Hello Guys,

I am ready to do my engine swap and I realized that the idler pulley for my serpentine belt will not clear the 1951 F1 stock V8 engine mount. Can this bracket be removed without messing up the strength of the frame? Can I cut it and then brace it another way? Pictures would be helpful.

It is a 1998 Ford 5.0 from an explorer. I has the tubular after market engine mount to hold the 5.0. It is bolted to the frame rails with gr 8 bolts.

The transmission crossmember is also cut with a tubular cross member bolted below the frame rails.

I am keeping the stock front axle and will be installing the CPP underfloor mount power dual master cylinder with disc brakes in the front and drums on the back.

Any other information that you need to provide advice, please let me know.

Thanks for everything...

Steve

 

You can go ahead and remove the two boomerang mounts.

 

What will be left to keep the frame rails square? Nothing but the front crossmember under the radiator. Can't you just notch it a little?

 

AXracer and Ross,

You have just demonstrated the repeating dialogue that is going on in my head. I bounce between just removing them (cleaner) to just cutting away the metal in the way (less attractive). I was hoping for a tie-breaker. The front crossmember looks very broad and attached in a number of places that I would suspect would be enough to keep the frame from forming either a flat or twisted non-square parallelogram. Any experiences, either way, with this setup? Any known catastrophic failures?

Thanks again,
Steve

 

We took Gary's out to make room for his 4.6 mod motor. The front crossmember, all the rest of the crossmembers and cab is way more than enough to keep the frame square IMHO. Not going off roading or pushing over trees with it, so there is little stress trying to diamond the frame. If you are putting in a lot of HP/going drag racing then we need to start a new discussion.

 

How big is the interference? Is there an alternative to cutting, like raising the engine a bit? Or moving it back a ways? A different serpentine system?

There are (were) three pieces that each provided major resistance to "diamonding" or twist on the frame; the front crossmember/engine supports, the trans crossmember, and the one over the rear axle. The trans crossmember is the stoutest by far, but it's gone. The front crossmember only resists diamonding because of the engine supports. Your new engine support and trans support don't add back any significant triangulation.

 

Right or wrong, I took them out of my 49 when I dropped in my Caddy engine. I also boxed the front half (well more like 1/3) of the frame.


I haven't noticed any diamonding (is that a word?) of the frame but then, I'm not sure if I would.


My big Caddy does make quite a bit of torque and I do get a fair amount of frame twist when I hammer on it (even with the boxing plates). I don't think the original boomerang engine mounts would effect the twisting of the frame much.


I say, drill out the rivets and get rid of the interference.


Bobby

 

What do you guys think?


I removed a section of the boomerang, then fabricated 1/8" boxing plates to firm up the strength of the boomerang!

 

I would knock the rivets out and toss them. The front crossmember along with the new engine crossmember is more than enough to keep things in line.

 

I heard that but I thought that I would be creative and keep the brackets. I cut the space to clear my serpentine pulleys and then boxed in the remaining steel. I really like how it looks and it keeps a bit of the history intact.

Thanks, Steve

 

Not being well versed in such things, it looks to be a substantial amount of support you would be removing. I also would look to move the engine around to make it work. Or put some sort of bracing back in afterwards. Just my uneducated 2.

 

I have already cut out a portion of the boomerang and added back the boxing plate for strength. I guess it was not clear in the pictures.

 

If you like it that is all that matters, the fun part of hot rodding is adding your own touch to the build.
Good luck!

 

With those mods it looks like everything will be stuffed in there pretty tight. I would ask how is the ease of removing motor, and any engine part while motor is in, exhaust manifolds alternator spark plugs power steering pump.

 

This is an engine swap project. It had a 1968 302 in there that needed to be replaced. The engine mount worked well, but there was interference with the boomerangs. The only mod that I made was to increase clearances around the boomerangs.

I received opinions that ranged from "you don't need them and cut them out" to "your frame is going to diamond or taco and you will need to reinforce that structural element." I went with a middle ground approach. Cut out the section that is in the way and make it strong.

The fit is rather tight especially around the stock steering box and the headers. Otherwise, I didn't have any problems with general maintenance access to make repairs. It should be easier now.

Thanks for your comments.

Steve