Motor too low??

Start off with a y-block in an A frame. Moved the front x-mem about 2"+ to make some room. The result works OK. But looking at it from the side, I wonder if the motor sits too low in the frame. The crank bolt is about 2" below where the crank hole in the radiator is. More of an estetic thing, I think-like it won't look right. The fan also extends below the front x-mem so I figured that would affect the cooling also. The benefit is lower c.g. and very little change to the firewall or the flooring. Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated. I can always make new mounts to raise it or but spacers between the m/m's, frame mounts and trans mount.
Thanks in advance.

 

Defiantly too low,, HRP

 

yep, too low.....

 

x2.

 

Need to put the pan on as well....that will tell you.

 

I have the same set up, 292 in a A frame. I streatched the frame out 5 1/2" to save the firewall. it sits down low also but not that low. I'll try to attach a photo

 

Pan is on, definitely above the lower wheel edge. Not much of a pan on a y-block. Thanks for the input, now to mock up some spacers. Any guess on how high to push it?
RB

 

46I,
In the second pic, it looks like your top bolt on the motor is about level or just above the frame. Is that right?
RB

 

Well there is a lot of car above that engine. makes it look a little out of balance to me.

 

You fan won't pull air through the radiator very well either!

I never liked the motor way down like that. I put mine high enough that the bottom of the pan is even with the bottom of the lower frame rail

 

The higher you can mount it the easyer it will be to pull the front wheels.

 

I agree. I hate to see a motor that is "lost" deep down in the engine room. Raise it up 2-3 inches and see how that looks.

Don

 

RB35, if you mean the top bolt for the motor mount into the block, you are right. It is above the the top of the frame

 

If it were mine, I'd raise it up.

 

The body is channeled 2.5"

 

Good reference points, all. I'll raise it up, put a head on for reference and post back.
Thanks,
RB

 

Looks too low to me too. But there's room for lots of blower or tunnel ram or mailbox up there.
The fan location in the radiator center or lack of it will be the biggest problem I think.
But now you have a relatively flat floor ( like stock) that you may loose.
Top of your block looks about the Same as a stock flathead location.

Mock up of the rest is a good idea, have another look.

 

A guy here had a 29 Dodge sedan with a 350 blower motor in it. At one show a speed bump ripped the drain plug out!

 

Too low,,looks about where I got mine set and i never questioned it cause ???? but I have scraped the oil pan which is 4" off the ground,,,plan is to raise engine at least 3" Here's a pic of "scraping by" for comparison

 

Right or wrong, I set mine up so that the centerline of the crankshaft is about even with the top of the front frame rails.

 

Voodoo Twin is right, although I started at the rear of the trans tailhousing. I centered that in the middle of the frame blocked it, then raised the engine to get my 3deg. at the carb flange. that puts the crank C/L just above the frame rail. just my 2cents. bowtie40...

 

Since you are kind of fishing for a height, here's a practical suggestion: If you plan on running that fan, raise the engine up until the bottom tip of the fan blade is even with the bottom of the radiator core. At least that way you will have the whole fan pulling air through the rad.

 

yeah definitely raise it up, we did a 40 Plymouth p/u with a sbc that had been installed low in the rails the top rad hose looked like something from a horror movie. we raised it over 5" and smoothed his firewall and tunnel then re-installed it...made all the difference in the world, ran cooler too.

 

Just as a reminder, this is a y-block and the oil pan is only about 4" deep. Currently the pan bottom is above the front axle (under load) and the pan rail is even with the bottom of the frame. I originally set it with a 3 blade fan from my flatty. That is 16" dia. vs the now 4 blade at 19". Today I'm going to level the frame out, raise the motor trans at least 3" and get my d/shaft angles to match up. I may have to notch the Dagels x-mem for the tailshaft (t-5), but I'm thickening that up anyway for a torque shaft. Even if it projects into the cabin area, it will only be slight and I'm not worried about that. Vega cross steer is in and I'm going to have to go outside the frame with headers/exhaust due to the side m/m location right under the middle exhaust ports. So then it's down to fabricating new mounts or adding spacers under or on top of the biscuits. I'll be back with pics in a day or two.
The '35 was a complete frame off "rebuild" and was all bolt on stuff. This is my first build from scratch which I'm thoroughly enjoying along with the help and info I'm getting from everyone. I'm taking pics as I go and hope to do a build thread as a help to others at some point, but as slow as this progresses-about a year since I started-a thread would get lost.
Thanks again and I'll be back with pics soon.
RB

 

I've added a 1 3/4" spacer under the m/m's and a 2 1/4" under the trans to get a 2-3 degree downtilt to correspond to the rear axle uptilt. The after pic shows a lot of tilt based on the lack of trans spacer when I took the pic. Adding before and after pics for comparison. This puts the crank c/l at top of rail and not much intrusion into the cabin-see the minor gap at the cowl. This is about as far up as I'm going to go.