Motor placement question

[sams60gmc]

Hey guys had a question for y'all. I've been fighting with the placement of my motor I wanted to see if anyone was running a similar set up that would have some input. Anyways having trouble with where to put my motor. Seems like it either has to be halfway in the cab to be lower to clear the crank pulley or super high where I don't think I could even fit an air cleaner. My set up is 3" Z 2" body drop and a Mustang rack. Running a small block. If anyone has some input I sure would appreciate it.
Thanks guys.
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[Scot_Douglas]

I went with 1.5" back (had to clearance my firewall for valvecovers and dist) along with 6" pulley / harmonic damper on an 80's serpentine setup - all to make the steering rack and engine somewhat fit.

Plenty of pics in my build thread.

[sams60gmc]

Originally Posted by Scot_Douglas

I went with 1.5" back (had to clearance my firewall for valvecovers and dist) along with 6" pulley / harmonic damper on an 80's serpentine setup - all to make the steering rack and engine somewhat fit.

Plenty of pics in my build thread.

Wow awesome that helps out a lot. Any chance you have pictures of your rack mounts. I also am running the stock x member and just wanted to compare mounts. Thanks man.
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[Scot_Douglas]

Unfortunately, I do not - but they are just tabs I welded to the crossmember to hold the rack where it needed to be.

[sams60gmc]

Well while searching thru your pics I saw that crossmember in front of the motor? Not sure what its for but then that got me thinking if I build a crossmember in front of the rack then i can get it way lower and not have so much trouble fitting my motor in there, so I think I'll go that route. Thanks for the help.

[Scot_Douglas]

That crossmember is for the radiator and the front-most crossmember on the frame.

One thing you cannot ignore in every build where you fit your own custom steering - The rack ends up getting placed where IT WANTS, not you!
The reason I went through moving my engine and cutting the suspension crossmember is because the geometry of my front suspension (stock, but moved up 2 inches from the x-member chop).

The easiest way for me to explain it might be with a diagram...


Look at the suspension arms in this picture - directly at their inner pivots. This represents your a-arm bushings in your truck. See the steering arm between them? see how its inner pivot point intersects a line drawn from the a-arm pivots --- the rack you chose will have a distinct measurement between the inner tie rod pivots. The height of the rack in the frame is determined by lining up the inner tierod end pivot points to intersect the imaginary lines that connect your upper and lower a-arm pivots - on both sides.

This directly affects bumpsteer and safe driveability of the truck. once you find where that wants to be, you can change you ackerman angle a bit by moving the rack fore or aft.

Sorry if you already know this and I'm not reading it from what you post, but installing a rack is easy. Installing a rack so that it drives well and safe is not!