Photographic help needed: pics or measurements of AMC V8 powered engine bays

[OldsCool]

I was wondering if some of you guys would be willing to help me figure out my engine location issue. My Jeep is an 82 model, so the 360 has been swapped in by a previous owner. I feel like it's sitting a bit too far back because the left cylinder head is touching a little piece of metal that is spot welded to the firewall and the fan seems to be too far away from the radiator. I will try to upload a picture of the piece of metal I'm talking about soon. Also, the clutch linkage will hit the header if I press it too far (fenderwell headers, BTW).

If I could get some pictures of which holes in the frame rails the engine mounts are supposed to be in that would be great, or even a measurement from the fan to the radiator would also help. My fan has no spacer at all, just the fan clutch and at the time, no fan shroud so temps climb while sitting in traffic. I am reluctant to buy or make a shroud just yet because the engine also appears to be mounted crooked in the engine bay so I don't want to buy a stock replacement and have it chewed up, or make one for the wrong location.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[OldsCool]

It's hard to tell by the pic, but if you look closely you can see the fan clutch in relation to the radiator isn't quite parallel. It looks like the driver side is slightly further forward the the passenger side.



This is the piece of metal the cylinder head is touching.

 

[cglax6]

It certainly looks a little far back...

Unless the mounts are adjustable, not much you can do about it unless you cut (or unbolt) them off and reset.

Also need to know how the transmission and xfer case are situated...do the shifters look like they're too far back/left/right?

What was the original motor? You can get that from the VIN number.

Just looking at it, it seems a bit too far back. That's a lot of space between the fan and the radiator, but it may just look like that without a shroud on it. It'll be interesting to see how the shifters are situated.

One thing I do know is that your clutch linkage isn't supposed to be hitting anything. You may be opening a can of worms on this one...

If the engine is cock-eyed, the whole drive train is too. The farther away it is from the engine, the greater the effect. Take a look at everything...driveshaft alignment, how the transmission is mounted to the skid plate, torque arm, etc. U-joints don't like angles they're not designed for. Do you seem to have a lot of vibration when you drive? The angle looks small enough to not have an impact, but you never know.

PO may have just been cross-eyed, uninformed, or he had to stick it in there like that to make it work well enough. Who knows...

Not sure if my pictures would help...mine is a CJ5 with a 304. Everything will be relative...

I'll try to get pics after I get home from work.

 

[jp360cj]

I was wondering if some of you guys would be willing to help me figure out my engine location issue. My Jeep is an 82 model, so the 360 has been swapped in by a previous owner. I feel like it's sitting a bit too far back because the left cylinder head is touching a little piece of metal that is spot welded to the firewall and the fan seems to be too far away from the radiator. I will try to upload a picture of the piece of metal I'm talking about soon. Also, the clutch linkage will hit the header if I press it too far (fenderwell headers, BTW).

If I could get some pictures of which holes in the frame rails the engine mounts are supposed to be in that would be great, or even a measurement from the fan to the radiator would also help. My fan has no spacer at all, just the fan clutch and at the time, no fan shroud so temps climb while sitting in traffic. I am reluctant to buy or make a shroud just yet because the engine also appears to be mounted crooked in the engine bay so I don't want to buy a stock replacement and have it chewed up, or make one for the wrong location.

Any help would be much appreciated.

I can try to get some tonight if I remember.

What do your engine and trans mounts look like? Worn engine and/or transmission mounts can cause the engine to lean back. Also, a tcase drop will cause the same thing.

 

[OldsCool]

The rubber engine mounts look soft and sagged. The engine and transmission are not the originals. It should've had a 258/T5/D300 combo but it has a 360/T-15/Dana 20. Axles are Dana 30/AMC20 with 2.73 gears. The PO bought it this way with the exception of the engine, which was the 304 when he bought it but it was no good, so the 360 went in to replace it. The cover plate on the transmission hump has been hacked for shifter clearance. No vibes at all while driving.

I have a lot of experience with Jeeps of all types. Been messing around with them since '99 but oddly enough this is my first V8 powered Jeep so I'm a bit stumped with this. I see on the inside passenger side frame rail where it looks like someone tried to drill out a rivet or something but gave up. There are six holes on the frame rail but they only used the two center ones to bolt on the frame side mounts. I'm thinking that maybe I should pull the mounts and put them in the farthest forward holes (and use 4 bolts instead of the current two) and hopefully that will straighten it all out.

I would eventually like to swap in a T18/D300 combo but most units I find are either priced way too high, worn out, or often times both. But in the mean time I'll be addressing all of the little issues that plague this thing from years of shadetree mechanic ownership lol

Again, thanks for the replies and if someone could snap a pic of the outsides of their frame rails so I can see where their engine mounts are actually bolt thrugh (or rivet because at this point I don't know how AMC did it) I think it may show me what I'd like to see.

 

[Idahododgeram]

I have a '77 CJ5 with an AMC 360. My driver side cylinder head is at least an inch from the fire wall and my fan (non clutch) is 2 13/16" from the radiator. I am also using M.O.R.E. motor mounts. Same tranny and T case. Not sure if this helps but I thought I'd throw you my measurements. Also, stock manifolds flow better than most headers IMHO.

 

[mtnwhlr]

My '78 304 has 3 1/2" top of valve cover to firewall and 3 3/4" from fan to radiator non clutch.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Cry one time, and get the MORE engine and tranny mount setup.
LG