snork Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Well, I have mounted my 302/t5 combo and have ran into some problems. When mounted in the z, the shifter is 2-2 1/2 inches from where the stock shifter came up through the floor. Did anybody else have this issue? My bellhousing is right against the firewall. In fact, the bellhousing bolts are right against the brake lines that go across the firewall. I am using alsils (I hope i spelled that right) engine cradle with motor mounts from an ('71) el rancho. Should I cut some material out of the motor mounts to drop the motor and hope that that will give me some room to push the motor back or should I "massage" the firewall some with a deadblow hammer and a 2x4. The motor is also interfering with the a/c lines coming out of the fire wall. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowoctupus Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Is your shifter still coming up through the hole in the floor at all? I'm not doing a bowtie conversion, but I know my shifter is going to be a little (2") forward from where stock was. You can always run an older style shifter: http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/3999584/2006/10/19/T5_shifter11.jpg Although this is a little extreme, I think it's how I'm going to remedy my too forward shifter. If I remember right, you can unbolt the shifter arm from the knuckle box on the T5, right? That will help a lot if you're going to make a custom shifter arm or just heat up and bend yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snork Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 I have the shifter off and taped the shifter hole in the case shut. With the motor/tranny mounted I can see about half (give or take)of the shifter hole. Most of the motor( 90-95%) is sitting behind the rack and pinion.Is that how your motor is sitting? I guess I will end up trimming the floor for the shifter, but i am not sure what to do about the console. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowoctupus Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 (edited) My harmonic balancer lines up with the rack and pinion right now. The 4.6 should be about 23 5/8" long, from what I could find online the 302 is 29" long. ( Popular American Engine Sizes Modular Engine Sizes ) I'm actually going to try to pull my motor back a little further now that I have my mounts made. I think I can get another inch back, as right now my shifter is lining up like yours, partially covered by the front of the 'shifter hole' in the tunnel. (ps, I think when I saw the "el rancho" in your post I was thinking el camino, hence the bowtie swap comment...) Edited March 14, 2011 by yellowoctupus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snork Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Ya, I had a brain fart when I said el rancho. I am going to have my cross member for the motor mounts changed so that the motor will be dropped another 1/4 inch. I measured my harmonic balancer to each side of my rails and my measurements showed that i was about a half inch to the driver side of the car's center, but when i mounted the exhaust manifold on the passenger side of the car it looked like the exhaust pipe would barely clear the passenger side of the (frame) rail. The harmonic balancer is sitting just a hair forward of the rack and pinion. Plus, the carb is sitting about a little over an inch higher than the fenders ( stock two barrel manifold with stock 2 barrel carb). But right now that is just a small detail. I will probably put a shaker scoop, cowl induction hood or a nice chrome bug catcher on. Hate to cut up the hood, but oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I ran into some of these problems when doing mine as well, I ended pushing my engine back further into the firewall. I had to make dents with a hammer but the outcome of this was great. I was able to put the whole engine behind the front cross member, thus improving traction dramatically. This also allowed me to put the engine lower in the car, lower center of gravity. I used to run a 347 but am building a 408 turbo for it now. It is extremely easy to make engine mounts, for traction and trans position push the engine back into the fire wall as far as you can. Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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