What am i doing wrong? Air intake.

I thought maybe i had just gotten a weird chassis the first time, but i'm finishing up swap #2 here and i'm looking at the same air intake issues as with #1.

The problem is that i can't fit an elbow between the throttle body and the hood latch. Here is my engine in the new car as we speak:
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The 4" x 3.5" elbow is hitting on the hood latch enough to become oval. I think i would need to trim an excessive amount (about .5") out of the latch area to make it round again--and then i don't know about hood clearance.

I made sure this time that the motor/trans were as far back as possible. There's maybe 1/2" between the rear of the trans and the spare tire bulge. There's ~5/8" between the motor and the firewall. My motor is as low as it can possibly go in the chassis (1/8" between rack and oil pan).

I found this picture on the old board, from SC944:
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It appears to be an easily fitting 4" to 4" elbow, with no cuts on the latch.

Could there be a different throttle body? A different intake? My motor is from a 2001 Trans Am. How far away is the lip of the throttle body from the hood latch on people's cars?

Sorry for the frustration, but this has long been an issue on my car, and i'm out of ideas! Hood pins are the only thing i can think of...

Cut as much off the elbow as you can, and still be able to get a clamp on it. I had the same issue. My TB is 3.5" to the hoodlatch.

What's the rear driver's head to firewall clearance?
Slot your tranny X-member for another 5/8" play....

cut down that elbow!!! i had problems with my rubber elbow on the LT1 motor...turns out i could cut it down a TON and get 3/4 of an inch in front of the elbow, and this is with a 4 incher too!

I did cut down the elbow. Right now it's about as short as i'd like to get it, but i could MAYBE go another 1/4". If i look inside the elbow i can see the lip of the throttle body...more cutting and it'll start to impede airflow!

I'll check firewall clearance tonight, but on the old car (with a similar fit) it was 5/8". I'll have to measure my TB to latch clearance tonight.

Slotting the transmission crossmember is a good idea though, i'll definitely do that!

Bluehellfire666: I've been looking through all the photo albums and i don't think the LT motors have the same issue as the LS motors. All the LT motors can easily fit a huge elbow on there.

Try this first: Jack up the front of the car, loosen the motor-mount-upright nuts and isolator bolts and see if the engine will fall back in the bay an inch or so with a little persuasion from a lever. The rubber tranny mounts could be causing it to sit too far forward. Otherwise, you could see the engine slop back after a bit of driving due to "drivetrain settling."

After pulling the OE engine out, the torque tube and tranny may have been pulled a bit forward and not repositioned before installing the V8.

Just a thing I had to do......even though the tranny mount on my car was only 80K miles old!!!

Before i put in the crossmember, i had the motor and the trans suspended in the car, attached only by the trans mount. My trans mount is filled, so it doesn't have much flex. I pried on it as much as i could, but it wouldn't budge! The trans mount just doesn't have any flex.

I think i'm just generally out of room everywhere. I was mainly curious how some people are getting theirs to fit so tightly!

I think i'll slot my trans crossmember as much as i can, and maybe cut that elbow boot even shorter and grind off some of the throttle body lip. Between those two things i should at least be able to get the boot to fit without hitting the latch...

Is just getting rid of the front latch all together and using pins possibly the best option?

Using pins is definitely an option, the problem i have run into is that i haven't seen a pin installation i feel comfortable with (keeping in mind that the hood blowing up into the windshield at 120mph could very possibly lead to my death). Lots of the racers put them in the corners, but if you keep your washer fluid reservoir (which i plan to do) it's not possible to do it the same way on the passenger side. xschop had an idea for pin placement in his build thread that i actually kinda like, so that may be a possibility.

I measured my TB to latch clearance last night and it's right at 3.5". I trimmed another 1/4" off the elbow and it fits a little better. Didn't have time to slot the trans crossmember last night, but i think that should give me the last little push i need to clear everything without problems. Still, a much tighter fit than the picture above, and i only have a 3.5" elbow!

interesting...could you take some measurements for me so we can compare? Maybe from the top and bottom of the TB to the hood latch and anything else you feel like putting a tape on and writing down...i'd be happy to do the same and compare