I couldn't fit my stock alternator brackets because the alternator was sitting on the crossmember, is your alternator holding your motor from sitting all the way down? As you can see I ended up making my own bracket and moving the power steering pump to make the accessories fit.

 

i885744 - What mount adapters are you using to clear the steering linkages with a stock F-body pan. Also how close to the firewall did you end up? Thanks.