Motor towers/ mounts

[HMA]

Need some help guys. Just finished swapping my 67 camaro front sub to a DSE hydra form subframe. The problem that I having is that the sb motor seems to be about 3/8" too far back. All I swapped was the sub from my stock sub and now I am having clearance problems with my distributor hitting the firewall, driveshaft hits the trans seal and the air cleaner hit the back of my cowl hood when I try to close it. Alignment pins were used to ensure the sub is in the correct location and all my gaps are exactly as before. I have about an 1 1/2" of play forward in my trans crossmember so the engine is clearly sitting in the frame to far aft. When I talked to DSE they said that with stock towers and body mounts the engine should be in the same spot and does not push it aft like their LS mounts. They have no ideas. I open it up to the masses for help. I was thinking about looking at the different year/ block combinations of towers and mounts to see if any will move it forward. I have the 67 stock motor towers for a 327 sb and am using the energy suspension engine mounts on my current 383 that I swapped. Any help is appreciated.

Evan

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Need some help guys. Just finished swapping my 67 camaro front sub to a DSE hydra form subframe. The problem that I having is that the sb motor seems to be about 3/8" too far back. All I swapped was the sub from my stock sub and now I am having clearance problems with my distributor hitting the firewall, driveshaft hits the trans seal and the air cleaner hit the back of my cowl hood when I try to close it. Alignment pins were used to ensure the sub is in the correct location and all my gaps are exactly as before. I have about an 1 1/2" of play forward in my trans crossmember so the engine is clearly sitting in the frame to far aft. When I talked to DSE they said that with stock towers and body mounts the engine should be in the same spot and does not push it aft like their LS mounts. They have no ideas. I open it up to the masses for help. I was thinking about looking at the different year/ block combinations of towers and mounts to see if any will move it forward. I have the 67 stock motor towers and mounts for a 327 sb. Any help is appreciated.

Evan

do you have the old frame mounts bushings and spacers from before the swap. I have see a few cars (67 Camaros and most 68-72 Novas) that had a 1/2" - 3/4" metal spacer at the mid mount position. In some cases it can make a big difference.

[HMA]

Vince,

Thanks for the reply. I had the same motor towers and energy suspension bushings with the previous sub that I have in the current setup however it didn't have this problem of being too far forward. By spacers in the mid mount position does this raise the engine or push it forward? Thanks


do you have the old frame mounts bushings and spacers from before the swap. I have see a few cars (67 Camaros and most 68-72 Novas) that had a 1/2" - 3/4" metal spacer at the mid mount position. In some cases it can make a big difference.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Vince,

Thanks for the reply. I had the same motor towers and energy suspension bushings with the previous sub that I have in the current setup however it didn't have this problem of being too far forward. By spacers in the mid mount position does this raise the engine or push it forward? Thanks

It will "tip" the subframe forward and depending on the spacer thinkness can give you that 3/8" space you are looking for however I believe you may need more than 3/8" if the drive shaft is contacting the seal at ride height.

Since the DSE frame utilizes a welded nut plate for the motor plates you are looking at modifying the frame stand bases.