Setting the motor low as possible?

What are the advantages of setting ur engine in the bay low?

what problems will you run into with the engine up high?

Here is my problem. I can set my motor in really low in the cradle do the rack and pinion I have. The problem is My 1100.00 A460 headers will not work in that position. In order for me to use the headers I have I will have to install the motor at the stock location as if I was using motor mounts. So is it really a big deal for the motor to sit up High? Or should I try to sell the headers, drop the motor low and get custom headers made? thx all opinions appreciated. here is the motor dropped low.

If you need to get the car up on the tire don't get it real low.

just out of curiosity ...who did your fogger ???........ you have a huge diff in lenght of line ????? have you had the fogger flowed yet ???? it will probably be a good idea .

I'd put it where the headers work, after looking at the pics again it looks real low.


Better off using a good wheelie bar than trying to get it to hook with no weight transfer.

Low mounted engines are best used in a chassis car type deal.........the fox platform already has a lot of front weight bias and leaving the engine high in the chassis will work better IMO.

X2 on what Jon said.
The OEM chassis sit higher than a tube car with an acordingly higher CG as well.
If anything keep it stock height or maybe a inch higher, but no lower.

Shes lookin good Charles!

Thx to all who replied. thx Al martin. And Bruno the fogger is used off of a small block intake. I just threw it on there to see how it looks. I ordered new SS tubing to redo the whole thing over again.

In the most general theoretical thinking the higher/farther back you place the engine, the "greater" the possible suspension action/reaction (speed/energy/leverage/violence....call it what you want) will be for a given amount of engine "at launch" torque/power output. And the lower/farther forward the engine, the "lower" the......blah. blah, blah, etc, etc.

And generally speaking the larger any given car's suspension "adjustment window" is the more you can "fudge the car" adjustment wise to work with a less than desirable engine placement (for the amount of power you have to work with). But there are limits to any fudge factor, that's why you see more & more people being OK with traction control devices.

As Jon said a super low engine placement is more seen in full chassis cars, but the amount of engine torque/power does play a part too. This becomes apparent when you look at full chassis cars in slower door car class vs a faster door car class. Say you take two similar looking door cars, say a faster modern "stock body" Top Sportsman car vs a modern Super Gas car. The T/S car with say a 600-700" nitrous motor might have the crank nose C/L only 10" off the ground, while the slower S/G car with a n/a 514 might be in the 12-13" range off the ground & sitting a little farther back in the car....... it's all a balancing act.


In the grand scheme of things (because of the factory frame layout), moving the engine up/down/forward/back only an inch or two might not really have as much effect how the car works as having a ton of built in chassis adjustment will.

Thx Dave.

WOW, That's REALLY low. Hell the bottom of my Master Cylinder is just above the spark plugs on my car (About stock location and the pan is on the rack with a stock K-member). Yours is WAY lower.

D. Sea wrote:WOW, That's REALLY low. Hell the bottom of my Master Cylinder is just above the spark plugs on my car (About stock location and the pan is on the rack with a stock K-member). Yours is WAY lower.

Thats what I was thinkin!!

Did you lower the rack a bunch to accomplish that? If so, you will have some big bump steer problems.

Bill

Mine sits about the same height, master cylinder and top edge of tall valve covers nearly on level plane.

Higher the thing sits, the easier the weight transfere for launch, but also the more unstable the side to side load. Lower it sits, the harder it is to transfere launch weight, but the more stable the top end feels.

Ide rather work the suspension a bit more to get a launch hook, than drive a squirrly worm around at 200mph on the top end.

here are pics of the motor up higher so the headers will work. But now my 6inch hood sits on top of the air tube on the carb. worked all day trying to find a sweet spot. Gotta try some more.

get a bigger scoop.

Charles why do you complicate everything, just put it together and if it is the scoop you are worried about Man they make some more just go buy another one.....


Randy

The engine does look larger & more imposing (more "bad ass-er") the higher you mount it.

kim wrote:Higher the thing sits.......the more unstable the side to side load. Lower it sits........the more stable the top end feels.

And that is a good point too. The lower a car's C/G the more likely it will try to just slide on the slicks vs digging in & rolling if the car gets loose & ends up in a sideways slide.

.........flip a coin.

I think that little tire is gonna want it higher up lol.

charles,
if your having a issue with the carb air hose. Just find a 90 degree sparkplug boot and run a short length of hose off it.

Uncle Charlie mentioned this mod in a thread on the old site.
Good luck.
Al

the Coug wrote:Charles why do you complicate everything, just put it together and if it is the scoop you are worried about Man they make some more just go buy another one.....


Randy

Not making things compicated, was just stating whats going on. When I get off today I'm gonna try to lower the front of engine at least 1/4 inch. I had the same problem with my last car and I just cut the air tube in the front of carb. Thx.

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:The engine does look larger & more imposing (more "bad ass-er") the higher you mount it.

kim wrote:Higher the thing sits.......the more unstable the side to side load. Lower it sits........the more stable the top end feels.

And that is a good point too. The lower a car's C/G the more likely it will try to just slide on the slicks vs digging in & rolling if the car gets loose & ends up in a sideways slide.

.........flip a coin.

Your right that motor looks huge in the car like that.

charles
i have a cowl scoop that will work. i will let it go cheap. you can come by and look at it if you want. is that engine empty? because that front end is sitting real high.
stosh
586-759-0485 wk
586-850-4133 cell

017stosh wrote:charles
i have a cowl scoop that will work. i will let it go cheap. you can come by and look at it if you want. is that engine empty? because that front end is sitting real high.
stosh
586-759-0485 wk
586-850-4133 cell

Ok thx, I'll call you later. the engine is not empty,lol. The car is leveled out on jack stands.

My Deal

my motor is 1.5 inches lower then stock and 1 inch off fire wall -my car works real good 1.28 sixties with a nos convertor stock style suspension,witha 29.5 x 10.5

Low and forward........thats all im going to say about that.....

feetfirst wrote:Low and forward........thats all im going to say about that.....

interesting feet