Well, this weekend I finally put the transmission and transfer case back into the Bronco with a lot of help from friends. In doing so, I found a few interesting things out.
- The HD engine mounts I bought (the rubber is not just glued on it is also riveted on) from a suggestion on here or one of the mailing lists, are actually ~1/4" thicker than the stock mounts. This makes the engine sit higher in the frame wedges and thereby ~3/4" higher than stock.
- My '86 351w block has the mounting surface for the engine mounts ~1/4" lower (towards the mounting surface of the oil pan) than my 302 had them; again raising the engine up from stock height.
- Fabricated valve covers are much larger than they initially look compared to the stock valve covers.
Combine all the findings above and you have an engine that doesn't quite fit in the engine compartment (at least with the driver's valve cover on) if the tranny/transfercase cross member is bolted into the frame in the stock location. With the engine sitting higher and the tranny/transfercase at the stock height, this also makes the engine sit at quite a noticeable angle in the engine compartment.
Since I have a 2" body lift, my solution was fairly easy - build a lift for the tranny/t-case cross member to bring the engine more flat in the engine compartment and give clearance for the valve covers. In my case, this resulted in a 1.5" lift for the tranny/t-case cross member. This is a good and bad end result though - I just took out 1" of my suspension lift to get a lower center of gravity, so I have effectively nullified the lowering of my CG by the resulting lift of the engine - tranny - t-case combo. But on the bright side, the t-case is tucked up nicer now and building a skid plate that doesn't hang down too far will be easier too ;D
So has anyone else has similar "fun" when swapping in a 351w, or am I the lucky one?
- The HD engine mounts I bought (the rubber is not just glued on it is also riveted on) from a suggestion on here or one of the mailing lists, are actually ~1/4" thicker than the stock mounts. This makes the engine sit higher in the frame wedges and thereby ~3/4" higher than stock.
- My '86 351w block has the mounting surface for the engine mounts ~1/4" lower (towards the mounting surface of the oil pan) than my 302 had them; again raising the engine up from stock height.
- Fabricated valve covers are much larger than they initially look compared to the stock valve covers.
Combine all the findings above and you have an engine that doesn't quite fit in the engine compartment (at least with the driver's valve cover on) if the tranny/transfercase cross member is bolted into the frame in the stock location. With the engine sitting higher and the tranny/transfercase at the stock height, this also makes the engine sit at quite a noticeable angle in the engine compartment.
Since I have a 2" body lift, my solution was fairly easy - build a lift for the tranny/t-case cross member to bring the engine more flat in the engine compartment and give clearance for the valve covers. In my case, this resulted in a 1.5" lift for the tranny/t-case cross member. This is a good and bad end result though - I just took out 1" of my suspension lift to get a lower center of gravity, so I have effectively nullified the lowering of my CG by the resulting lift of the engine - tranny - t-case combo. But on the bright side, the t-case is tucked up nicer now and building a skid plate that doesn't hang down too far will be easier too ;D
So has anyone else has similar "fun" when swapping in a 351w, or am I the lucky one?