I need advice from anyone familiar with putting a 303 Olds motor in a 32 Ford 3 window coupe. Here is the motor with an adapter from Ross Racing Engines and a T5 trans with an S10 tailhousing. I ordered the body from Brookville with a flat firewall thinking this would give me more room to fit the motor in without having to cut out to much. I also ordered a chassis from them. My first question is about setting the engine angle when mocking up to fab the motor mounts. With the top of the frame level, and the trans mount installed the mount has an angle of 4 deg. down towards the rear. Would it be ok to level the frame and bolt the engine and trans to this mount then set the engine to 4 deg. down towards the rear to match the angle of the trans mount. My next question is how far back do I have to set the engine to get enough clearance at the front for the radiator and fan. Here is the motor installed with 1 1/4" clearance between the distributor and the temporary card board mockup firewall. With the motor set like this I have 2 1/8" from the pulley face to the center of the mounting holes (see arrows) on the cross member. If anyone has a 32 Ford coupe and can give me a measurement from these holes to the back of the radiator it would help me calculate how far the engine needs to be set back for fan clearance. I'm planning on getting a Walker radiator since everyone says they are the best, but I don't have that yet. Let me know if there are any other things I need to consider to do this. Will I have to notch the firewall for distributor clearance. Interference with the steering gear or starter, anything you can add would be appreciated. Thanks for looking. For anyone interested I have a build thread for this project going here. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/an-amateur-chops-a-brookville-coupe.1130751/ I'll be showing the engine install as it progresses there.
IMHO you need to mock this bitch up. You need a radiator and a fan and possibly a hood of you are running one and finger it out. You can make tollhouse cookies with a recipe but hot rods are more of a pinch of this and a dash of that. I just did the same drill with a buddy on my 41 truck. It is the only way to make sure you are doing it correctly. Oh, and no "special butter" in mine please.
Replace that old distributor with a 56-60 unit. The 56 and up is larger in diameter, less chance for cross fire. A starter change over would help as the starter and steering box occupy. the same spot You can move the motor to the right and clear the box.
^^^ Set body on chassis at desired ride height before anything is welded. Is the car going to have a rake, you need to consider what size tyres you'll be using front and rear? As stated above install the radiator, grill shell and hood to get gaps right and then centre the engine / transmission assembly in the frame, check pulley clearance and adjust to the desired angle (down) which will need to match pinion angle (Up). Check and double check measurements and clearances etc, what about steering as you need to consider that as well early on and exhaust. If you need to move things back slightly to gain radiator clearance make sure that you can remove the distributor and that you have sufficient firewall clearance. Everything's position is relative to everything else's position. Once you're satisfied you can then fabricate engine / transmission mounts. My 2 cents worth.
I wouldn’t worry about the engine mounting until I had the frame a roller. Too many variables to put in the mix. Get the frame stuff done, the body in place where it needs to be, and have the radiator and grille shell ready to bolt on, then place the engine and work from there. I’d also have the exhaust I was planning to run handy,too. That way you can get the exhaust and steering position finalized before you build motor mounts.
He's right. We normally run the motor angle to have a level carb base, with the car at whatever rake we want...not just pick 4 degrees for instance. The only sure way of having fan space is wait for the Walker. The upper pulley clearance is not the tight spot, the lower swing of the mechanical fan blades is..to the bottom tank. Here is mine, 324 with the early shorter 49-50 dist which gave more clearance under the Edmunds air cleaner for 49/50 backdraft carbs. Mine has stock firewall, but the car was built with a original 4 cyl 1932 radiator, and I now don't have room at the bottom tank area for a repro radiator which are thicker..
^^^ I love me some Frank Cabriolet !! One of the best rides here. Good luck with yours !! Lookin' good.
I'd have to say that the primary reason for installing a swapped engine in at a certain angle is to get the carb mounting surface on the intake level so the fuel in the float bowl is level. Pinion angle comes into play too but as long as you have the carb level the pinion angle should be easy to figure out. I've got to go with those that say mock the whole thing up before you mount anything solid as far as engine and trans go. The radiator has to be in it's spot to be right otherwise things start looking a bit strange when you don't want them to look strange.
Thanks guys, looks like I was jumping ahead with my plans. I'll order parts for the front and rear suspension and get this car on it's wheels first. I'll wait until I have the radiator mounted to set the motor in place. Man I was headed down the wrong path, thanks for helping me get back on track. That motor looks nice in that beautiful Cabriolet Frank.
Listen to Frank on this and the others.....don't get ahead of yourself. Set the ride height, get the radiator installed with the grill shell and lastly work on the engine placement. Running cross steering will allow you to keep the starter on the drivers side and/or a mini starter may allow a standard period correct box for clearance.
Good information already provided. A couple of things I discovered on my '41 Ford p/u that I'm installing a 303 in..The mini starter from Ross clears the steering box, but you can still find the starter switchover adaptor to place it on the passenger side (E-Bay, here) if preferred. Hurst made a front engine mount for these, that with some searching you should be able to find one. You will have to use a later year fuel pump (smaller, non combination vac/fuel) or electric to clear front Hurst mount if you go that route. Like your build, be sure and keep us posted. Good luck.
On the fuel pump I believe that a Buick V6 unit works. I have that saved somewhere. I will try to remember where and repost it.
curious......with those shock mounts/headlight mount it looks like you are building a fenderless car? if so , did the frame builder move the front crossmember forward an extra inch? places like pete & jakes and So-Cal do for a bit more engine room. if Brookville didn't you may want to consider reworking it
You can run the stock dual diaphragm fuel pump with Hurst style mounts by removing the screws on the lower pump diaphragm housing, and rotating that lower housing so the fuel line is no longer blocking the rubber mount center bolt. The most important tip on mocking up an early Olds in a 32 with standard trans, is finding room for all 3 pedals, and the best spot/angle for the column. I would never set the motor back any more than needed for minimal fan clearance, as the column does interfere with the back of the cylinder head. Also, Setting the motor in too low will cause the column angle to be too steep. However if you go too high, that brings the bellhousing tunnel up into the floor more, and causes major issues with finding room for a comfortable gas pedal location. You really need the final steering wheel size and it's "dish shape" during mockup, and the seat, to make everything driver friendly. You don't want the top of the wheel in your vision, and if the wheel is too low, your knees hit it when using the clutch or brake.
I'm glad I asked for help. I'm getting a lot more info than I expected, all of it good. Thanks for the tip on using a later style fuel pump. I have the stock fuel pump that came with the motor but I didn't want to use it. Here is the engine mount I'll be using, I haven't tried to mount the stock pump with it. If the stock pump fits I guess the Buick V6 one will also. I will be building this car as a fenderless high boy style rod. I don't know if Brookville moved the cross member forward. Is there a way I could check, any measurements I could take to verify if it is in the stock location. The chassis is already set up for a Vega cross steer box so I will be using that along with a mini starter from Ross. Since I will be abandoning my plans for the engine install and moving on to building a roller chassis first, I have questions about front and rear axle widths. I plan on going with a So-Cal front hairpin radius rod kit and their 4" drop forged I beam axle. These axles come in two widths, one at 47" thru the king pin centers and 34" at the spring perch bosses and one 48" and 36 1/2" respectively. How do I choose the one that would work best. Also for the rear, I'll be using a Winters Nostalgia V8 quick change rear axle mounted on coil overs. This axle comes standard at 56" axle flange to axle flange. Is this the correct width for a 32 Ford Coupe. Custom widths are available. Boy I would have been in a real mess if I didn't ask first before moving on with this build. Thanks for all your help, if you can help me choose which axle width to get I would appreciate the help. Thanks for looking.
Don't let that trans mount dictate your angle on anything. That 4 degrees is just a shot in the dark and really is just plain miss leading. Ground profile is extremely important and that alone will dictate what degree to mount the motor and reflect to the rear axle housing. You aren't ready to do anything mount wise till you have the Rad that's going to live in the Car. Offsetting a motor from chassis center line on a fenderless car is often pointed out by most on lookers. Sometimes you need to hand craft brake and clutch hardware in these projects to get the job done. You also need to know what Tire Dia. your going to run. This will help set ground profile and final degrees of motor. The Wizzard
When doing first set up on a new chassis I only use a main leaf to set axles in place and tack in spacers between bottom of frame and the actual axles. Once done build the spring pack to set the car where it was built. I never use a full spring because you don't know how much a spring will compress, hence build the spring to the load. To bad they already welded your steering box mount on. You may wish it was in a different place before your done. There's your second Shot in the Dark. I do like your front mount, hope it works out for ya. The Wizzard
I had Brookville put the steering box mount on since I figured they probably use a jig to locate it. I'll move it if I have to. I will need the wheel base dimension, thanks Wizard.
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