when we put the 283 in clarence, we used the original ford******* crossmember and blocked the engine/tranny combo up at the front until it fit into the engine bay nicely. that's where we fabbed the motor mounts to. now a friend tells me that the carb should have been level. you know, the intake is wedge shaped with the rear of the carb further from the engine than the front of the carb. anyway, he tells me that when i'm building the frame and crossmembers for the "T" that i should block the engine up until the carb bases are level (front to back) and that's where i should build the motor mounts. is he correct, or just stringing me along? is there any advantage to the carbs being level? is there any advantage to the engine being level? does it matter if neither of them is level?
The carb base on the intake should be level. Front to back and side to side. If its not, your fuel level in the float bowl cant be set correctly.
well, now i believe i've got a problem. i haven't mocked this thing up yet, but i believe that when i do the crankshaft will be pretty level. the intake (original buick dual quad) has quite a wedge shape to it. can i make wedge shaped spacers/shims to level the carbs up? is there a better solution?
Yup, you can put a wedge under the carb. The marine supply companies have had them for boat applications for years. Here's a website with some 4 barrel ones. I have seen 2 barrel ones on older boats and you can probably still get them somewhere. http://www.cpperformance.com/products/Fuel_Systems/070.asp
If it's a four barrel you can use one of those adapters Mr Gasket sells at PepBoys for a bit too much for die cast or you can pick one up at the swap met for a dollar usually. at any rate they are cheaper than marine! Just figure out which way to make the angle. double and triple chack that thinking and mill it down to that angle. I've filed them down with a Vixen body file when it was faster than rounding up some time on a mill. I've had one on my truck for ten years because the only way the engine would fit without cutting the firewall or cross member was with the engine nose down. I put 6º on the adapter and used the adapter blind bolts on the one thick end and the thin end the carb bolts just go through to the manifold. They don't seem to mind the angle put on the threads, yet.
Also keep in mind how it lines up with the pinion. You don't want the tailshaft pointing straight at the rear end, it should be a couple degrees offset so your driveline won't shudder. I set mine up with the tailshaft lower than the pinion, If I put an angle finder on the driveshaft it is 3deg. (6deg if you include the rake of the car) Also remember the engine and rear end should be paralell. TZ
FLT-BLK is quite right. your pinion angle (when measured using the car, not the ground, as the datum) should be******* close to 3 degrees, and you'll find this is the amount "built in" to the intake manifold rising to the carb.
The marine adapters are kind of expensive new, but at some of the big boatyards around here where there are always a few old 50's era cabin cruisers rotting away, the yard mechanics usually save the carb plates when they part out the boat and you can get them for a couple of bucks, or if you know them, they will let you take one off a rotting hulk in the yard that's about to be scrapped. I knew one old yard (now replaced by condos) where one of the mechanics had half a barrel filled with used carb wedge plates (this was one of those guys who could throw nothing out).
The carb needs to be level, I usually lay a torpedo across the pad on the intake and move everything until it is level front to back and side to side. There is more to it than just the floats in the carbs. The oil pan is designed so that there will always be oil at the pickup. If the oil pan isn't setting right and your pump starves then you also starve the rest of the engine. As far as pinion angle is concerned get the engine/tranny set right to start with, than adjust your pinion angle to go with the rest of your setup. Pinion angle won't make much difference if you trash you motor. If it don't make you dirty it ain't yours.
thanx everyone. i've done the pinion angle before and was able to get it on the $. i wasn't sure about the carb or engine being level, though. also hadn't thought about the oil pan. sounds like maybe i should keep the carb surfaces on the intake level, being as it's a factory original intake. i would****ume that the factory had the engine mounted with the crankshaft pointing slightly downward in the back, resulting in the carbs being level? are there any more issues i need to consider?
another consideration is that sometimes to get the carb level you tilt the engine quite a bit. Then, if your using side pipes with turnouts they turnouts end up hanging pretty low compared to the lines of the rest of the car. I have that problem with my T and am going to put wedges under the carbs. PetT
You asked; if you have a big rubber rake and a level carb, the engine may sit at quite an angle. If you lean your radiator back so it's paralell with the front of the engine, it's gonna look funny. OR If you keep the radiator square to the frame you may have fan interference at the bottom. And don't forget the mechanical fan blades should be as close to the top of the radiator as possible.....which means the engine sits kinda high between the frame rails. Drink a Beer and stare at it for a couple hours just pondering what effects what. TZ
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