| Subject: Setting the motor plate |
Author:
Bill
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Date Posted: 06:07:06 01/06/05 Thu
With the headers bolted up, steering shaft on, distributor clearance good, engine and trans level where you want it you can set the motor plate. Lay a board or something flat between the frame rails. For now, your going to be using the edge of the frame sticking upwards to locate the plate. Measure from the board upwards to a reference point on the motor that corresponds to something on the motor plate like a water pump bolt hole. Don't forget to add the width of the board or whatever it is your using. What your going to do is cut back the bottom corner of the plate so that it will rest on the top of the frame and bolt to the motor. You do not want to cut back the entire length at this time, your just taking out the bottom corner! With your measurement from the frame to the reference point on the plate, take that measurement and measure on the actual plate down the same length. Now find the distance to this point from the top or bottom of the plate and make several marks all the way across the length of the plate. I used a fine tip Marks-a-lot. Get a good straight edge and draw the line. Now you need to find the distance from the center of the motor to the inside of the frame rails. Chances are you will not be exactly centered. Again, locate a common reference point between the plate and motor and measure from that reference point on the motor to the inside of the frame rail. Do both side as they will be different somewhat. Subtract about 1/2" from these 2 measurements for clearance inside the frame. (You can give less clearance if you like, but you may have to come back and trim it again after cutting out the corners if you left too much) Transfer these measurements to the plate and mark your lines. You should now have an intersecting point in the two lower hand corners. You will be cutting the two created corner squares out. After cutting set the plate in. You should be able to bolt it to the front of the motor while resting it on the top of the frame rails. If your off, you can always trim it back to get the fit you need to get it to bolt on. With the plate bolted on, you can remove the jack under the oil pan (leave the tranny jack on!) Now you can do some fine tuning with side to side movement or upwards if you shim between the frame and the plate. If the motor is too high, put you jack back under the pan, remove the plate and trim back the height a little more. Everybody's setup will be different, so there's no measurements that I can give you. Once you satisfied where you have it, it's time to make the plate to frame brackets. I used 2" angle cutting them to the height of the frame. I ground some radius into the corners for looks. Clean all the paint/grease off the frame and bracket and weld them on. (see previous pics for location) I used a couple of c-clamps to keep the brackets located flush to the frame and plate during welding. Note that the 1/2" clearance that you gave the plate during cutting at the inside of the frame will also give you the room to weld the plate bracket to the frame along this edge. YOUR ONLY WELDING THE BRACKET TO THE FRAME, DO NOT WELD IT TO THE PLATE! After welding, drill a single hole through the plate and the bracket. I decided to use a 1/2" grade 8 bolt. I'm sure this is overkill and you may choose to go smaller. With the holes drilled on both sides, put the jack under the oil pan and remove the plate. Now it's time to decide how you want to trim it up for the finished job. You don't need the frame overlap anymore since the brackets now hold the plate. Take a look at my pics at the bottom of the page to see what I decided. Your thoughts may be completely different. I found a place near me that did metal shearing. I just marked the lines as I wanted it cut and in 5 minutes they had it done for a $20 tip to the machine operator. I cannot stress how much better the shear edge was compared to my little hand saw. Like night and day. Bolt up your new plate and move on to the tranny mount.
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