Well its been a while since I updated this blog, busy life this past month or so. I did manage to peel off some time to make progress on the project.
Biggest milestone is the engine is in the truck.
This was my first time mounting an engine so I was really trying to take my time and figure out the best method. Since the frame had no existing mounts I need to source some new mounts. I went back to one of my favorite sites and found they offer a Gen 3 Hemi engine mount set.
I spent a lot of time measure and re measuring to make sure the engine was centered and the trans was sitting at the -3 degrees to match my differential. Once I was happy with the location and happy with the clearance I measured from the center of the engine mount bolts to the frame to figured out where to cut the brackets. Tacked them in and bolted the engine down.
I did a test fit of the front sheet metal to see if everything would squeeze under the hood, as you can see I have some issues to deal with at some point. I really want to run to full hood with the sides but currently the alternator is sticking out on one side and the oil dipstick on the other side.
In order to even move the engine I had to figure out the best way to pick it up. Some research online it seemed some people used straps and just went around the engine in various places. This wouldn’t work for me and I needed to level the engine for mounting. Mopar sells a very pricey peice of metal for moving them around and I felt spending 300 USD was a waste. So I just copied it and made my own bracket. This worked out great and allowed me to hoist the engine without any issues.
Finally off the palette and ready to be mounted…sigh the oil pan is wrong, I need a rear sump oil pan to clear the front cross member and power steering rack.
Took over a month for this new pan to arrive, it got caught in customs for a couple of weeks. The kit I ordered was.
Once it arrived it bolted right up, but as you can see the new pan doesn’t cover the fly wheel. Mopar sells a dust cover but it doesn’t work with the Nag1 transmission. I have seen people modify them to make it work and that is what I might have to try. But first I think I am gonna hack up the old oil pan and see if I can make a cover out of it.
Now we the pan swapped I was able to test fit the motor and without fail I ran into a new issue within minutes. The oil filter is hitting the power steering rack. Luckily off the shelf solutions exist for that.
45 degree oil adapter that should move the filter out of the way, for now I just removed the filter so I can get everything mounted.
With the Engine mounted I just need to put in the transmission cross member, that is the next big job.
A few other things I tackled while waiting for parts.
Rear Coil overs arrived, I cut and installed the towers and mounted up the shiny new coilovers.
The other job I worked on was more work on the doors, the glass and power window setup had arrived so I figured while I had time I could get that installed.
