Quick Engine Placement Question

[markinms]

Engine & Trans are installed. When I did initial measurements for placement, engine was centered side-to-side and trans mounted perfectly on its cross member. I drilled, slotted, and set the motor in place. All seemed fine.

I was taking measurements last night and found the engine shifted off-center by 3/4" - 1", depending where I measure from. For example, when I measure from inside the frame rail to center of damper, measurement shows 14 3/4" from passenger side and 15 1/2" from driver's side. No matter what I do (shift trans, shim motor mount(s)) I cannot get it to stay centered.

Any ideas how I can correct this? Do I need to correct this?

As always, thanks for any feedback/guidance.

Mark

 

[faststang90]

Engine & Trans are installed. When I did initial measurements for placement, engine was centered side-to-side and trans mounted perfectly on its cross member. I drilled, slotted, and set the motor in place. All seemed fine.

I was taking measurements last night and found the engine shifted off-center by 3/4" - 1", depending where I measure from. For example, when I measure from inside the frame rail to center of damper, measurement shows 14 3/4" from passenger side and 15 1/2" from driver's side. No matter what I do (shift trans, shim motor mount(s)) I cannot get it to stay centered.

Any ideas how I can correct this? Do I need to correct this?

As always, thanks for any feedback/guidance.

Mark

The motor/ transmission is offset from the factory


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[markinms]

Thank you! I was going nuts trying to center it.

Mark

 

[faststang90]

Thank you! I was going nuts trying to center it.

Mark

If you look at the rear end its off set too


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[Curious Hound]

That's a real pain for those of us with O.C.D. tendencies.

 

[markinms]

You got that right. Measure, re-measure, shift this way, shift that way; it never ends.

Nice truck you're working on. It's always motivating to see what others are doing.

Mark

 

[proz07]

As others have stated the stock engine is about 2" offset to the right/passenger side. Made it easier to fit my engine once i realized this too. probably 2 weeks of measuring till i was happy with the placement and drive line angles.

Z

 

[faststang90]

Yeah I learned to have the right angle up /down too. Tail shaft housing broke

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[markinms]

Engine is now within 1/2" of being centered; may not be necessary but I feel better about placement now.

After seeing what happened to your tailhousing I took another look at that. Engine is sitting at a 5 deg slant (higher in front). Is this about right?

Mark

 

[faststang90]

You need to check the angle of the drive shaft. Mine was the transmission was down and the rear end was down. So I had to put angel shims in to angle the rear end to point up. Do a search under my name and you see I had to cut some stuff out of the drive shaft tunnel to but that maybe because of the drive shaft size. It was hitting to but my is a ext cab truck


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[Mac]

4 1/2 down is what shop manual shows. Center between fenders, not the frame.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

FWIW I trimmed a washer to fill in the bottom of the slot.

When running the engine would always settle down to the bottom of the slot on the drivers side no matter how tight I got the nut (assuming you are using mustang mounts?) It always messed up the exhaust seal on that side which I didn't like.

 

[markinms]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I did start out with "stang" mounts; however, the motor sat way too high and still didn't clear the TTB/cross member. I switched to the Duff 4X4 mounts and that brought the motor way down, again a problem with the TTB/cross member.

Rather than raise with plates/washers, I modified the oil pan. Cut-out a small section and installed a new drain plug. Much better now.

I like your idea of modifying a washer to help stop motor shifting. I haven't started her up yet, but a little prevention can't hurt.

Mark