How critical is it that an engine sit perfectly level? Doing a hellcat swap into my 70 challenger but I had to weld new mounts into the RMS K member since the k member originally had LA mounts. RMS supplied me the mounts, but because of this I was pretty limited in how to set the motor in without really cutting the mounts up or redoing them.

When I sat the mounts in, in order to have a weldable gap the engine had to sit at a very slight angle sloping down towards the passenger side. It's square to the K member, not cocked and a degree or two down in the back as it should be but just rotated a slight bit (maybe a few degrees, enough to notice if you stare at it but you have to look hard, or use a level).

I could probably level it up, but I think it's going to involve re-making the mounts with some more meat on one side to bring it up. Should I, or just send it?

Why not just put a spacer between block and mount on passenger side?
Easy to place a 1/8 or 1/4" spacer on engine side, then bolt on the mount
Schumacher sold these for clearance issues, but would also help your leveling issue.
If its only 1-2 degree, send it

It can't hurt to have it level side to side, can it
I would and do

Hmm, not sure a spacer would work since the angle of the mounts, it would be pushing the perch outward in addition to up. I could try it though, I only have the mounts tacked in now so I can break the tacks and see where it falls with the spacers. Worth a shot

I think it is only 2 degrees. Im using my angle finder so I’m going to pick up a digital level to be more exact but it can’t be much more than that.

Well if you want to get creative, use a beveled shim like used for leaf springs.
They actually sell body shims you could just put in the top spots.

Do it right. Or you'll get tired of people telling you the engine is crooked.

If the engine is off, you're twisting the trans too.

Slant Cat

my OCD wouldn't let me do that. Birdtracker

2 degrees is a bunch

You are welding the mounts in anyway. Add or subtract material needed to make it correct. I'd be fitting the headers, trans, oil pan, and steering shaft before I finish welded anything.
Doug

A couple degrees I would be fixing it.

2 degrees don't sound like much till you look at it...

Ok guys, a few of you talked me into it and I took some material out of the mount perches and got the engine sitting perfectly level.

I ran into another issue though that maybe you all could help out with while you're here lol.

I'm running an RMS K member, and while checking the motor for squareness in the car, using a straight aluminum 2" strip piece across the balancer and measuring from a straight edge from either side of the K member cross bar, I am 1/4" further out on one side.

This would have led me to believe the motor was cocked, but when I go to the back and put a straight edge on the output shaft yoke and line it up with the torsion bar crossmember, it's dead on, not even a MM off, which seems to indicate the trans is at least square in the tunnel.

At this point I'm not sure what to do. Obviously the most important thing is that the trans is in line with the diff, everything else is really irrelevant. Any have any good ideas on how to check that?

If your gonna do it why not do it right?

"If your gonna do it why not do it right?"


i agree. have you measured in the "X" pattern ?
and what/where exactly is the 1/4"[off] measurement coming from ?

I would find a level floor, level the car on jack stands, start dropping a plum bob off some points on the chassis, and snapping some chalk lines. You will find out pretty quick what is out where and why....

MoparX, For the 1/4 inch off,

I placed a straight edge across the balancer and then a straight edge on either side of the cross bar on the RMS K member One side is 1/4 inch further out than the other.

But again. when I put a straight edge up to the yoke at the torsion bar crossmember, the yoke is perfectly square with the torsion bar crossmember.

So either the crossbar on the RMS K member is crooked in the car or the car is twisted at some point to where the trans can be square in the tunnel but crooked in the k member.

When I measured to the rad support it was dead even, so It almost seems like the k member crossbar is off but I need to take a few more measurements once I get the K member back in again (currently had it out to fully weld the mounts).



moparracer, I think I will give that a shot. I wouldn't be surprised if the car is twisted, but it never had any drivability issues or vibration issues before, so whatever it is, hopefully it wont cause any issues. I just want to make sure my engine/trans is inline with the diff.



I'm on an extremely tight timeline with this swap due to a garage project i'll be starting soon. Normally I'd be looking for as close to perfection as possible but in this case I just need the car up and running before summer is over lol. At some point in the future i'll be fully restoring the car, so anything that isn't perfect could be fixed down the road. As long as it runs and drives without issue i'll be happy.

in the grand scheme of things, ma wasn't too good with quality control.
that said, 1/4" could be dead nutz on !
i was at the local brand x dealership a few years ago when they got a new frame machine up and running. to try it out, they grabbed a new pickup off the lot and stuck it on the machine.
it measured over 1/2" out ! never been crashed or factory repaired, and drove straight as a string going down the road.
just something to think about, or really muddy the waters.