I placed a piece of wood on the center of the cross member and set the engine in place so the oil pan is resting on the piece of wood.
It doesn't look like the suspension has squatted any more than it was with the 6.2 engine.
The engine is set back into the firewall where it needs to be.
The rear of the transmission has a chain around it and is supported from a hook in this piece of angle iron.
This allows me to be able to fit a transmission support in the frame with out having anything in the way.
The new air conditioner arrived yesterday so I was able to make the mounts for the pump and bolt it on the engine before I put it in the frame.
The pump mounts are designed so I can unbolt it and pull it forward if I should have to remove it for any reason.
Here is the clearance for the pump.
This is the clearance for the vacuum pump on the other side of the engine.
This is the clearance between the engine and the power brakes.
I'm going to end up having to remove more of the firewall for more clearance at the back of the engine.
I decided to just go ahead and take the rest of the indented area out of the firewall.
A big hole for sure. Are you going to need access from the back side of the engine? You could make a removable cover but it would need to seal perfectly to keep noise and gases out of the cab.
Yes it is a big hole but it really shouldn't be much of a problem making a new panel for it.
I just got to start with a larger piece of metal.
The new panel will be a single back piece with a wrapper formed around it.
I'm not planning on putting in any access panel in the firewall.
The fitting for the oil pressure line is routed to the back of the block but I've already decided to re-route that and move it up along side the block.
That leaves only the fitting for the water temperature gauge at the back of the block and I should be able to reach that from the engine compartment.
Looking good, Ray. The temp gauge sending unit could be tough once you get metal wrapped in there, but reachable. like how you supported the tranny for the mount fab.
Because this Chevy frame is narrower than the Dodge frame, I am going with flat motor mounts instead of the angled mounts.
When I put the engine in the frame to gauge the clearance, I set a piece of wood on the cross member and set the oil pan down on it.
Once everything was positioned where it needs to be, I raised the engine and slipped 1/4 inch spacer under the oil pan.
This is to allow for the rubber mounts compressing.
First I cut the mounting lip off the stock Dodge engine mounting bracket.
This piece is bolted to the engine block.
Then I cut a section off a piece of heavy channel.
And trim one side off that piece of channel.
This gives me a "L" bracket that the stock Dodge rubber mount is bolted to.
The mounting hole is re-located in the other part of the Dodge engine mounting bracket so it can bolt to the bottom of the rubber mount.
Here's how the motor mount assembly looks so far.
The mount assembly is set in place and tack welded to the engine bracket and the frame.
The engine bracket is then removed and the frame bracket is finished welded and then primed.
The "L" bracket is welded to the engine mounting tabs and triangular shaped pieces of metal are welded to both sides of the "L" bracket for support.
This assembly is then primed and bolted back in place to complete this motor mount.
Question for you Ray, won't the tab on the top part of the motor mount hit the top of your frame rail when the engine is running and vibrating? Other than that it looks great.
I'll be dog gone, you are absolutly right and I completly missed that.
I'll cut both of the safty tabs off and make a stop bracket that bolts to the frame and comes up over the top of the motor mount bracket to prevent it from lifting up to far if the rubber mount brakes.
The location of the rubber motor mount was determined by the position of the motor mount bracket on the engine and the relationship of that bracket to the truck frame.
The finished motor mount has a clearance problem between the lower safety tab and the frame.
As you can see here, when the weight of the engine is put on the rubber mount that tab is going to press down and rub the frame.
Even though this was right in front of me all the time, I completely missed this clearance problem.
Thankfully, this was brought to my attention while the problem was still easy to correct.
First I cut both safety tabs off the rubber mount.
Then I drilled and tapped a hole in the frame for a 1/2-20 thread.
The head is cut off a 1/2-20 bolt and the end was bent over at 90 degrees.
Then I heated the end until it was red hot and flattened it out with a hammer.
A piece of rubber hose was pressed onto the end of the bolt and it was threaded into the hole until the rubber hose just touches the top of the motor mount.
When the rubber mount compresses down it will leave a space between the rubber hose on this safety stop and the top of the motor mount.
If the rubber motor mount should ever break, this safety stop will not let the engine lift any farther than where it is right now.
Great job, Ray! I cannot wait to see it with a trailer full of GTs behind it.
Geno
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