I've searched o' plenty ok, i have a fairly specific question. I know you can reverse a firewall, buy an aftermarket sunken firewall, use a wheelbarrow, etc etc... but...if i moved the body back around 1-1.5"s and moved the front crossmember forward around 1.5"s...depending on the engine mounts...COULD the crank pulley clear the front crossmember without stickin the engine up a riduclous amount. I imagne a pocket for the distributor would be needed but i'm more concerned about the leg room. I'm 6'1". I've got a line on a 2x4" frame fairly cheap, wanna use it if i can. I'm looking for way to stuff the SBC in without loosing a lot of leg room, and without having to lengthen the frame. This car looks to be a stock firewall, but the engine is mounted quite high anyone know how it was done, or can be done ?? Thanks
I stretched my frame six inches, well actually I built it six inches longer than stock that should be just right to clear the distributor and radiator even with the blower drive in place
It's nice if you can keep the rear wheels centered in the wheelwells. The front wheels can be damned near anywhere greater than a stock 103" wheelbase and look alright as long as you are not running front fenders. To run the body and grillshell in the stock position, you need a 4" recess in the firewall for a small block chev. Although you can't see it in the picture of the red coupe, I'm sure what he has done is move the front spring and axle foreward about 4", burned out the stock crossmember, and welded in a new crossmember with a suicide spring perch, similar to the front perch on the model that I am attaching.(on stock model A Fords, the rad sets directly above the crossmember, which sets directly above the spring, which sets directly above the front axle---when viewed dead on from the side, the center of the grillshell is directly in line with the center of the front wheel)
Here is a side shot of my A roadster pickup with the stock wheelbase and front crossmember position, a small block chev engine, and a 4" firewall recess (and yes, I use every damn inch of that recess, a short nosed waterpump, and an electric fan.)---see how the grillshell/rad sets in relationship to the front wheel centerline. Fortunately, when I built the body,by cutting down a 2 door sedan, I made the cab section 6" longer than Henrys stockers were, so I have the leg room that I need.
heres a shot of my a coupe chassis going together now.....not even close to what your probably talking about.....but ....here it is anyway .....the motor is set back enough so i can run a mechanical fan ....with a short pump.....i usually raise the motor up enough so that it won't ever hit the ground ....or even one of those manhole covers in detroit.....well that may be a stretch ....but anyway ....its probably set back 4 or 5" ....used a pair of used speedway tubular motor mounts i bought in the hamb classifieds.....worked slick with a 4" drop tube******* crossmember ...though a 6" would have put the crossmember up in the chassis more....the steering is a vega "hd" (cursed gm engineers....) that is mounted just under the front motor mount tab ...the car is going to be fendered so i have to keep the stock w/b to make it look right...using a pair of speedway full length under chassis headers ....which fit the steering perfect....and get ya the advantages of the full header......brandon
It seems like you are worrying for not, if you are looking to grab a frame that somebody built. Are you sure it is even set up with a stock wheelbase? It seems like until you put everything in it you won't know what you need to do. The more parts you have in front of you, the easier these decisions get...
I know a few guys that just made tabs to extend the radiator out a couple of inches in front of the stock crossmember. Looks like it works well enough.
I would Reverse engineer it. Take the body off, decide on the wheelbase you want. Mount the Radiator, motor/tranny and rear axle. Use the firewall location as benchmark to suit your preference. As another post states, I would lose the configuration of the radiator, crossmember, axle all on the same longitudinal station. Whatever fits, but most prolly radiator out front, with new crossmember almost a certainty. It's a chivvy, but....I removed the two frame crossmembers, built new ones and re-located to accomodate....... I built the body to the length I wanted it for legroom by simply making it the length I wanted it and built the door-holes accordingly. After about a year of driving, after the picture was taken I took it all apart and channeled the body down 2 inches, chopped the top 2 inches, and built the doors to fit the holes, shortening the runnin' boards so the rear fenders would match the wheel location. I removed the two frame crossmembers, built new ones and re-located to accomodate........(of course there's plenty room in there for a v8, could even shorten it 6"!)
Here's a picture of exactly what I was talking about---the radiator has been moved foreward about 4" to make room for the engine. The original front crossmember has been removed, and a new pipe crossmember added about 6" foreward of the original crossmember position, just enough to clear the front of the radiator. A "bulldog perch" or "suicide mount" has been added to support the spring. Thid setup will extend your wheelbase 6", but it looks fine on a fenderless car, and no firewall recess is needed.
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