Transmission mounts: To upgrade, or not to upgrade.......

thanks, I am good to get all this put together then.

Post pics when you can of the throttle body to hood clearance and TB to hood latch distance.
I'm thinking with the extra setback dimension and Eric's super shallow oil pan, the X-member spacers can be a thing of the past

I will do that when I get to that point.

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I got the trans installed now. Thanks for the mount Robert, the box wont budge now, not even when I push on it with my foot, unlike my worn rubber mount that twisted with a push of one finger.

I'd like to get rid of my cross member spacers, let me know how this works out and what you used!

I would be a little surprised if that's all it takes, isn't the setback only ~ 1/4"?

I don't really think the spacers are a big deal. The biggest issue is that they compound the other issue of lowering with the stock cast aluminum control arms. Fix the control arms, and fix ALL your issues...

The V8 mount allows up to 5/8" setback from factory mount location. Again the body sheetmetal assembly on all the these cars are off from each other. I got an extra 3/8- 1/2" throttle body to hood clearance by setting mine back 5/8" because of the hood slope that is right there at the throttle body and that didn't include the extra clearance I got from trimming the front protrusion of the throttle body at an angle.

I agree with Porch on this. Spacers arent the big deal (its only a half inch... the length of a groomed pinky fingernail!). We just need a "pocket-mod" service for the crossmember.

I do however like (alot) XSCHOPS tranny mount though. Sweet thing. Wish I had the money Rob. Let me know when you have your christmas 1/2 off sale!

Quick thought about the design of the mount..... Since we drop the engine 1/2", do the transmission mount holes have a degree of angle between them to accept the new angle of the drivetrain? Its not much but enough to cause impact stress on the rear of the mount and strecth on the front.

Here the angle would be roughly 0.303°

May be an issue with a solid mount, but I even doubt that as the hanger can easlity take the torsional flex of a solid set-up at such a minute angle. The less than 1 degree is negligible. With poly mounts, the Trans will not move side to side which is what destroys the CVs, yet not as noisy as a solid mount. Also I mic'd 2 different tranny hangers and there is enough play in the two end bolt holes (chassis mount locations) to give some forward/aft "fine tuning" of the drivetrain placement ( about 3/16" IIRC). Also if the train has to come forward a little more, then you can simply add washers between the mount and the intermediate hanger.

""""We just need a "pocket-mod" service for the crossmember. """"

Can you expound on this?

Interesting thought about the mount, 944-LT1, but now that i think about it you can literally twist the crossmember fore and aft when it's installed (it's only designed to be rigid in one direction, side to side). I'm sure it's fine.

By "pocket mod" are you referring to moving the control arm up, like i did?

By "pocket mod" are you referring to moving the control arm up, like i did?.

Yeah. Did that solve the problem?

Oh yeah, been working great! I suppose i should get under there and check it for cracks now that i've got about 4k miles on it, but i'm not worried about it....

I will get you pics soon Robert. This time I have alot less room between my firewall and driver side head unlike the 1" or so I had on my n/a with the old mounts. There is a problem I found out though after trying to install all the bell housing bolts. You have to make sure that you get the driver side bell housing bolts in before you even try to lift it up in the bay. I have to drop it back down and hopefully get enough room to get those two driver side bolts in so the bell housing is tightened down completely.

Yeah good point. Also didn't know if it was mentioned, you should leave the rear tranny hanger to chassis bolts loose while you adjust the engine in the bay and bolt the uprights up to the motor mounts. After the engine is adjusted in the bay, then simply tighten the rear tranny hanger down.

I was thinking about that this morning while in class. With it being bolted down completly in the rear and having such a hard trans mount now, I dont have much room to play. I will loosen the two bolts that attach the intermediate bracket to the mount and lower my engine agian, hoping to get enoguh play and clearance on the driver side to slide the bolts into the bell housing.

Robert I got a couple pictures for this thread to show clearances of the engine.

Oh yea,
To update on this, I had to undo both of the outside bolts that hold the cross brace to the chassis and pick up the engine letting the cross brace clear the area that they are in and pull the engine forward enough to put all the bell housing bolts on the engine and then was able to push the trans back into position. I already milled my front cross member for the slotted holes, as per Renegade's instructions, so that helped out in the end I believe.

Throttle body to Hood latch.
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The driver side head clearance to the cereal bowl. So you can take off the thickness of that and add it to the measurements, it looks like there is alot less room now. On my previous setup with the early n/a I was able to run the stock fuel lines there, but that wouldn't fly with the clearance.
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The only difference between your firewall distance pic and mine is "243"
Your 90* air inlet will clear the hood latch without rubbing now.

Last question....How about those RH headers to steering shaft clearance?

I figured someone would ask me about that, i have to put the steering column back in, i did a different route this time since I had to pull my old column out for damage.

I waited to install the motor completely before install the shaft, less of a headache. I will get the column in today hopefully. But the RH headers are designed to clear between the 3 and forth exhaust runner. I will get pics for you.

I only asked because I've never seen a good pic of the steering shaft as it passes through the RH headers. It's not a big worry because before I set my drivetrain back, I had to slot the rubber motor mount tabs 1/4" side-to-side so I could get the motor more towards the passenger side so the #3 primary on the modded Hooker 2312 header would not be so close to the steering shaft. After the set-back I could re-center the motor and not even touch the #3 primary. I am just curious in case someone else asks down the line.

ran into a minor set back Robert, your moving the engine back is good in all until you go to hook up the radiator and the lower radiator hose to the thermostat housing is too short now. I have to go buy a new one. lol.