Explorer Install - Pulley hitting frame

[Izzy]

Installing the Explorer engine with the explorer serp setup. I am having the issue with the lower tensioner pulley hitting the frame crossmember.

It's not the pulley though, its the bracket behind the pulley and it's hitting the triangle piece that supports the crossmember.

Can I grind on the bracket or is the spacer between the engine and mount th fix?

If I space the motor mount, do I space both sides at the same time or just the passenger side?

Thanks for the help.

 

[chadomatic]

I just ground mine enough to fit. Also I put in a smaller pulley.

 

[needabronco]

Grind the bracket until you get 3/16" or so clearance and you'll be fine. I might only have an 1/8" or so on mine and I've never seen any indication of the bracket contacting the frame ever. And yes, I have looked.

 

[Izzy]

Chadomatic, the pulley is no where close to the frame so I am good there.

Needabronco, thanks for the confirmation, That's what I assumed but wanted to verify. I like the idea of grinding the bracket more than spacing the motor mounts.

Thanks again.

 

[DEEPWOODS]

2 large washers under each motor mount moved mine up about 3/16

 

[chadomatic]

my pulley looked fine untill i ground everything down and it was very close. But not all of them fit the same so maybe you will get lucky that pulley is expensive.

 

[DirtDonk]

One friend with a '73 had his whole rig apart, so it was easy enough to cut a notch in his crossmember and weld it closed.
Worked beautifully of course, but grinding the bracket probably would have been easier.

I mentioned to Izzy in another thread about twisting the engine, so thought I'd mention it here too. If you loosen the nuts holding the engine mounts to the frame towers, you can rotate the engine quite a bit. We just did this on a '77 and the bracket cleared the frame with tons of room to spare.
And the engine is most definitely not crooked looking, so we didn't have to go very far.
Plenty of leeway in that regard.

Don't know what variations you might run across over the different years, but maybe we'll keep track of that here if it doesn't work quite as slick.

Paul

 

[Pedestrian]

Extreme motor mounts from Driven auto parts should take care of the problem.

 

[Izzy]

Paul, moving the engine did help some but not enough. I could tell it was not longer resting on the frame but still touching it so I grinded the bracket just enough to make it clear, it now has about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch of clearance.

Thanks for the help guys. On to the next problem.

 

[DirtDonk]

Good deal. Glad it at least helped a little. Less grinding is better.

Was just wondering what the difference might have been, since the crossmember of the frames should be pretty close. Though there are some difference attributed to the later years, the '77 we were working on also had an NV4500 swap. So it's just possible that the trans crossmember has things sitting just a smidge lower in the rear. That would bring the front up a bit too, which could (if it actually happened) explain the extra clearance.

We'll see...

Paul