motor location

[handyhands]

my 5.3 seems to be mounted higher then most. it looks good where it is, all angles look close. no room for anything. am I missing something on the motor location? pcm will be mounted under mastercylinder on inner wheel well. bring wiring up from the back. s10/Ad

[torchlight]

Nothing wrong with it mounted a bit higher as long as the angle to the driveline is correct. We certainly have plenty of vertical space available under the hood! I'm thinking the angle you took this photo from and the fact you don't have your radiator cowl sheet metal installed might be making your engine look a little higher than it really is. Would rather see where the back of the engine sits in relation to the firewall to get a better idea.

[mr48chev]

It looks a tad higher than the norm but most of them almost look lost down in the engine compartment when the center line of the crank is on the same line as the crank of the six was. All you ever saw of the 350 in my 48 was the air cleaner when I had the v8 in it.

As Torchlight said as long as everything fits and your driveshaft angle is livable you should be good. I'm wondering how big of a trans tunnel you had to make with it up that high though.

[b-mac]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

I'm wondering how big of a trans tunnel you had to make with it up that high though.

My thoughts exactly...is your driveshaft in the cab?

[spectral]

hard to tell with the photo perspective, but it looks to be angled rear down quite a bit. To me the only reason to have it that high is if it helps with headers around the steering box (if its stock) maybe? Often the rear exhaust port fouls on the shaft collar as it enters the box.

I have mine with the bottom of the pulley around 3/8" from the crossmember. Enough to slip a belt on/off etc... and even then its still a *slight* bit bigger angle than the stock pinion.

I'll need to use block huggers to clear the steering box though.

[NorCalGal]

Lower motor=lower center of gravity, better handling and smaller trans tunnel.

[dsraven]

are you stock solid axle? gotta have clearance for oil pan on large bumps. could use the hotrod or camaro pan to gain some clearance. check the pirate 4x4 site for ls engine info and oil pans used on different cars/trucks.

lower it as much as you can get away with for center of gravity/handling concerns. mind the pinion angle. usually oil pan rail on engine block is 3 deg down to the rear and pinion angle is 3 deg up to match and cancel out driveline vibrations. use a digital angle finder if possible. check out this youtube for an explanation of what you "don't want to" do just to get the engine in place. you will pay later for driveline vibration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idk3BVDVHq4

also keep in mind the steering box clearance for the exhaust unless you plan on a different than stock set up. the box could get hot and cook the gear oil inside leaving that nice hot gear oil smell all the time, plus a worn out leaky box. if changing the steering keep in mind you may need a straight shot to the steering gear/rack for the column. also need to decide what you may use for engine mounts and exhaust manifolds/headers.
you may also have trouble with the engine cooling if the rad is significantly lower than the engine partially due to the cyl head steam lines. also gotta be creative for rad hoses. the ls engines have the thermostat on the coolant return hose of the engine, not like a small block with the thermostat on the outlet of coolant being sent to the rad. the heater hoses play a part in the thermostat being able to read the engine temp correctly so they have to be connected or at least looped together so the stat gets a flow of coolant past it to be able to tell engine temp correctly. pirate 4x4 has a good explanation of this on their site

[handyhands]

OK, here is a little more information. it is a S10 swap, truck 5.3(2002)4l60e, stock motor. I left the trans dip stick in stock location and it almost touches the firewall putting the motor about 1 1/2" from firewall.(flat panel) motor is not back in the recess. I do have a pretty high trans hump and didn't relies I needed a driveshaft tunnel until a few weeks ago. I still need to trim chassis for driver side header. stirring looks to have a clear line to the box.

[b-mac]

If you can make the sacrifice, the SUV manifolds will likely resolve your frame notching issue.

Rebuilding the motor mounts might be easier than tunneling the floor. Just my $0.02, which is all that it's worth.

[joedoh]

how tall are your cab mounts? because it looks like you have stock S10 suspension and a really low ride height. the motor doesnt look like it is up out of the frame a lot, looks about right.

[dsraven]

if you have a stock truck engine are you using the stock oil pan? what is your ground clearance like? you probably don't want the oil pan to be the lowest point of the truck. a Camaro or hotrod conversion oil pan would likely fix that problem. you would need the pan, baffle, oil pump pick up and "o" ring, dispstick and tube.
check this link for ls info and other good to know stuff on stock oil pans etc

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billav...SPrimer/Part1/

[handyhands]

The problem with the floor is the drop down section under the seats. I think it will be just a small section to tunnel. Not sure about height of the mounts and the pan is the truck pan but it is only a little below the cross member. Right now the radiator is slanted out over the stirring box, now that I have the new radiator I may change that.