My engine does not sit right (pics inclued)

[Tasandmnm]

So ever since I got my 93 Cobra the engine has not sit right. When I first got it the engine sat too far back towards the firewall and it sat too far to the passengers side partially smashing the Air Inlet hose and Mass Air meter against the side of the engine bay. The car was in a front end accident before I bought it and was not repaired very well, the paint is very bad on the front of the car.

I recently got the motor mounts changed and that seemed to cure the problem of the engine sitting too far to the passenger side and smashing the air inlet hose, but it still looks to me like it sits way too close to the firewall. This also causes my shifter to sit too far back in the hole, when I am in first or third gear it almost looks like it should look sitting in neutral

So what does everyone think it could be? K-member maybe? Frame bent? I have looked (as have several other people) and we cannot see anything bent visually. I have also changed the tranny crossmember when I upgraded my clutch a couple years ago and that made no difference in the way things sat.

Oh and if some people could post some similar pics to what I have here so I can compare I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Deleted member 87397]

Doesn't look too strange to me. Maybe your motor mounts are worn and tips a bit to one side or something.

 

[Tasandmnm]

Well like I said I already fixed the problem of it sitting too far to the passenger side by putting on new energy suspension motor mounts. But it definitely sits a bit too far back toward the firewall, I will head out right now and snap some pics of how my shifter is sitting right now to show you better.

 

[LAZERREDGT]

Distance from fan to radiator looks normal, really can't see anything thats looks out of place.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Is your trany mount wore out? Maybe get a urethane bushing back there, might tip the engine forward a bit.

 

[Tasandmnm]

pics of first through reverse, sorry about how blurry they are I had to hold the camera up over teh shifter to get these.
1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

reverse

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

That definitely looks way too damn far back to me, but then again i'm not using to looking at a shift handle with that much bend to it.

 

[Tasandmnm]

That shifter handle is just the Steeda one, I am using the lowest setting for it.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

That's basically what i'm running only mine is steel that my buddy welded up for me but he used his handle as a template. If you have new motor mounts i can't see why the engine would sit funny.

 

[Tasandmnm]

I am thinking K-member or the frame

I didnt replace the tranny mounts when I changed teh clutch, I only replaced teh crossmember. Maybe I should just try changing the tranny mounts before doing anything else since upon a visual inspection the k-member and frame do not appear to be off any.

 

[Blandnuts]

Did you get mounts that sit the motor further back?

I'll try and snap some pics in a little bit.



Fred


Edit: Here's I already had....I'll try later on the shifter.

 

[FineLineMtrsprts]

If it was in THAT bad of a frontal accident your k member could be cocked sideways or your frame bent. Could be a bad trans mount...but if its that are you eating u joints in your driveshaft?

 

[ryan218]

id take it to a shop that is good with frame damage and have them look at it..

 

[Tasandmnm]

I got stock replacement motor mounts, it was already sitting that far back before and after the motor mounts..all the motor mounts did was cure the problem of it sitting too far toward the passenger side. And I am not going through U-joints abnormally...although I think that just because I am not does not mean that is definitely still couldnt be transmission mounts.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I dunno, doesn't look that off to me. I'd prob need to see it anyway.

5.0's naturally sit slightly offset to the passenger side. It's to clear the steering shaft. If you were to look at a brand new 5.0 it would look like the entire drivetrain was shifted offset to the pass side.

The motors also look as if they are tilted back in the bay naturally.

The shifter pics tell us nothing really. The relation of the handle can change with any aftermarket shifter combo. You need to pull the boot and inner shift boot off and take a pic of the base of the shifter in relation to the hole in the trans tunnel to be sure if it's back too far

 

[Daggar]

I don't see anything that strikes me as odd either. I mean... aside from you're using tap or well water in your radiator. Don't do that btw. heh

 

[Tasandmnm]

Well without going to the extent of taking the cover off I can tell you when I istalled it it was a PITA because the two rear bolts were partially underneath the non open part of the frame, I could not use a socket on them, I had to wrench them on if that tells you anything, The tranny is definitely a bit off. And I know the 5.0's sit slightly to the passenger side and toward the firewall, but my air inlet hose was literally smashed against the side of the car before I changed motor mounts.

 

[Tasandmnm]

That orange their is actually from some orange high mile radiator fluid from a while back that came through the overflow before I got my fan clutch changed out. That stuff really dyed some things orange and I haven't got to cleaning it all up.

 

[68keyblr]

id take it to a shop that is good with frame damage and have them look at it..

+1, a shop with a frame machine can measure the unit body in all dimensions and tell you down to the faction of an inch on 3 axis how your car is out of spec. They can fix it too

 

[onefstsnake]

yeah that shifter looks way off.

Mine was cocked to the right after I blew up the rear end. But it turned out that I broke a motor mount and trans mount.

And my A/C line doesnt touch the sensor on the firewall like yours does, but it looks like a replacement line so I dunno.

Definately get it looked at.