'90 K5 - Project Betty - LS3 Swap for a DD/Offroad/Utility Build

[cliles]

So it appears my ORD mounts are tilting backwards a bit. I remember thinking I needed to do that to get the bolt holes to line up, but it's been so long, I don't remember what the mounting plate even looks like.

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[cliles]

ORD Mounts

Looks like there is only one hole down there, I chose the rear most hole on the ORD mount, I might could move it to the center hole, but there is so much distance from the mounts to the flange face, I doubt I could change the angle much. The easier option would be to try to raise the tcase.

Not exactly sure how I would lift the engine to move the mount, will have to do some thinking.

 

[y5mgisi]

What one guy on here, and I don't remember who, did was the ord mount is made up of two pieces of plate that go up and weld onto the bushing sleeve.He cut tthe plates down about to where the bushing sleeve was touching or almost touching the bottom mounting plate if that makes sense. Looks as if you could drop the engine nearly a whole inch by doing that. Keeping in mind that it will also effect the rear output shaft.

 

[y5mgisi]

I feel like what I would do just to see if your on the right track, is hook your crane or engine hoist up to the front of the motor and lift up just enough to get the mounts out. Then lower the engine down about as low as you think it can go, and then crawl under and check your angles with the engine still suspended by the hoist. Be cautious obviously. But then you can get a feel for if this is an Avenue to explore or not.

 

[cliles]

I guess great minds think a like, because that is essentially what I did yesterday. So my output flange is out 9.5 degrees not 5.5 (which is for sure the problem). So I raised the Tcase 1 inch with a jack, and got 0.5 degrees. I then took the motor out off the mounts with the hoist, and lowered it 1 inch (I only have 1.5-1.75" to play with), and got another 0.5 degrees.

That gets me to 8.5 degrees which is still a long way from where I need to be.

I ran out of time, but I am really at a loss for how the angle can be so different. What I mean is, the engine cannot really be much lower, the Tcase is at the exact same height as stock (just clocked). I would have to lower the engine a foot to get close to level.

 

[y5mgisi]

Hmm something seems funny here. I wish I had an angle finder so I could measure mine. I have an ls engine and I swear mine is pretty close to vertical. I'll go take a pic anyway.

 

[y5mgisi]

Hmm something seems funny here. I wish I had an angle finder so I could measure mine. I have an ls engine and I swear mine is pretty close to vertical. I'll go take a pic anyway.

Pics are uploading. I can tell you that the bottom of my valve covers are about 7-3/8" up from the top of my frame rails. I'm using adapter plates and stock mounts.

 

[Babaganoosh]

I have a small block Ord cross member and it clears my ls pan by a 1/4 but I also have tall diy4x mounts

 

[y5mgisi]

Here's what I got.



You can see my Trans mount is shot. So it probably would go up another 1/2" with a new mount.

 

[cliles]

Just by looking at the tcase, the angle really appear to be appreciably different than mine. Like I mentioned before. It would take a lot of drop and raise to get to vertical.

Babaganoosh, didn't you say that you were running a lower truck oil pan? I wonder if that is where some of the height difference comes from.

 

[treborjm87]

Interested in how this all works out...

 

[Babaganoosh]

Just by looking at the tcase, the angle really appear to be appreciably different than mine. Like I mentioned before. It would take a lot of drop and raise to get to vertical.

Babaganoosh, didn't you say that you were running a lower truck oil pan? I wonder if that is where some of the height difference comes from.

I have the gen 3 truck pan.

 

[cliles]

without measuring mine, it looks very similar. Cannot be much difference.

 

[y5mgisi]

Did you measure and see how far off the frame your valve covers are?

 

[cliles]

Not yet, will get it tomorrow.

 

[cliles]

Valve cover bottom to frame on the front of the engine is 8.5 or approximately an inch higher than yours

 

[y5mgisi]

Interesting stuff. What happens if you set the motor down on the crossmemeber? Will that get you to 7.5? And if so, does that help your angles?

 

[cliles]

Not really, I lowered the engine 1 inch, got 0.5 degrees (in the good direction) off the front flange. Raised the tcase 1 inch, got another 0.5 degrees. I am going to need a decent bit more like 5 to 7 degrees to make things work, which is impossible

 

[cliles]

Drive shaft Angles

I remeasured everything after the 10 degree shim install to send to arizona driveshaft to review.

They wanted me to fully compress the driverside leaf spring and measure the distance from flange to flange. I got the axle up 19 inches (higher than static) before the spring stopped flexing and the truck began to raise. I am not sure if that is good or not.

 

[y5mgisi]

They are probably trying to get the diff to droop as much as possible. I think what you did is probably pretty sufficient to get them what they need.