Guest cap110680 Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 hey guys if i do not put the crossmember spacers in will i still be able to fit the strut bar brace or will it hit the air cleaner. i am putting my engine in this weekend and dont want to have to pull it to put the spacers in. thanx, chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad-ManQ45 Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 The crossmember spacers raise the body in comparison to the wheel centers...don't they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QWKDTSN Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 They do... The general consensus is that they aren't worth installing... I don't know of a single person here that's used them... I'd rather leave off a strut bar than install the spacers. Your bar will probably fit anyway... What kind is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Some of this topic was discussed about a month ago in reference to dropping the engine by using spacers. With the use of the spacers, the rack and inner pivot point is dropped right along with the motor. This will then drop the roll center as well. The body will remain in the same position reference the wheels or the ground (ride height) as the body height is a function of the springs, which sit on the strut, which is unaffected by the location of the inner pivot point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Juday Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 It depends on your air cleaner but if it's not to big it should clear. The spacers are there to give you more hood clearance. Go ahead and install your motor. If you find later that you need them you can easily install them without removing anything more than the front wheels. To install them jack up the front of the car and put jackstands under the frame rails. Pull off the front wheels. Put your floorjack under one side of the front crossmember and remove the two bolts from that side only. Slowly and carefully lower your floorjack just enough to slide the spacer in. Drop the new bolts in and tighten them up. Switch over to the other side and do the same. Put the wheels on and you're done. Make sure you have four new 1/2" longer bolts before you begin. You just gained another 1/2" of hood clearance. You also gain a little clearance between the top of the bellhousing and the tranny tunnel. I used them on my car but didn't on Steve's Tomahawk LT1 swap. Can't really tell you what effect they may have on handling. I know they change the roll center but they also lower the center of gravity. Could be a trade off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I used mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spdsk8r Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I used them on both previous conversions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cap110680 Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 thanx for all the post guys. i guess i will just put the engine and trans in and see if it clears. i did not think of doing it the way dan described, worse comes to worse i will have to put them in later. i just put in my polyurethene steering coupler and steering rack bushings, took me about two hours. i thought it would only take me about 30 minutes, did anyone else have trouble or am i just an idiot LOL!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest woodyhooten Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 The crossmember spacers raise the body in comparison to the wheel centers...don't they? He's talking about the crossmember spacers, not the strut spacers (I'm pretty sure). The crossmember spacers lower the crossmember and thus the engine. As for the strut brace, I don't think it's a matter of height, with the JTR position the strut brace will end up in front of the air cleaner (unless of course you have some ungodly huge air cleaner), this is why they mention that you can use a straight bar as opposed to a curved one. I hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad-ManQ45 Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 When you lower the crossmember, it is in relation to the body/frame. It would seem that this would raise the body, as the suspension attaches to the crossmember. It may be that the body will settle down to the same ride height, after all, the mountings for the struts stay the same... But I can't help but feel that in this scenario yiu will have lost some suspension travel in rebound...by the thickness of the spacer. Of course this would mean more travel available in jounce. Is my take on this correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Brad-ManQ45 The body will maintain it's original ride height relative to the ground because the strut towers are part of the body not the crossmember and the springs are on the struts. The crossmember spacers will affect the steering geometry though for the very reason you stated. The control arms and steering rack are attached to the crossmember. When the crossmember is lowered relative to the body the angle of the control arm will be changed which in turn changes the distance the wheel hub is from the center of the car. This is why you get more bump-steer and need to have the alignment adjusted when you add these crossmember spacers, unless you also use the struct spacers that are placed between the bottom of the struct and the control arm. I hope this helps to clear up some of the confusion. My opinion about the crossmember spacers is to not use them unless you absolutely need the additional hood clearance. Ken W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad-ManQ45 Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Got it now - thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 I chose not to use the crossmember spacer blocks. I had them in, but when working on getting the u-joint angles small and equal front and rear, I found that the crossmember spacer blocks made that more difficult, so out they came. Check my "driveline mods" page for details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cap110680 Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 well i got my engine and trans in this weekend and i did not put the spacers in there. plenty of room, i dont think i will need them at all. later, chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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