Blueridge142

Hello all. I am swapping my engine in my foxbody, it's a one for one swap but the issue I ha e run into is when I put the other 5.0 in it leans back a lot! It just doesn't seem right. I can rock it back and forth on the motor mounts, but it seems like it will use the tranny to level it out, which I would think would put a lot of strain on the transmission. Maybe I am wrong and am being overly worried about it, but this is the first time I have ever seen an engine lean so far back. I have done easily over hundred tranny swaps and engine swaps in my time and have never encountered thos before. Anyone out there ever come across this or have an idea what's going on? I've tried different motor mounts with the same results. Thanks for any replies.

Blueridge142

So I had a brain fart, I dont know what's wrong with me but I finally realized that this is how the motor mounts work with foxbodies, lol so I feel a little silly now. Anyway if people are curious the motor will flop back and forth when the tranny is removed and nothing else is hooked up to the motor, the motor mounts and the tranny cross member hold the motor in place (duh) on the fox body.

wbrockstar

Since the following info is related to the subject matter,I thought it would be a good addition.Recently a member on a different site had similar issues motor mount related.Make sure the motor mounts are installed with the correct orientation.It was possible for him to install the mounts not only on the wrong side of the car,but also upside down.On his second attempt he kept the mounts on the same side,but flipped them over.So now,the mounts were installed with the correct part of the mounts facing up/down,but they were still on the wrong side of the car.So on his third attempt,he moved the mounts to the other side of the car and finally, he had them installed correctly.Moral of the story,the mounts can indeed be placed upside down or on the wrong side or upside down & on the wrong side.If you install them on the wrong side,it will move the engine & transmission forward an inch or so.A hint to this is,the shifter (5 speed) will be too far forward to mount the handle because it will hit the sheet metal where the hole is cut out for the shifter.If they're upside down, the engine will sit higher/lower,cant remember which.If your
mount has the round rubber piece,it should face downwards once the mounts are installed.One other note: Im not sure if every mount in the 86-93 range is this way,but some mounts are actually a two piece design.One part is the rubber block,rounded piece & the stud that sits in the crossmember hole.The second part is the metal bracket piece that bolts to the block itself.If you're doing a rebuild,replacing the mounts or removing them for any reason,mark their orientation up/down & driver/passenger before you remove them so you wont have to go through what this member did.
Hope this helps someone in the future.

imp

FWIW, the small block Ford from 260, 289, 302, 5.0 HO, 351W has different bolt hole locations for mounts from one side of block to the other. IOW, the holes on one side are farther from the bellhousing parting line on one side. This fact coupled with quite a number of different design mounts used over the years in differing models can cause some interesting problems. Also, the hole locations for all those above engines are identical. imp