82 UK Spec Laredo Scrambler Build No 2

[Dave The Sparky]

I can take some measurements if it would help you. I am around 1.25-1.5" offset to the drivers side. Distributor is very close to the firewall, I wanted to leave space for 2 extra cylinders. Further from the firewall will help with the fan shroud if you keep the mechanical fan. Those mounts should be easier to weld in than what i used as the height and offset appear to be fixed.

Which mounts did you go with?. According to the More blurb these will bolt in to the original engine mount chassis holes and also have the offset built in to clear the front prop but i must admit i wasnt sure where the gearbox and the back of the engine will end up.

 

[Dave The Sparky]

Well mounts are temporarily sat in using the shortest bolts i had that would do the job!.
As this is all trial fitting, had to take some metal out of the bump stop bracket and a bit out of the MORE bracket so it would line up with the bolt holes.
In MORES defence it did mention in the instructions it may need altering.

 

[Dave The Sparky]

Engine sits quite nicely the only issue i have is that although these mounts are advertised for both V6 and V8 they must both mount in the same place so as this is a V6 then the whole engine and gearbox is a bank of cylinders further forward than it was.
So its thrown the whole lot 3 to 4 inch further forward than it was mounted which will make good for access to the engine and will ensure i have no distributor issues as sdsupilot mentions but not sure if it will cause issues with the gearstick as the T176 is a really short box so i dont want to be smashing my knuckles in to the dash when changing gear.
Also means i will need to redrill the skidplate and also extend the rear prop and shorten the front prop to make it all work.

 

[Dave The Sparky]

These photos show the skid plate where it was mounted and where the gearbox is now.

 

[Dave The Sparky]

Well after some measuring and head scratching i reckon this is where the mounts need to be or the shifter will miss the hole in the body tub and be sat under the dash.
If the gearbox was 4" longer or it was a V8 then i think it would be fine but need to come up with a plan to place it here instead once i ensure the front prop will fit okay.
As a side note the 4L60E would have the opposite problem as that is one very,very long setup, the D300 shifter must end up between the seats somewhere surely!.




.

 

[CJ7Pilot]

Well, that's a bummer!

Like you, based on their description, I would have guessed that the mounts would have worked equally well for the 350 and the 4.3. They worked great for my 350!

Is there space on the mounts to drill new holes, or will you have to drill the frame? Of course, welding is always an option.

Good luck!

 

[certifiablejeep]

Would swapping the mounts from side to side (in that case it would flip them around) and be a difference of a few inches or am I going the wrong way with this... probably won't work, just looking at it before my coffee and it jumped at me.

cb

 

[ag4ever]

It would also chage the offset of the engine. I think those mounts have built in offset towards the driver side?

 

[certifiablejeep]

Could be, I don't know much about that Chevy v6... I am just going through my normal troubleshooting... is it plugged in? did you put it in backwards? Are you sure you didn't change anything? oh, you changed something... funny you said you didn't... what did you change?

that sort of stuff... lol.

cb

 

[sdsupilot]

I would be pretty tempted to move the engine back and weld the mounts in place. Since the frame is sloped down, you may need to put some strap steel on top of the frame to get the engine to sit back (Mine slopes 4 degrees down from front to back).

 

[sdsupilot]

Some measurements from mine.

I put a square on the front of the engine. The square shows the front of the serpentine pulley at 7” back from that hole/oval in the passenger side frame rail.

The center of the distributor is 4 3/8” from the firewall.


From the firewall to the arm of the belt tensioner is 25”. That is about 20 5/8” from the center of the distributor cap to the belt tensioner (for reference on yours)


If you don’t go further back than that, you should have plenty of clearance.

 

[bigwalton]

Dumb question, have you talked to MORE?

 

[Dave The Sparky]

Thanks for the measurements sdsupilot will check and see where we are with it all next time i am at the workshop.

Dumb question, have you talked to MORE?

No i haven't as i think the issue i have really isn't to do with the mounts they are completely fine its the combination of a shorter V6 with a T176 which has its shifter on the top of the box whereas most Jeep manual gearboxes seem to have the shifter at the very rear of the box so everything is getting thrown towards the front of the Jeep.
As said the mounts are made with an offset to tilt the engine towards what would be the drivers side in the US so cannot reverse them etc they were mounted correctly before i believe.
I can drill the shorter mount and still get it in some of the engine mount holes but the longer one is going to need some fabrication work if i want to bolt it on.
They need welding on regardless of where they end up i just need to work out where that is first!.

 

[Dave The Sparky]

The saga continues after lots of measuring later the engine and mounts are now sat here on a 40mm bit of angle, need to drop the tub back on and check for clearance everywhere but i think thats where its going to end up.
The black line on my masking tape is the cutout for the gear stick plate so the shifter will be just inside (i hope!)

 

[Dave The Sparky]

Had enough of the V6 jigsaw puzzle for now, this probably should be in the beer thread but hey its time to relax with 2 of my favorite things!

 

[ag4ever]

Really digging your brake lines. Much better than factory lines!

 

[Dave The Sparky]

Well its taken 9 months for any sort of progress update which gave me lots of time to ponder my options and as someone also pointed out the T176 and clutch setup were going to cause me multiple issues with the modernish multipoint V6 and lack of 4L60E attached to the ECU so i have had a change of plan which has caused me even more aggravation but hey its a Jeep i am used to it!..
For anyone else going this way with the manual setup It would of meant drilling the block for the starter motor which fits in a different place due to the smaller flywheel.
Installing a clutch slave cylinder to the T176 bellhousing meant cutting bits of metal off the block and it would of been completely in the way of one of the exhaust manifolds, i since found out the manual blazers have an internal slave cylinder in the bell housing which makes more sense.
So then there were the issues with the 4L60E needing to br programmed out of the ecu but i had made my mind up and ordered the Advance Adaptors kit and bolted the 4L60E back n by then!.

 

[Dave The Sparky]

And that was just the start of my driveshaft fitment issues which i now learn everyone seems to have with a D300 and a 4L60E combination.
On mine with the MORE mounts and the AA adaptor it was never going to work as they intended without seriously altering the pan on the transmission.
To get it to fit i have had to do 2 things the first of which is to drill some more holes in the AA adaptor to clock my D300 upwards a bit more to get the yoke further away from the transmission pan, you can tell where it was bolted up originally.

 

[Dave The Sparky]

The other thing is to completely disregard MOREs instructions that state there is only one place to mount the engine and thats where they have designed it to go!...
I have packed up the driver side mount by nearly 2 " to tilt the engine over to give me the clearance i need.
Hopefully it will not cause any issues with the hood but other than fitting full size axles i was going to be struggling.

 

[Dave The Sparky]

So even after all this the drive shaft will still catch the lip on pan should the axle go near its bump stop, so that needs to get ground flat and the clearance between the pan and the shaft is still minimal but it does clear.