Getting the engine/trans in

[roguegeek]

I’m very much a novice as well, but I just went through this and it was my first time so here’s how I would answer your questions:

1. I would install everything on your crate, bell housing, clutch, trans etc. get everything secured, torqued, loctite etc so you don’t have to worry about it later. Also you won’t be scrambling to find pieces because you installed 3 out of 5 bolts just to secure it temporarily. Do it once and that’s it.



2. I would remove hood, and radiator support minimally. The fenders can stay on ( I know they will be loose because they are secured at the rad support. I think it’s ok. Or if your worried that much then remove them.

3. You are correct the crossmember will be removed when installing engine and trans. You will support the trans with a jack for now.

4. I would not remove the shifter from the trans. I would keep it on. When you install the whole engine and trans as a single unit, get the motor mount bolts in. Once you get the motor mount bolts in, you know your engine or trans isn’t going more back or forward, your locked in. I then jacked up the trans until the shifter hit the tunnel. I marked where it hit the tunnel (first thing that should hit is the actual shifter). Now take out the engine/trans and you will have the center of where to drill a hole for the shifter. From center you might want to drill the hole 1/4”-1/2” forward from that point because the higher your trans goes, the more forward the shifter goes. Drill a hole just large enough for the shifter to poke through the hole. When I say shifter I’m talking about just the actual shifter (not shifter and boot) your drilling just 3/4” hole or so (kinda hard to explain, hopefully you know what I mean). Once you have the first hole for the shifter (3/4” hole) reinstall the engine and trans, jack up the trans, now the shifter should poke through, you will need to cut a bigger hole so the boot can fit through the tunnel, but now you have a starting point and to make the future cuts you don’t need to take out the engine and trans. Just lower the jack, this will drop the trans down giving you enough room to make your whole larger from inside the car. Go slow using either tin snips or a dremel tool to slowly englarge the hole. Your making the hole large enough to where you can position the engine high enough to allow your crossmember to slide in. Your speedtech frame or crossmember might have a suggested pinion angle and or a block that mounts between the trans crossmember and tranny to push your trans up and have proper pinion angle. I would call speed tech and see what they recommend.

5. In my build I’m not using any stock components, but if your going with stock console/look there is a rubber boot that slides over the shifter, screws to the trans tunnel and gets sealed with seam sealer.

Good luck! Once you get everything into position it will become pretty self explanatory. The only suggestion is making the hole for the shifter 1/4”-1/2” forward of your mark because as the trans goes up, shifter position changes slightly. Make a small hole to start, poke shifter through, adjust trans, make hole bigger then repeat until everything is in the right place.

Thank you so much. So much good information here that I'll be applying! I'm sure I'll have some questions as I parse and apply it all.