Possible Frame Damage?

[kiko619]

Hey Fam,

I was putting the engine back in this weekend and was taking a look at the motor mounts staged in place and something caught my eye. If you follow the center-line eye holes of the motor mounts the're offset by almost a 1/2 inch and the drivers side is almost on top of the tie rods where the passenger side isnt.... Now, im no expert when it comes to framework but arent these supposed to be perfectly inline? My giveaway WASN'T when the block was lowered with the mounts on. It was when i was trying to bolt up the bell housing that one side went in flawlessly and the other well... there was a gap and I had to use jack on the front end to help angle the engine to close the gap for me to secure the bolts. So here is where im ready to shoot my foot off.. i just finished welding the entire floor pans and new torque boxes... how badly did i just mess up? Give me the wrap sheet of possible fixes/tweaks to just flat out blunt comments.  :classic_sad:

 

[Don C]

I believe the mounting locations are offset on the block. It looks to me like the offset is about equal to the offset in the cylinders, which is equal to the width of the connecting rod at the crankshaft bearing end. The passenger side cylinder bank is offset forward in relation to the driver side.

 

[Hemikiller]

This is a 302 block, but you can clearly see the offset of the engine mount pads. 

 

[92GTS-R]

This is a 302 block, but you can clearly see the offset of the engine mount pads. 

Good Post 

 

[turtle5353]

This is a 302 block, but you can clearly see the offset of the engine mount pads. 

Yep, what he said. 

Run it. 

 

[mjlan]

Just confirming that you are sticking the motor mounts onto the block before attempting to put the motor in right?

 

[kiko619]

This is a 302 block, but you can clearly see the offset of the engine mount pads. 

Thank you so much for this reference; this really helps. I was worried for a second.

Just confirming that you are sticking the motor mounts onto the block before attempting to put the motor in right?

yes, motors mounts on the block before lowering it into the bay. 

 

[mjlan]

Where was the transmission while the floor pan/ torque box work was being done? 

So a bunch of work was done to the structure of the car and you are looking for a sanity check on whether the engine-trans mating issues are due to the structure work or just normal mating (cat to dog?) mating issues right?

Mating the engine and trans is usually a PITA if you don't have a means to tilt the engine side-side and fore-aft when its on the hoist (or somebody helping you) as usually you need to jack up the trans in order to mate the two of them while allowing the motor mounts to clear the engine cross-member.

Not knowing your experience level, something that bites a lot of us is making sure that the converter is seated into the trans all the way- it should pull towards the flywheel slightly as you are tightening the nuts.

The trans can also get hung up on the alignment dowels- if you get one side too far engaged the other side won't slide in because the tolerance between them is too tight.

Again, if you've been around the block a few times you've probably run into this but if this is the first go-around maybe these issues aren't familiar....

 

[kiko619]

Where was the transmission while the floor pan/ torque box work was being done? 

So a bunch of work was done to the structure of the car and you are looking for a sanity check on whether the engine-trans mating issues are due to the structure work or just normal mating (cat to dog?) mating issues right?

Mating the engine and trans is usually a PITA if you don't have a means to tilt the engine side-side and fore-aft when its on the hoist (or somebody helping you) as usually you need to jack up the trans in order to mate the two of them while allowing the motor mounts to clear the engine cross-member.

The entire drive-line was pulled out when this was being worked on.  Yes, i was just trying to mate the two and was noticing that one side mated smooth no problem but the passenger side on the other hand was PITA. even with the ability to tilt that sucker was just driving me nuts. Experience to framework is novice, I'm  experienced for average repairs here and there, but we all know this beast... she has her special way of dealing with since not a lot of reproduction parts were always available. most things critical components had to be Frankensteined/fabricated.  Appreciate the tip on the trans. I foresaw this and other alignment (balanced systems aka driveshaft, etc.) I'm sure people don't know that about the converter issue. I just got back into reworking my car after a couple of years of hiatus. so y'all will be seeing more of me again 

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

When I go back in with any transmission be it manual or auto I have long bolts that I cut the heads off and screw on on each side to act as an alignment tool. With an automatic you can destroy your converter if you do not rotate and get the flats to click in that last 1/4".You should never have to force any transmission into place. The cut off screws guide you onto the dowels. You might want to double check on the converter being engaged correctly. 

When doing a manual the long bolts keep you from knocking off the throw out bearing or moving the clutch disc off center. I do the same thing for water pumps also. two cut off screws keeps the gasket in place and guides the pump right on. Nothing on a car should have to be forces on except things like hood springs or brake show return springs. If you are doing it right should just fall in place.

 

[kiko619]

When I go back in with any transmission be it manual or auto I have long bolts that I cut the heads off and screw on on each side to act as an alignment tool. With an automatic you can destroy your converter if you do not rotate and get the flats to click in that last 1/4".You should never have to force any transmission into place. The cut off screws guide you onto the dowels. You might want to double check on the converter being engaged correctly. 

man.... why didn't i think of that's just genius. As an update i was able to get the engine back in. the reason why i was having such difficulty was another obvious reason; The driveways incline.. so this quick method was solved by jacking up the rear of the car high enough to match the plane the engine was sitting on due to the Fulcrum of the cherry pick. quick an easy install; @Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs went in no problem everything matched perfectly.