Dropped the 351w into a 69 1/2 Mav yesterday. Took forever and can still only get the passenger side mounts connected !!!! The engine appears to sit alot lower than usual and to the driver side more than the other. The harmonic balancer sits on the sway bar. The crank pulley is below the front cross member. If it sat like that, there would be no room for the fan !! If I make some sort of mounts instead of using the factory ones, the bellhousing wouldn't go in the tunnel !!!! Am I doing something wrong, or is it because it's basically a Falcon and only came with a 6cyl. ? I don't know, I'm really frustrated at this point. Any help appreciated. Darrel
You wouldn't be the first to put the mounts on 'backwards' (ie,. try swapping the motor mounts from left to right).
I tried the mounts different ways and still had same height issue and side to side offset. It just changed the front to back distance. The towers are notched, engine sits so low the headers cant go in because they hit on the tower near the a-arm bolt !!!! They aren't anywhere near my notches, and I know it's low enough because I had to grind a little on the a-arms to clear my new plate !! And like I said before, the harmonic balancer sits on the sway bar. Also tried to fit the factory exhaust manifolds on and there's not enough room. The engine sits toward driver side rather than centered in the bay. I'm at a loss
This is an early model Maverick (69 1/2) it wasn't available with 302. I was wondering if the offset toward the driver side was to accomodate the 200's exhaust ? Also with the chassis being lower to accomodate the 200's height ? Is this thing actually a Falcon chassis or what ? And if so, do I need Falcon swap mounts ?
Post a pic of your frame and engine mounts. The 69.5 and the 70 shared the same floor pans and basic sheet metal layout. I am not aware of any significant offset. Sounds more like a mount issue to me.
The 200 is not a tall engine, the 250 is taller. Earl Branham is running a 302 in his 69.5 and if I didn't know any better, I would think it came in there. The only thing diffrent on a 69.5 is the floor and gas tank. The engine compartment is no diffrent then any other Maverick.
Here's a few more pics . In the overhead shot you can see how the engine sits to the driverside more. And after I looked at the pic I noticed the engine even looks a little cocked. Odd, because the mounts are seated correctly. In the other pic you can see how low the engine sits. The exhaust ports are almost below my tower notches. The mount pictured is the passenger side, the driver side is too tight and low to get in to. Darrel
Like Lance said, I agree its a mount issue. I'd like to see pics of the frame and engine mounts. Where did you get them?
I don't see how it would make it sit lower, but I think you have the frame mounts reversed L to R. Looking at that third picture, I see the offset coming to the front of the car, and it should be going to the back. Also, the motor should be closer to the passenger side, which would also point to the mounts being swapped. Here is a shot of my frame mounts looking straight down, showing the offset going to the rear.
After looking at the mounts again, I have them reversed. However, I don't see how this would effect the height. Also, the driver side is about an inch from letting me put the bolts in. Is it possable that the lower end moved inward ? This car was in a serious rear end hit awhile back based on the repair I found in the body. And the driver side rear frame extension is bent toward the gas tank about 2 inches. But what is odd is that when I got it, it rode, drove and tracked fine with the 6cyl in it. There was no "dog" tracking or unusual wear on the tires. I got the frame mounts from a fellow forum member and the motor mounts came from Autozone. The only thing weird about that is the guy told me it's the same mount for both sides. But if you look at the mount one side is longer than the other . I don't know, just really frustrating !!!!
If you reverse the mounts but keep the offset to the rear, the holes for the motor mounts will be further apart. That would explain why it would make the motor offset if you got one bolt in a side. That side would actually be higher and the side without the bolt would be lower than normal. The motor would actually be twisted along the longitudinal axis.
Make sure you have Maverick specific mounts. They are shorter than other Ford cars like Falcon and Mustang... If you use those mounts, only one side will bolt up, and the other side will be off quite a bit. Then if you are able to force it, the engine will be bound up and leaning. Dave
this might be dumb.... but cant you drill a new hole a little higher with the mounts on the engine... to get it higher up? if not.. isnt the 351 and the 302 pretty much the same block? im not sure if you can.. but get a 302 and drop it in and see how that fits..
