Motor Plates?
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Joined: Jul 2002
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From: Out on the farm in Central IL
They make room to mount accessories, take stress off the K member, tie the frame halfs togther. The biggest benefit is that they take a lot of stress off of th block. You do not have the motor mount bolts distorting the cylinder walls.
Front plates are great up to about 700 RWHP. After that front and mid are needed. The Mid plate adds more structure to the motor and the trans.
Front plates are great up to about 700 RWHP. After that front and mid are needed. The Mid plate adds more structure to the motor and the trans.
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 30
Likes: 6
From: nj
in a road race /autocross application could you just use the front or would both be needed, what does the front plate weigh. and how much could you trim off the front plate and still have it be sound . the car makes 425rwhp
i got my madman plates the other day. i am a little weirded out that the only mounting point for them on the passenger side is the two holes for the water pump bolts. are we supposed to weld on another tab to hold the block lower on the plate at like where the a/c use to be? water pump holes are slightly off, but i think that's just me half assing the "line up" just for mock up purposes.
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They make room to mount accessories, take stress off the K member, tie the frame halfs togther. The biggest benefit is that they take a lot of stress off of th block. You do not have the motor mount bolts distorting the cylinder walls.
Front plates are great up to about 700 RWHP. After that front and mid are needed. The Mid plate adds more structure to the motor and the trans.
Front plates are great up to about 700 RWHP. After that front and mid are needed. The Mid plate adds more structure to the motor and the trans.
No mid plate, but it wouldnt allow the trans to drop more then 1/2 inch, it really sucked. We ended up getting it but makes a few other functions a PITA. Also all the vibrations are directly connected the car.
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One thing that is needed if you put just a front plate on is some torsiona support, the plate will stop the motor from moving side to side and rotating, but a torsional strap is needed to stop the motor from wanting to shift foreward and backwards, if you can weld the tabs on for the plate, you can make a torsional support, easily done from the tabs that usually support the a/c off the block on the passenger's side, that's where I put mine anyway. The only other way to aviod this is a solid tranny mount, but I have seen a couple too many tranny cases crack around a solid mount to want to do that, so I chose the torsional support bar instead.
The motor plate will also let you drop the k member without removing the motor, as others said it will tie the chassis together better, definately saves probably a good 10 lbs from the motor mounts, gets the load off the cylinder wall area of the block, makes mounting stuff like a vacum pump, belt driven fuel pump, or dry sumt pump easiser as well.
I can tell you that installing the biiger headers with a motor plate on the car is a breeze, I also feel that by doing this my car seemed to respond off the line a little quicker as well, seems like the whole drivetrain not twisting seems to have helped the way the car reacts. Stiffening up the front of the car may have done some of it too, but I woul dbe willing to bet this one change would probably effect the reaction time of the car a little bit.
The motor plate will also let you drop the k member without removing the motor, as others said it will tie the chassis together better, definately saves probably a good 10 lbs from the motor mounts, gets the load off the cylinder wall area of the block, makes mounting stuff like a vacum pump, belt driven fuel pump, or dry sumt pump easiser as well.
I can tell you that installing the biiger headers with a motor plate on the car is a breeze, I also feel that by doing this my car seemed to respond off the line a little quicker as well, seems like the whole drivetrain not twisting seems to have helped the way the car reacts. Stiffening up the front of the car may have done some of it too, but I woul dbe willing to bet this one change would probably effect the reaction time of the car a little bit.
ddddd One thing that is needed if you put just a front plate on is some torsiona support, the plate will stop the motor from moving side to side and rotating, but a torsional strap is needed to stop the motor from wanting to shift foreward and backwards, if you can weld the tabs on for the plate, you can make a torsional support, easily done from the tabs that usually support the a/c off the block on the passenger's side, that's where I put mine anyway. The only other way to aviod this is a solid tranny mount, but I have seen a couple too many tranny cases crack around a solid mount to want to do that, so I chose the torsional support bar instead.
The motor plate will also let you drop the k member without removing the motor, as others said it will tie the chassis together better, definately saves probably a good 10 lbs from the motor mounts, gets the load off the cylinder wall area of the block, makes mounting stuff like a vacum pump, belt driven fuel pump, or dry sumt pump easiser as well.
I can tell you that installing the biiger headers with a motor plate on the car is a breeze, I also feel that by doing this my car seemed to respond off the line a little quicker as well, seems like the whole drivetrain not twisting seems to have helped the way the car reacts. Stiffening up the front of the car may have done some of it too, but I woul dbe willing to bet this one change would probably effect the reaction time of the car a little bit.
The motor plate will also let you drop the k member without removing the motor, as others said it will tie the chassis together better, definately saves probably a good 10 lbs from the motor mounts, gets the load off the cylinder wall area of the block, makes mounting stuff like a vacum pump, belt driven fuel pump, or dry sumt pump easiser as well.
I can tell you that installing the biiger headers with a motor plate on the car is a breeze, I also feel that by doing this my car seemed to respond off the line a little quicker as well, seems like the whole drivetrain not twisting seems to have helped the way the car reacts. Stiffening up the front of the car may have done some of it too, but I woul dbe willing to bet this one change would probably effect the reaction time of the car a little bit.
I guess what i'm trying to clarify is if I put plates on an LS1 due to running Burkhart K Member, and then go to an LSX in a year or two. Will the motor plates need to be cut off and repositioned for the new motor?
Anyone have experience w/ this?
Anyone have experience w/ this?
I'm running an ls2 based 402. The mounting of the motor, as long as you stick with a regular lsx motor it will not need to be repositioned.
IF you know your existing motor mounts are goos (I had brand new ploy ones, so I know that they were good) I left the mtoor attached to those, attached the motor plate then used the plate up against the frame rails (actually a little bit off of the rails, but very close) and used that as a template to attach the tabs to the chassis. Once the tabs were welded on I pulled the motor mounts and stands off the k member/block and that was it.
I'm planning on a burkhart k member as well, when I redid my brake lines I ran them along the radiator support to go around to the passenger's side, now with the motor plate in the car I can drop teh k member and all the front suspension off the car without even having to disconnect a brake line, just have to hold the calipers up with a coat hangar and I can swap the whole k member, without having to bleed the brakes over, remove anything off the motor or any of that. The k member will drop right out, no problems
Also, the motor is not centered in the car, it is offset a little bit towards the passenger's side in these cars as an FYI, so if you go to mount the motor plates up and find that to be the case, don't be surprised. 2 sets of water pump gaskets seal it up fine, I used slilcone on the pump to the plate and it hasn't leaked a drop like that either.
If you have any more questions, lemme know.
IF you know your existing motor mounts are goos (I had brand new ploy ones, so I know that they were good) I left the mtoor attached to those, attached the motor plate then used the plate up against the frame rails (actually a little bit off of the rails, but very close) and used that as a template to attach the tabs to the chassis. Once the tabs were welded on I pulled the motor mounts and stands off the k member/block and that was it.
I'm planning on a burkhart k member as well, when I redid my brake lines I ran them along the radiator support to go around to the passenger's side, now with the motor plate in the car I can drop teh k member and all the front suspension off the car without even having to disconnect a brake line, just have to hold the calipers up with a coat hangar and I can swap the whole k member, without having to bleed the brakes over, remove anything off the motor or any of that. The k member will drop right out, no problems
Also, the motor is not centered in the car, it is offset a little bit towards the passenger's side in these cars as an FYI, so if you go to mount the motor plates up and find that to be the case, don't be surprised. 2 sets of water pump gaskets seal it up fine, I used slilcone on the pump to the plate and it hasn't leaked a drop like that either.
If you have any more questions, lemme know.
