The Floyd Brothers 68 Barracuda Fastback

[Stu]

Ivor, that did make I laugh. I hate hairy string, puts that 'orrible tingle down my spine...

Never realised so many people were watching!

Got to work right now, will sift through photo's and update this afternoon, hopefully. Thank's to all those watching. (And thank's to Blue for not swearing at us for phoning him on a Sunday morning ofr advice. Top man. )

[Jeff]

No that were Sting Jeff!

Ahh.....

[Stu]

Okey dokey, few minutes to update!

So, once the car was on the lift (having lost half of our first paid day ) we set about getting the mounts attached to the block, only to find I'm a dimwit... What's the point of getting the mounts if you've got nothing to bolt them up with! (Motor didn't come with any attached.) So let's loose another half an hour rooting through boxes to find the right size bolts... This is getting stupid!!!

We had a selection of engine mount brackets, following a visit to Dunc, as we weren't 100% sure of which ones were correct given that it's RHD. Still, the fella at Stateside Auto's had checked through all his books and reckoned it was the biscuit type rubbers, so one of the pairs of brackets from Dunc looked right. (Fair play to Dunc, he let us take an extra couple of a different type, just to cover all bases. )

So, bolted up, on went the mounts, the motor finally made it up into the air and slowly but surely... in it went!

Sort of...

With a bit of shoving and pulling, the passenger side dropped into the hole on the K beautifully! "OK this side" I shouts from there. Rocking and a rolling, methinks....

"Nowhere near this side" comes the shout in return. Oh Bananarama!.

[Stu]

The drivers side was sitting right over the top of the mount on the K, so clearly wasn't going to line up anywhere close. Much scratchy heads and strokey beards later, having offered all the remaining mounts up in a "one eye closed, hold it out at arms length between eye and subject, turn down both corners of the mouth and say Hmmm...." kind of a way, and it didn't seem like any was an obvious fit.

Only solution looked to be to turn the offset biscuit mount 180 degrees, to bring the bolt roughly in line with the oval slot in the K, hopefully giving enough room to "adjust" the positioning. (Put a big prybar under it and drag it into position! )

So back up went the motor, off came the mount, turned it round and back down for another try.

"OK this side!"


...


... "OK this side too!"



"Sort of..."

[Stu]

So here's how it sat on each side. (Remember this is a RHD car, hence the descriptions look wrong for what you might be used to.)

Just couldn't be happy with it pearched on top like that.

[Pete]

Result!
Sort of

[Pete]

I don't know about left hookers, but LHD cars have the motor mounted 2 1/2" off-set to the Passenger (Right) side of the car (for a Big Block)

You have to "juggle" the engine around a lot as (now you have probably found out) the motor will slide up and down the mounts. I had to pack the sides up to get the correct offset so that the drive line to the rear axle is correct.
You need to measure the CL of the motor -

[Blue]

Drivers side bracket is bolted to the engine upside down. If it won't fit the right way up, you have the wrong bracket. Can't think of any reason a RHD car would use different engine brackets.

[Stu]

Out of interest we stuck a spirit level across the top. This showed that we weren't in level at all. It needed to go further down on that side. But even with the mount turned round and perched slightly precariously on top like that, it was right at the end of it's travel in the K frame end.

Better view from the rear of the bay...

[Stu]

Morning chaps! didn't see those responses as I was typing out my reply.

Blue, that bracket is clearer from the rearer shot, but it is 1 hole one side, two holes the other, so only offers up one way unless we's being dim? (Always possible! )

Pete, CL? Is that Centre line?

This was the easy bit! Didn't come across the real problem till later!

[Ivor]

Stu, I reckon you have the engine mount brackets the wrong way round, the passenger side mount on the driver's side and vice versa...that's my guess

[Stu]

Tried that Ivor, but one has 4 holes, the other has 3. Corresponds with the brackets, so can't see another sensible way of getting them on.

[Pete]

Spirit levels are OK, but you have to level the car first before you can check the engine. You may find the floor is miles out, as I did....

You need to measure the centreline of the crank to each Chassis rail, and align this to any data/measurements you can get from any documentation or a "standard" RHD V8 car.....the engine often has to go up or down on the mounts to achieve these measurements.

In the Sox, I had to raise both mounts by about 3/8"....

[Jeff]

I know Joe replaced his OK on his RHD Barracuda. I will ask him over the weekend.

[Guy]

I'm not sure Stu but to me it looks like you have two passenger side brackets , because the one on the passenger side looks right and the drivers side one looks to be the same as ..... if you see what i mean