Marks V8 Adapter: Motor Mount placement

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Got Some Parts!

OK, Parts are here (well almost all of them) T/O Bearing Assembly is backordered but I can still do some work. Here are pics of a clean frame (no front mounts), the Marks that I already had, and the parts that arrived today.
 
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Pig Progress

OK, I'm making progress and REALLY getting to know my PIG! I got the Motor, Marks Adapter, and stock bellhousing in the 55 today for some positioning and "mock up" and discovered when using the Mark's with the stock bellhousing and 55 mounts that the engine is offset towards the driver's side about 2 1/2 ". I'm going to have some mild steering and motor mount issues (I posted about this in the 40 & 55 Tech) but I have a lot of room for the distributor at the firewall.
 
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Howdy! good to hear/see your making progress. Looks like your motor placement is about the same as mine. Make sure you will have plenty of space for the radiator fan, as mine is a bit close. You probably will not have room for a fan clutch. There is no easy way to move the radiator forward, away from the engine, so measure carefully. John
 
Marks

I really don't have a choice on how far forward the engine goes because of the fact the Marks is mated to a stock 4-speed bellhousing shich in turn has stock mounts to the rear donut mounts. So in other words there is no wiggle room or adjustment forward. Motor mounts were welded in today and I hope to get the whole drivetrain back in it this weekend.
 
Marks

Got the motor/Marks/transmission installed and bolted up today. The shifter as well as both driveshafts are in perfect location and unchanged. I'll post up some pics tomorrow, I'm too tired out right now.
 
Nice work! I'll be looking forward to more pics. Looks like the mounting stuff went great, I'm encouraged for my swap when it happens.

Now on to Rad stuff. Good luck, and thanks for keeping us on the board in the loop.
 
Looks awesome! One thing I'm curious about is the distance between the block/heads and the frame raila and steering stuff on the drivers side, I know it's offset to that side, wondering if there will be any fitment issues with exhaust manifiold on that side.

What exhaust are you using?
 
Marks Adapter

I'm still in the process of deciding which exhaust but I probably will use center dump "ram horn" style manifolds. I put the steering shaft in ther a mock up and had to cut some of the motor mount off but it will work fine. I do have a Saginaw Power Steering box mounted way forward. I'll take pics when I decide on exhaust.
 
Thx mtrdud,

I'll be curious to see the pics. I plan on running my stock FJ55 PS gear...Mounts right up tp the schock tower, just like the non PS gear. From what you can tell, would this still work with this kit?

Eli
 
mtrdud said:
I'm still in the process of deciding which exhaust but I probably will use center dump "ram horn" style manifolds. I put the steering shaft in ther a mock up and had to cut some of the motor mount off but it will work fine. I do have a Saginaw Power Steering box mounted way forward. I'll take pics when I decide on exhaust.
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Howdy! Boy, I sure wish I had been able to have all this internet info and help available back in the good old days when I did my swap about 12 years ago. Anyway, it's fun watching the progress. I used the rear dumper manifolds that came original on my 77 motor. I decided to tuck the Sag inboard, behind the radiator support. To solve the steering shaft geometry problems, I used a couple of small ujounts on the shaft and made some angles and dangles to clear everything. I had already made custom shock towers which did give me more room, but I still had some problems. I mounted the "floating" section of the steering shaft with a pillow block. I just made a little support bracket from 1.5" angle and welded that to the frame. Never been a problem yet, and I try to test it as often as possible.
I spent over 5 hours steering lock to lock on abandon mine trails in the high desert on Saturday. Maybe I'm getten old, but I don't think I could have done that without the Saginaw! John
 
Fired it up today!

Well for the first time since the install of the V-8 and the Mark's I fired her up today and rode the Pig around the yard. Everything works real good and the transmission and the Mark's shifts great. The only problem is that I have no exhaust yet so it's real loud. Anyways, it lives again! I'll post up some new pics soon.
 
Howdy! Glad to hear your up and running. Be careful about running the engine with no exhaust. Rumor has it that can lead to burned valves. I used about 18" stubs bolted onto the exhaust flange so I could drive mine. And yeh, it was really loud. John
 
V-8 Wiring

Actually the wiring was not bad at all. I got Downey's conversion manual (free) and it had some very good electrical and wiring information. I have a HEI distributor and it was not bad at all. I have also added a complete set of gauges (Oil/Temp./Volts) that all work good. Exhaust is next. Then tires. And then.........$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
 
mtrdud said:
Actually the wiring was not bad at all. I got Downey's conversion manual (free) and it had some very good electrical and wiring information. I have a HEI distributor and it was not bad at all. I have also added a complete set of gauges (Oil/Temp./Volts) that all work good. Exhaust is next. Then tires. And then.........$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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Howdy! That's a nice thing about older carburated engines. There is one big wire and one small wire to the starter, one each to the coil, oil pressure, and engine temp, only one to the alternator if it has a "one wire setup" which I do recommend, and then optional wire for a tach and/or electric choke. TaDa!! Just follow the wiring diagrams in a Haynes manual and it gets pretty basic. John
 
Progress

Everything went well with the swap and I'm up to the point of hunting down some tires and body work. I have located some black rims and have a bead on some Super Swampers. I encountered a problem last week though. I took the pig up the road for a short spin and it overheated big time. After I limped back home and got it cooled down I could hear the water pump sounding pretty bad. Take my advice, change your water pump before putting the motor in if you have any doubts. In the midst of the overheating, I couldn't get the starter to work. I have currently changed the starter also but I cant get the right voltage to spin the starter and I'm blowing the ignition fuse. I will be patching the areas behind the front wheels in my fenders soon also. I also obtained a pristine set of pig seats from a fellow mud member and they will be added. It's a slow process but fun.
Thanks
 
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