Motor Placement (V8 swap in progress) (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jun 23, 2002
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Just how close is the vacume advance to the firewall supposed to be ?

I test fit my motor today and with just barely enough room for the electric fan, the vacume adv. is about a credit card thickness away from the firewall. Is is necessary to mount the radiator a 1/2 inch forward to get alittle wiggle room ?

The forward edge of the motor mounts are 9 1/2 inchs from the edge of the shock tower (edge closest to the firewall). The front brake line (mount to frame) is gonna have to move forward a 1/2 or so. It sure looks cool in there though ::)
 
All you need to make sure of is to leave enough room to be able to pull the distributor.
 
If thats all I need then I think that im ok, the dist is a good 2 inches from the firewall. Its just the vacume advance thats close.
 
Is your advance pointed in the wrong direction? A properly installed chev distributor should have the advance unit pointing at the right side of the engine around the #6 cylinder. My motor mount is exactly 10" from the shock mount and I do not have a clearance problem.
 
If thats the case then the distributor is installed 180 deg off. and I have no clearance problems...i like it when things work out.

What about the parking brake ? Im using a Th350 and wouldn't mind getting rid of the stock parking brake, how would I do that ? (rear disc's w/e-brake are next)
 
[quote author=knuckledragger link=board=1;threadid=5567;start=msg43978#msg43978 date=1064288934]
What about the parking brake ? Im using a Th350 and wouldn't mind getting rid of the stock parking brake, how would I do that ? (rear disc's w/e-brake are next)
[/quote]Sounds like you've already got a handle on it. When you do your disc w/E-brake conversion save the stock parts for someone here on ih8mud who needs them. Some one is always in need of e-brake parts.
 
Heard that you need to get the motor as far away from the firewall as possible. I talked to a guy at downey and said if there is not enough room between the firewall and the motor, the motor will run 240 degrees even on the coldest day of the year.
 
move the radiator forward about 2" which is pritty easy and you will not have a problem depending on the tranny set and adapter ,a short drive shaft can be a problem, as for vacuum advance rotate your (maybe two post)spark plug wires and turn your dist vac adv out the way
 
According to the measures you gave there should be plenty of room between distributor and firewall. There should not be a clearance issue with the advance unless it was pointed backwards. Distributor sounds like it's 180 out of whack. This isn't really "Wrong" so much as an easly way to fix the problem. Just bring it on around 180 being sure you get the timing reset and all should be fine.

How much distance do you have from dist. cap to firewall??
 
My problem is the distributor body was 180 degrees off I changed it today. The stock motor mounts were todays problem...what a pain in the....knuckle (ball peen hammer and middle finger knuckle had a fight...hammer won..chipped knuckle/x-ray/splint...) 1/2 day today I'll check the clearance tomorrow.

Anyone know the size of the nut on the end of the output shaft of the transmission ( its the shaft that goes through the T-case and is hidden under the sheetmetal nose cone)
 
I recessed the firewall and moved my motor [454] and gearbox back aprox 50mm in my 40, to make 50/50 weight dist, or as close as possible to.

I then also used an original radiator frame mount, and welded it to the back of the original one, this will move the radiator back nicely for the chev, original shroud will fit, along with the toyota fan if you press the boss off the toyota water pump and press it on the chev one. [shaft dia should be the same.]
 
Don't forget to have the engine offset 1" towards the drivers (left) side of the engine bay. This is required for the front driveshaft clearance. The front drive shaft will still be very close to the transmission pan.
 
Niner:
Im using motor mounts that I got from Bob Firestien's fabricator. They are bolt on style and only allow for center placement of the motor (no offset) I was planning on using Downey's special shaft to clear the transmission pan.(will that work ? ) . Input from any of you guys is welcomed, this is my first and hopefully last swap !
 
If you're using a TH350 I'm guessing you're going to have to do some serious beating on the oil pan to get a front driveshaft in if the engine is centered. I'm not even sure if the bottom part of the bellhousing will clear.
 
You can use a file to elongate the holes in the mounts, or modify the mounts (cut and weld) to get an inch or so of offset. With an auto trans you will wish you did! Not much of an issue with my sm465.
 

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