Leveling the engine

[Ponycar_302]

I was at my buddies house right after he got done dropping the engine in his project. He was saying that he got it leveled. What does that mean? I asked him, but he just kind of rambled and I don't take much stock in what he says.

[Big Bopper]

He probally meant exactly what he said,...I don't know what kind of project it is but when do up custom stuff ie;home made cnc motor mounts or homemade welded mounts same goes for trans mounts, you have to get the pinion angle right on. I made some motor mounts and trns mounts with my buddys CNC machine (I think it's called a "CNC" you enter your sizes or scan it 3d, you put in a chunk of alum,steel,plastic ect on your milling machine and voila cool custom made stuff, the machine was $75,000.00!!!!!!!
Cop eh?

[PKRWUD]

Odds are that that is what he meant. A few years back, my buddy and I built a '64 Ranchero street racer, and we thought we needed custom made mounts, but as it turned out, they created an unacceptable pinion angle. We ended up getting the right mounts, which made the angle correct, and ended up "leveling" the engine.

Take care,
-Chris

[Ponycar_302]

,...I don't know what kind of project it is

OK, perhaps I should have been more specific. He is building a Factory 5 Cobra replica. He installed a 5.0 from an 89 LX and used solid motor mounts.

Does this leveling technique need to be done when installing any engine? He told me it does or you'll blow transmissions. I'm on my third tranny now and this has me thinking. Granted, two of the trannies were pretty much junk, but I also hosed a brand new T-5 WC. That has me concerned. I had my engine rebuilt about a year ago and don't know if it was leveled. I'm not sure how much torque I have, but that was what I chalked up 3 trannies to until now.

Do I need to level my engine, or at least check to see if it's leveled?

Cop eh?

Nah. I'm a corrections officer.

[PKRWUD]

There are two angles to be concerned with in your driveline. The first is the shaft angle, between the driveshaft and the engine, measured at the rear of the transmission. The shaft angle should never be more than 1 degree less than the engine. The second angle is the pinion angle, which is the measured amount of degrees between the rear yolk and the driveshaft, measured at the differential. The desired angle has the pinion pointing down 4 to 5 degrees, when parked on a flat surface. Sometimes the only way to acheive the correct shaft angle is to raise or lower the engine.

Take care,
-Chris