Engine mount positioning?

Hey everyone,
I haven't posted here in awhile, but I have a really dumb question...

I'm looking to replace my radiator again, but I need to get more clearance between it and the fan (stock 4 blade). The cheapest solution is of course just move the engine back, but I've never actually tried to do that. Every time I change the engine mounts, I just let the engine settle where it wants and then tighten the bolts, so it's basically sitting as far forward and down as it can due to the shape of the triangular slot in the mount. I can position it anywhere within that slot, as long as it's roughly equal side-to-side, leaves the engine within a workable range for the u-joint angles, etc, correct?

If so, what's the best way to go about it? I tried loosening the engine mounts and the trans to crossmember nuts, jacked the engine up a little and tried to move it around, but I couldn't get it to actually go *back*. I'm guessing I'll need to try loosening the smaller bolts that go from the trans mount into the transmission to give it more play at the least since the crossmember isn't slotted for adjustment while the mount itself is.

Thanks!

When I needed to position my 250 as far back as I could in my '62 Ranchero, I used an engine hoist (lifting the engine from above) to barely pick it up so that there was no weight on the motor mount locations. Then it was much easier to move around. If the front driveshaft yoke doesn't slide into the tailshaft housing of the trans easily, you may need to drop the driveshaft. If the motor mounts and transmission mount are disconnected, the engine is lifted from above and the front driveshaft yoke isn't keeping the engine/trans assembly from going back, then interference between the bellhousing and firewall/transmission tunnel should be your limiting factor.

Regarding clearance between the radiator and the fan, do you have power steering or air conditioning? If not, you should be able to use a 1-V crank pulley, which might allow you to use a smaller fan spacer between your water pump pulley and your fan (if you have a fan spacer). Finally, I know this would cost a few dollars but you might be able to find an aftermarket fan that has a narrower profile.

Thanks,
Bob

62Ranchero200":25hqjdoi said:

When I needed to position my 250 as far back as I could in my '62 Ranchero, I used an engine hoist (lifting the engine from above) to barely pick it up so that there was no weight on the motor mount locations. Then it was much easier to move around. If the front driveshaft yoke doesn't slide into the tailshaft housing of the trans easily, you may need to drop the driveshaft. If the motor mounts and transmission mount are disconnected, the engine is lifted from above and the front driveshaft yoke isn't keeping the engine/trans assembly from going back, then interference between the bellhousing and firewall/transmission tunnel should be your limiting factor.

Regarding clearance between the radiator and the fan, do you have power steering or air conditioning? If not, you should be able to use a 1-V crank pulley, which might allow you to use a smaller fan spacer between your water pump pulley and your fan (if you have a fan spacer). Finally, I know this would cost a few dollars but you might be able to find an aftermarket fan that has a narrower profile.

Thanks,
Bob

Click to expand...

Thanks Bob. I unfortunately don't have access to a hoist anymore, but everything you said makes sense. I'll give it another go here sometime with just the jack and what not.

Nope, no power steering or A/C. I'm actually already running the 1V balancer. I have a 1" fan spacer on there now, and I think I can reasonably go down to a 1/2" before I get a little uneasy with the fan to alternator bolt clearance. So I figured between that and hopefully sliding the engine back 1/4"-1/2" I should have a reasonable clearance for the new radiator.

Responding to an older thread - I check in every few months or so and read a buch of posts.

To gain needed clearance between my engine fan and radiator, I moved my radiator forward. I unsoldered the mounting brackets from the tanks, removed some material from the mounting tabs so that the tabs would not overhang the tanks and soldered the mounting brkts back on. Effectively the radiator sits about 3/8+ inches forward. There was enough room in my roundbody to do this without any cutting or bashing of metal. I have a single sheeve harmonic balancer that drives the (forward belt sheeve of the) A/C comp and water pump. THe rearward sheeve on the A/C comp drives the alt.