Yukon Jack or other intelligent people-need advise

[jaros44sr]

I'm about to tackle my crossmember clearance problem. YJ, you said you put washers under your big block to get added clearance. Did you put them on top of the motor mount between the engine or in between the motor mount and the engine brace to crossmember.
I am considering making a 1/4" alum. spacer to go between the motor mount and engine brace(tower), just not sure if this is safe. I plan to get a grade 8 bolt 1/4" longer. Any thoughts, help???
Prothane said it should be the same motor mount and the oil pan has the same shape and size on the front half. Just don't know

[RustyParts]

I would agree with putting the spacers between the motor mount and the engine tower. Would rather deal with one bolt than three and it's out of sight. Wish it would warm up so I can start on mine again, I'm turning into a wuss in my old age.

[jaros44sr]

That's why I asked, exhaust manifold in the way and my fingers don't fit. OK I'll start to make the spacer, I can always stop

My workshop is 70 degrees and no lawn furniture

[jojotonka]

It looks like you already have an aftermarket oil pan?? My Milodon fit without any shimming.




However, because I didn't use any shims, now my headers are way to close to the frame rail. But they have never torqued enough to touch yet.

[Yukon Jack]

Who you calling intelligent! Surely not me

Anyway, here are a few pics of the washer placement that I did.



I did have to grind the passenger side frame a bit for the headers.

This is the passenger side, I used more washers on the passenger side



Here's the driver's side



Be aware that this will make your firewall clearance just a bit worse since your lifting the motor up.

I do believe using the 73-87 engine crossmember gets rid of the oil pan clearance issue.

[Big J]

What about pulling the crossmember out and notching or redoing it all together? I just seen someone notch a crossmember someplace. Didn't look too hard. Notch it and box it. If you use the single aluminum block it'd look sweet if you polished it on the sides! Stainless would be cool too.....

[jaros44sr]

Sorry JoJo, should have mentioned that I have 2 1/2" ramhorns, space seems OK to frame, well 3/4" anyway. I don't think the problem is in the oil pan, seems like they just took a stock oil pan and blew out the sides to turn it into a 7 qt.
In the old days, we would just chain the engine to the frame, awhile back I just missed out on a factory torque cable in the classified, oh well

The oil pan is so close to the rear of the crossmember that you can just get a dollar bill in there. My thought was the Prothane motor mounts are thinner than the stock ones, but I have no way of checking since I threw out my old ones

Thanks for the pics YJ, I was afraid you were going to say that you put the washers there, that looks like a real PITA to get them in there. And yes on the '73 and up crossmember, but if I do that I really wanted to buy the one from ORD, their's looks really trick
Looks like I'll go over to the '73 section and see if I can find one...one step forward, two steps back. Thanks for the input guys

[Yukon Jack]

Yep, if you have access to a welder notching it would be a great solution.

[Yukon Jack]

I have and scanned that article in the past. Let me get a link for ya.

The article is from 4x4 Power which was an awesome but short lived magazine.

Okay, they are still on my website, here's the link to the first page and the link to the second page.

[Burt4x4]

Thanks YJ, I didn't have much luck with my search

[myraley]

Wow guys. You are an impressive source of wisdom! I am going to try to find back issues on ebay or something. I thought about the DIY4x crossmember but people posted that it was designed for small blocks and there was interference with the big blocks. Maybe he could start making a big block one, cause it looks beefy for sure!

[Yukon Jack]

I agree there is a demand for a crossmember that gives more clearance. I plan to yank my crossmember and do some modifications so I can get my bbc sitting where it should be. I did some looking at how my engine is sitting and those washers I'm using definitely have a noticeable impact on how close the side of my engine is to the firewall.

[Burt4x4]

I know if you ask Kert to make it the way you need it he will. You may have to give him some specs on what you need..might be as simple as asking him to drop the loop by 2" or so??