Thread: Engine Location question in 32 Ford frame.

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I have a 32 Ford frame that I am mounting a Ford 302 motor in. I know the location I want front to back, however I am looking for comments on locating the motor up and down. I have the frame positioned at a 3 degree rake, my plan is to mount the motor with the tranny tailshaft 2-3 degree lower than the front. What I need is a dimension I can use to position the motor up & down. I can easily set a straight edge across the top of the frame right in front of the crankshaft and with a dimension set the motor and locate the motor mounts and tranny mount. Anyone out there have experience installing a 302 motor in a 32 that could provide a reference dimension? Thanks

Set the frame at the exact angle it will be at when the car is completed and the exact ride height. When I do this, I leave a ground-to-oilpan clearance of 4". Lower the engine/trans in between the frame rails with the intake manifold in place on the motor, less carb. The carburetor mounting surface of the intake manifold will be your zero reference angle. Set it exactly level front to rear and side to side, then make your mounts. You can also position the motor/trans side to side in the car, in other words, you could move it to the passenger side of the car slightly for steering clearance or whatever, as long as you keep the crankshaft centerline parallel with the centerline of the car from a bird's-eye view. If you move it too far, you'll want to check clearance at the transmission tunnel, floor and crossmembers. When you mount the rearend, bring the pinion up at the same angle the trans output shaft is pointed down. In other words, trans shaft 2 1/2* down-bubble, pinion 2 1/2* up-bubble.

Exactly.

I always like to get the engine and trans up in the car, keeps the profile of the car cleaner, no crap hanging down. It is no big deal to modify the tunnel in a glass body.

Also a great idea the push the motor over to the Pass. side a touch - make life much easier with steering/exhaust clearance later on.