LUVTruck.com

half-inch

Great pictures. Thanks for posting them. Interesting how you had to 90 off the radiator inlet to get it to work. That alternator made things cramped. Lucky for me my alt is on the passenger side. Battery might get in way though.

You could always put the battery in the back.

_________________
OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?

My battery is in the back. Thought about putting the alt. on the pass side but the aftermarket brackets are pretty limited for that install.

Keep us posted if this set up works. It would have been alot easier than mine and alot cheaper. Have you checked your hood clearence for the alternator with that setup?

No, have not checked for clearance just yet as I havent even gotten the engine sat in correctly. I am making a trans mount on my own and am going to work from the back mount forward on mounting the drivetrain.

I do plan on putting on a larger 4-5" cowel hood scoop hoping I will encounter no clearance issues.

I will post pics as the project progresses.

Dropped the engine in for a test fit today and am really having to massage it to get it back far enough to sit behind the front crossmember.

I am surprised people are not cutting their firewall up to get clearence they need with the transmission hitting the firewall. I am thinking to get the engine back far enough to permit my radiator to sit properly, I am going to have to cut out some firewall and fab it to go back 2" more or so.

Are people dropping the cross member the trans mount sits on to put their engine in? I carefully fed the tranny back and maneuvered it above the cross member but that sits my tranny/engine up high.

My harmonic balancer and the wide crank pulley for the serpentine belt setup really stick out far.





You can see my aluminum botom radiator brace under the pulley and that gives you an idea how much further back that engine needs to go before I can fit it with where I planned to put the radiator.

The instructions from the Hooker conversion kit states that the trans tunnel needs to be worked to be able to fit the tranny. They even show a drawing of what areas need to be worked. Usually this isn't reffered to as a firewall mod. Modification to fit an H.E.I. distributor is normally concidered a firewall mod.
Moving the engine and trans back far enough to fit might require working the firewall to clear the heads.
The trans mount bracket doesn't need to be removed to fit the assy if the Hooker mounts are used but with your custom serpentine setup, the complete assy is a bit longer. Running a single groove pulley setup is a tight fit in itself.
Ben put together a step by step guide to modify the trans crossmember so it can be removeable. You might want to look into this.

http://www.luvtruck.com/pdf/crossmember.pdf

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

you may want to consider moving your firewall back. You look like you need alot more room. If you do this it will allow you to give yourself some extra space for the distributor and those pain in the butt trans bolts in the rear of the motor. Just keep in mind space is a premium on the inside of a luv, it may not be an issue for you but I am 6'6''.

_________________
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy horsepower...and that's kind of the same thing...

Grabbed an air driven nibbler to start tearing into the firewall this afternoon. I will cut up high enough to make the HEI distributor accessable. So much for my heater tubes.

What do you need heater tubes for dont you live in AZ

I think you are making great progress its only difficult because nobody else has apparently done this setup. I cant give you any advice on the firewall because I have never done it. But if was doing it I would make plenty of room for distribtor, wires, trans bolts, and oil pressure sender. All of those are a real pain the get to on mine. Not even to mention the things on the front of the motor.

_________________
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy horsepower...and that's kind of the same thing...

true