Ls engine position on s-10 chassis???

[KevinsKustoms]

I started building a 1951 five window chevy and have decided to do the S-10 chassis swap. Ive got the s-10 down to the rolling chassis. I have a 2002 5.3L with 4L60-e trans that I'm going to run. My question is were the motor should set as far as having room between the engine and firewall and the engine and radiator. I've seen motor mounts sold that set it forward or back in incremants of 1/4 " i think. Anyway any info would be great. I would like to drop the motor in and be done with it and not have to worry if the cab is going to clear the motor

[msaintg]

The first thing you need to do when putting an AD on and S10 frame is to center the front wheels in the AD wheel wells. You basically need to mount the front fenders to the cab and set everything in place to do that. You also have to decide where you want your ride height to be because if you set the cab on too low, you will need to make a transmission hump for it. I only used a 4.3L V6 and I ended up moving the engine back 5", but I have lots of room behind the motor AND I still am able to run the stock fan. Exhaust manifold clearance, stearing column clearance, etc all have to be considered before you set the engine 'height' wise. So modifying the firewall down the road may not be avoidable (and not so bad)

[KevinsKustoms]

Thanks, I guess I need to just not worry about motor placement until I get the cab and front clip set. I'm going to have to build a new trans tunnel anyway because I want the steps to almost be on the ground when the bags are laid out.
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[akdg87]

look at the dirty dingo adjustable mounts.. i believe you can adjust the motor while its in the truck by loosening the bolts and sliding back or forward.

[mr48chev]

I don't think anyone could put it better than Msaintg did in his post. Outside of having to have the front wheels centered in the wheel wells, there is the height that each builder sets the cab at on these frame swaps to deal with.

[KevinsKustoms]

Thanks for the info about the motor mounts, winter is coming and I'm eager to get started on it
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[BlueJeep]

You can check out my build for how I did it. I did not use bolt-in engine mounts, I cut them to fit and welded them in where I wanted them.

[S10Fan]

Originally Posted by msaintg

The first thing you need to do when putting an AD on and S10 frame is to center the front wheels in the AD wheel wells. You basically need to mount the front fenders to the cab and set everything in place to do that. You also have to decide where you want your ride height to be because if you set the cab on too low, you will need to make a transmission hump for it. I only used a 4.3L V6 and I ended up moving the engine back 5", but I have lots of room behind the motor AND I still am able to run the stock fan. Exhaust manifold clearance, stearing column clearance, etc all have to be considered before you set the engine 'height' wise. So modifying the firewall down the road may not be avoidable (and not so bad)

Amen! That's the procedure I used with my 50. I must have set the cab in place 4-5 times to get everything where I wanted it. After all that was done, it was time to set the motor in place, tack weld the mounts then take everything apart.......again. LOL