Having taken a small break from working on the ChevyBaker we addressed the engine mount issues. The previous owner, who resurrected the car from a field, installed a nice 327 Chevy small block. Of course the car was not built for this so some things needed to be "adjusted". One of these "things" was the engine mounts.
The engine mounts where made from plate steel - bolted to the engine - and then bolted directly to "something". In the case of the drivers side it was to the hydraulic dampener top bolt.
We found a fabrication shop and after discussing the issue(s) gave the ChevyBaker over for some work. Along with the metal on metal mounts we found the engine was mounted:
- too high
- more to the left than centered
- was actually not sitting in-line with the drive shaft (rotated counter clockwise)
- and had a bit of rotation in it.
- In short - it was wrong on every axis.
What follows took a year to compete.
New Mount - with rubber insert:
Engine reinstalled:
The engine now sits at the correct height and orientation.
The over arching issue was/is the steering bell crank and reach arm. As you turn the steering wheel the reach arm pushes/pull the bell crank which is mounted on top of the cross member. This means the engine can only be lowered so far... You may also notice we removed the entire heater system as it was junk.