Raising the subframe does create a couple issues, though, which need to be addressed. The first is the engine and blower are pushed 1 inch closer to the hood, and our engine package with the massive Kenne Bell 3.6-liter blower is pretty tall. Second, the transmission tunnel has to be raised to make room for the T56 transmission.
Moving the engine has some great benefits, and in our case was a necessity because of our tall engine package and compressed subframe to body relationship.
If this were a naturally aspirated LS engine with no blower on top, we could have moved the engine back a couple inches and tucked the engine transmission package under the hood easily, even if we compressed the subframe and body by using no bushings. For us, we wanted to move the engine a lot anyway for the weight balance effect. But we also have to say that cars can still handle wonderfully without changing the weight balance. We do not want anyone to feel they have to move the engine to get a great handling car. Remember, we are being Unfair!
The above paragraph is a disclaimer of sorts because the firewall and tunnel modifications are by far the biggest scratch fabrication projects we will do on Project Unfair Advantage. There are no reproduction replacement parts for what we are doing. So we simplified the process so someone else could do this possibly at home, or at least trim labor hours at your shop building your car. A $40 wheelbarrow from our local hardware store saved dozens of hours trying to form a recess for the engine which is moved 5.5 inches under the firewall. In our case, we have to also notch the upper firewall for blower clearance. Our supercharger now is going to be even with the edge of the cowl filler between the windshield and hood.
Follow along, and next month we will put our super-trick Art Morrison suspension in. I promise you have never seen anything like it.
Calculating The Effect Of Moving The Engine
Moving the engine back is an old trick for hot rodders. On our front engine/rear drive muscle cars, moving the engine back solves several problems (but creates new ones-see below).
On Project Unfair, we not only had to move the engine back, but down as well. The massive Kenne Bell supercharger sits high on top of the engine and we want to keep our hood to a 2-inch cowl. No 4- or 6-inch cowl hoods for us, thank you.
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We are going to need to widen the wheelbarrow a bit to get the clearance we want, but we w
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The wheelbarrow is made of 20-gauge sheetmetal, which is perfect for this kind of work and
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Before we could even install the transmission for mock up, we needed to figure out how muc
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Using the centerline of the top bellhousing bolt in the car, it is 6.5 inches to the tunne
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Plasma cutters are so cool! A cutoff wheel would work just fine also. Even though we are m
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Setting the driveline angle, our base angle is 2 degrees down. Two degrees is ideal, but a