Yes it is.
Can’t wait gonna be epic!
Were all gonna help keep your motivation up, 78 Mach1
That mock up has me excited, I mean just seeing it sit there is pretty cool.
An if the ‘Aliens” want to chip in on gas there invited too!
351 Cleveland swapped MII
- Thread starter 78 Mach1
- Start date
Were all gonna help keep your motivation up, 78 Mach1
That mock up has me excited, I mean just seeing it sit there is pretty cool.
An if the ‘Aliens” want to chip in on gas there invited too!
Definitely my favorite of all body styles. We sold a candy apple red 1969 Mach 1 two months ago. But I still have my 78 Mustang II.
Had some property maintenance come up that delayed progress on this. Now I’m ready to get back at it. My next step is to mount the engine plate and make custom mounts from the plate to the frame. I ordered the poly bushings and DOM stock today to make the mounts. Just waiting for that to come in and we will move forward on this.
I’m definitely running behind on my goal to get this car running before winter.
That’s how it always goes for me. But my goal now is to just keep pushing forward.
I’m definitely running behind on my goal to get this car running before winter.
That’s how it always goes for me. But my goal now is to just keep pushing forward.
Blackhawkxx
Advanced Member
- Mar 3, 2023
- 465
- 462
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I was able to build temporary adapter plates to the factory motor mounts and get the engine sitting in square and centered. Well almost. It’s off by 1/16”. But I doubt anyone will notice that. I may be able to correct that with the motor plate.
Sorry about the green tint in the pictures. The light over the engine bay makes everything have a green tint In pictures for some reason.
Sorry about the green tint in the pictures. The light over the engine bay makes everything have a green tint In pictures for some reason.
Here is the motor plate
template in place. This is pretty close to what the final will look like with the exception of the outer ends. I can’t do the final shape on them until my bushings and DOM get delivered. That should be early next week.
Since I’m at a stopping point waiting parts for motor plate. I decided to look at the tranny clearances. It was moved 1” over with the engine, so there’s no surprise I have slight clearance issues with that.
The shift rod rubs the tunnel and the neutral safety switch can’t come off in the car. So I have to clearance that.
My plan for the shift rod is to just turn the end the opposite direction. That will allow it to clear no problem.
The neutral safety switch is more difficult. I only need about half an inch. Although it goes against my normal quality of work, I may just have to clearance that with a hammer. I hate to do that. But for half an inch, it doesn’t make sense to pull the hole interior and section the floor.
The shift rod rubs the tunnel and the neutral safety switch can’t come off in the car. So I have to clearance that.
My plan for the shift rod is to just turn the end the opposite direction. That will allow it to clear no problem.
The neutral safety switch is more difficult. I only need about half an inch. Although it goes against my normal quality of work, I may just have to clearance that with a hammer. I hate to do that. But for half an inch, it doesn’t make sense to pull the hole interior and section the floor.
Yes. Zero concerns with the oil pan as far as ground clearance or cross member clearance. It turned out pretty good. Although, if I happen to stumble across a good deal on a moroso oil pan, I’ll buy it just for the additional oil capacity. Especially since the Cleveland is known to have oil starvation issues.
Not a big job. But still well worth it. While I am waiting for parts on the motor plate. I decided to go ahead and install my new door seals. These we’re unavailable for a couple years during COVID. But as soon as they became available again, I ordered a set. They’ve been sitting in the hatch for several months now. I used this down time and installed them. Doors shut like brand new now.
Made a little more progress this weekend. My bushings finally came in.
Cut the round stock to length.
Layed out brackets on 1/4” steel.
Cut all pieces out and welded them up
Here they are mocked up on the frame rail.
Cut the round stock to length.
Layed out brackets on 1/4” steel.
Cut all pieces out and welded them up
Here they are mocked up on the frame rail.
The more I look at it the more I don’t like how I had to cut out around the mechanical fuel pump. Makes the motor plate look off to me. So I am seriously contemplating getting rid of the mechanical fuel pump and running electric.
Also, the further I get into this job the more things I discover won’t fit. Power steering for instance. The power steering pump would sit right where the engine plate is. I don’t see any way to maintain enough material on the engine plate to hold and clearance for a power steering pump. I may be switching to a manual steering rack. I’m still on the fence with that one. We’ll see how it plays out.
Also, the further I get into this job the more things I discover won’t fit. Power steering for instance. The power steering pump would sit right where the engine plate is. I don’t see any way to maintain enough material on the engine plate to hold and clearance for a power steering pump. I may be switching to a manual steering rack. I’m still on the fence with that one. We’ll see how it plays out.
Alternator is going to also be tricky. I may have to go with a single wire Chevy alternator and build custom brackets that put it above the motor plate. I’ve still got time to worry about that later. But this is all going on in my brain as I move forward.
I read 20 year old forums where guys did the 351 Cleveland conversion back in the day. Apparently there was a kit sold to do it. I sure wish I knew someone that had that kit. I’d love to see how they addressed the power steering and alternator issue.
I read 20 year old forums where guys did the 351 Cleveland conversion back in the day. Apparently there was a kit sold to do it. I sure wish I knew someone that had that kit. I’d love to see how they addressed the power steering and alternator issue.
The Cleveland oil starvation issue was not due to oil pan capacity or design. It was internal and there are ways to fix that. Limit oil to rockers so more oil to crank ect. Lots of information on that out there.
That being said, I would rather use a baffled oil pan than the stock one any day. All front sump pans, regardless of make, have this concern under hard acceleration.
When we built this Cleveland we did get the oil restriction plugs put in. It also has the oil modification kit installed which routes oil from the block right at the oil pump to the back of the block to force feed oil to the number 4 and 5 main and rod journals. You can see the oil tube crossing the intake in my pictures. That will supposedly significantly help with the inherent oil starvation issue. I’m no expert, that’s just what I’ve learned through research. However, there are some people out there that believe another part of the problem is the oil pump will pump oil into the valve covers faster than the heads allow it to drain back to the oil pump. At high rpm’s this causes oil starvation at the pump. One YouTuber claims he tested this theory and ended up with 3 quarts of the 5 quart capacity in the valve covers during a dyno pull. I don’t know for sure if this is factual, but that’s the information out there right now.
My thought is if that is true, having higher capacity oil pan could help in this situation.
My thought is if that is true, having higher capacity oil pan could help in this situation.
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