unbolt the motor mounts and leave the front have of the bolt in the mount...put a jack with wood under the pan and lower the back...

 

I'd lose the solid motor mounts, and just motor plate the car. Then the motor can sit in the right spot.

I tried putting the solid mounts on my car before I went with a motor plate, it did the same thing said above, raised the motor up, and that was no good with the big headers I have on the car. Motor plate was simple, I put the thing on the motor with the poly mounts and tranny all in and in place, then just had the tabs welded onto the frame so the motor was for sure in the same spot. No issues, and if I want to lower the motor to get to the tranny bolts, I can just support the pan with a 2x4 on the jack, unbolt the 4 bolts holding the plate to the frame rails and lower it down on the jack, and bolt it back up with the upper plate holes and lower tab holes (roughly 2 inches apart) Headers have to come out to do it, but only because I still have the stock K member. The racecraft one that's going in soon will leave enough room to do this without removing anything

 

the bolts that bolt the mounts to the k member are the ones i was talking about. if you loosen the front bolts till they are almost out and the back bolts about a 1/2 inch you can let the motor tilt down just like a regular mount would. i wouldn't let it hang on the mounts though, i use a scissor jack to support it so the weight isn't on loose bolts. i've had my tranny out 3 times working in the driveway since the solids went in. it is possible to get at them without cutting or beating on the firewall

 

With our motor plates and K member it is easy. I just undo the V Band flanges to off the collectors and then take out the motor plate bolts. Then undo the cross member and support the trans with a jack. The motor will tilt and give me easy access to the bolts.

 

Sorry, I didn't make any holes. I was just discussing the dash removal.

 

Guys do make holes in there for quick tranny removal at the track, just depends on what you need. Don't know I would do that for a street car.

 

Well, what I do on a car if I drill teh holes, is I take rubber plugs to plug them back up...no biggie.

Also, I am actually in this same "build" part right now as well, as we speak, on a customers car.

Doing a clutch replacement, got his stock bell off, and was cracked in 2 places. So, I put on a Mcleod SFI, and while I have been through this before, never any fun, but what I do is:

Take a long pry bar, and sandwich it between firewall and bellhousing (put bellhousing on, and bolt it up with teh bolts that are easy to go in so it will be held in place) And then just take some time, and massage teh hell out of the firewall. Sometimes (not this time though) I will have a person pull on teh pry bar to move the motor down (this is with rubber mounts though) and hold that while I use a long extension and wobble socket, and done deal.

Now, on a customers car, and if he gives me OK, we will drop KMember or pull dash, depending on how I am feeling. Also, if it is an immaculate car I am working on, I normally do NOT pull teh dash though. And we will drill access holes.

But most times, we just massage teh firewall to gain access to them though