It finally happened. My motor is in. My dad and I were about to shoe horn it in but man is it a tight fit side to side. We haven't finished up the trans cross member yet but at least the engine is in.
We started by getting the tranny and engine mated together and up on the lift.
I had put the Corvette LS6 exhaust manifolds (heat shields removed) on but had to take them back off for clearance. Its really really tight!. We'll end up clearancing my frame boxing plates a little to make the exhaust clear.
I used the Dirty Dingo adjustable mounts and had to trim them down to fit but they worked great. The mounts came with 2 rubber isolators for each side but the pics from Dirty Dingo showed one between the mount halves. I assume the second is so the bolts will tighten evenly without distorting the first isolator. I think I'll move the second one to the nut side but for now I put it on top to take up the slack. The one that needs to be between the mounts is.
So after a days work here is what I have.
I have to pull everything apart for paint so this is just mocked up but man that engine looks huge on this tiny frame! Its going to be fun!
Since this old truck had such a small motor before I know front to back clearance will be tight but it will fit. I have everything within a half inch of where it needs to be and my slider mounts have 1 inch of adjustment left each way so I'll be good. It does look like a pusher fan is in my future along with some radiator support mods to slide the radiator forward a bit.
I keep going back and forth on fully boxing the frame. I don't feel it will be necessary since the truck is so light it was probably spin the tires rather than twist the frame... Hmmmmm.. What have you guys done?