| One of the few very good decisions I have made during this project
so far was the decision to use a plastic replica engine for the purpose
of a full scale mockup prior to installing the actual engine. I
ordered a 350 Chevrolet long block replica engine from
P-ayr Products for $300 + $25
shipping. The replica is exact in every dimension and is
constructed of a plastic-foam material with threaded inserts in all the
correct locations and sizes. |
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| To the replica I attached a couple of pieces of
light square stock. I
then fashioned a simple mockup of the bellhousing, transmission, and
adapter by cutting a notch in a piece of angle Iron, bending it to 90
degrees square, and clamping then welding it. This
piece of angle iron was then welded to the two pieces of square tubing
to closely approximate the location of the transmission mount. The light weight of the replica engine
and angle iron transmission allowed me to place it in,
and take it out of the van dozens of times without any real effort or risk of
injury. |
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| The mounts on the universal fit crossmember appeared to be to weak
for any size engine even though the guy at the hotrod shop said it would
stand up to a big block. I reinforced the mounts by adding a
larger piece of 1/4" steel plate to each end of the mount.
The setup is now ready to place in the engine bay for some initial
measurments. |
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| In order to make installation and removal of the 350 as simple as
possible I figured a simple pair of brackets welded to the crossmember
with a pair of bolt-on casters would allow the eng to be rolled in and
out easily (a third caster was to be affixed to a plate that would bolt
to the bellhousing). But it turns out that one of the things I was
to discover in one of the subsequent mockups was that there might not be
enough room for the crossmember to clear the front driveshaft, let alone
a bracket. Sure wish I had figured that out before I welded them
on! |
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| A simple setup to hold the replica engine in place without using the
engine hoist was used for awhile but proved to be more of a hassle than
simply placing the replica on the floor jack. The setup consisted
of a 2x4 cut just long enough to fit on the lips on either side of the
roof, the U-bolts from the front axle, the engine load leveler, and some
cotton rope. |
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| It appeared that I was going to have a very easy time installing the
transmission from the initial couple of mockups because it appeared that
the distance I needed to move the engine back was the same as the
difference between the two stock crossmember mounting locations. I cut out a
simple cardboard cut out that matched the profile of the transmission
and bellhousing, and taped it to the angle iron. It looked like
all I would have to do is move the stock transmission crossmember back
six or eight inches and drill two holes to bolt the new mount to.
There are two sets of mounting holes on the cross member and on the
frame so moving the crossmember back that distance was very easy. |
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| It was at this point that I realized that the angle iron mount was
exact in every dimension except that I neglected to add in the height of
the rubber transmission mount (about two inches). When this extra
height was added, there was
no longer room for the Advance Adapter plate to sit atop the stock
crossmember. To compensate for this I moved
the crossmember back to its original position and made a
simple bracket
out of steel plate and angle iron that effectively eliminated the added
height of the rubber mount by bolting under the crossmember rather than
on top of it. |
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| The temp bracket allows me to keep the engine as far back in the
compartment as possible and allows clearance for the floor. Shown
here with th actual drivetrain parts installed. A new crossmember
is needed because the weight is essentially at the end of a
short lever arm, the crossmember can easily be made to twist.
Another problem with this setup is that most of the load is on
the two bolts towards the rear. A side view can be seen
here. |
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| The final mockup for the engine mounting location was done with the
actual transmission and bellhousing. The placement of the new
mount is perfect. The driveline angles down towards the rear, and
there is about an inch between the rear of the engine compartment and
the bellhousing. I checked for clearance all around, paying
particular attention to the exhaust. I checked for clearance
between the distributor and rear of the engine compartment and was
satisfied with it, but later on I'd find it to be a little closer than I
intended. |
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