engine positioning

[SHunter]

Hey guys, I got my m52 settled into place yesterday and I'm a little concerned about where its sitting. The head is actually brushing the firewall and I'm afraid when its running it might tear up my passenger side brake line.


It looks like the front of the engine is sitting a little high too but that may be just an illusion. There is no tension on the chains BTW.


I'm using the green e34 engine mounts and e36 trans mounts on the e30 crossmember. I had to flip the passenger side engine mount around to go into the outer slot and then everything seemed to line up right. The thing is, everybody worries about the ebay headers hitting the subframe and mine aren't even close but they are right up against the firewall/footwell. I put a couple of washers under the driver's engine mount which seems like it'll buy me enough room for the exhaust but I'm mostly worried about the tilt and head against the firewall issue. Is that just how these sit? Does anybody ever shim the trans mounts? It seems like my engine mounts are just a touch too tall.
I'm open to any input you may have.

Steven

[Mr.SWISS]

Uh no. I have a good 10mm clearance there man.

[jrdeamicis]

Do you have your transmission mount in?

[hwy84]

Yeah... soooo.... no. That's all hosed up.

E36 Motor Mount arms? What transmission are you running?

[MaxBell]

I'm practically resting on the firewall and the shifter is still too far forward.

[gobuffs]

Once you bolt up the tranny it will be fine.

[SHunter]

well, those pictures were taken with the trans bolted up.

Its the ZF trans that was mated to this engine originally.

Trans mounts from the same donor car.

e36 motor mount arms from the same.

I have a couple hours in the morning before work that I can mess around with it. I'll let you know what I come up with.

[325issguy]

That looks exactly like my engine did before putting the transmission mounts in. Something is not right. Take a picture of your motor and transmission mounts so we can take a look.

[SHunter]

Well doods, my fault. I had two problems and they were both pretty simple fixes. Amazing what a night of sleep will do for your clarity.

The passenger side mount was cocked just enough that the indexing pin was holding it up a bit. Also, I had the spacers for my e36 rack on the bottom, lifting the rack into the space the engine was supposed to be in. Doh!

It sure looked like better geometry having the rack in the high position but if it won't fit that way I'll just have to deal.

Now the engine sits as it should and I have a little space to work with. It looks like I'm still going to need to do a little work to get the exhaust to line up right but it shouldn't be too bad.

[Mr.SWISS]

Much better! It's easier to position with just manifolds on, I had hell the first time because the salvage cut the pipes 2-3" past the flanges so I had some pipe hitting the subframe keeping it from sitting down where it should have.

This last time with the S52 I dropped the subframe and front suspension and it went like clockwork.