locating the motor?

i`m in the middle of putting a 318/833 in my 47 desoto. it has an 88 dakota front clip which was originally a 4cyl. i`m using spool motor mounts and i widened the dakota mounting plates/ears/what ever you call them to accept the 318 spool mounts. it looks like the 318 would have dropped right into place if the ears were wide enough, but would have put the motor to far forward. am i correct in thinking i want the motor offset 1" towards the passengers side? do i want the bottom/sump of the oil pan to be level with front cross member? how many degrees do i want the motor to be tipped back? where on the motor do i set the degree gauge on to measure this? the perches are not welded on the rear yet but i think i want the same amount of degrees forward on the rear? this is my first time doing this, i`m a bit of a rookie!

- I off set only if I need to for clearance issues.
- I locate the engine vertically as low as possible in the frame while still considering ground clearance.
- a 3 degree (back of the engine) downward tilt is correct. Most use the carburetor mounting flange on the intake manifold.
- the rear end actually tilts (yoke end) upward by the same 3 degrees.

- EM

You need to put your headers or manifolds on the engine, put on what ever oil pan you intend to use. You need to mount your radiator and have the water pump and fan on your engine. You will put the engine where it needs to be to fit in the car. You need the steering column in and see where it will go to hook to the Dakota rack. The engine will probably set back quite a bit from where the Dakota mounts are. Level the engine from side to side, then get it close to level from front to rear using the carb surface on the intake. That way your float level will be correct when setting on level ground. I used the cradle mount brackets from an '85 5th Avenue, but widening the Dakota brackets will work. I would install the cradle mounts on the engine, then bolt on the brackets and weld them to the frame wherever they need to be. You will probably need to make some sort of gussets to connect the brackets to the frame. Then make your transmission crossmember and weld it where it needs to be. I am doing the same thing now, I am putting a 360 in a '38 Plymouth, I have the '38 sitting on a complete '89 Dakota chassis. The wheelbase and width of the Dakota are perfect for the '38.

I used an 88 Dakota frame for my 57 truck project. Like stated above, i mounted the headers, steering column, and oil pan. I set the motor on wooden blocks on the k frame and when everything fit, i made 2x3 rectangular mounts out to the motor mounts.

Same here. Located the motor so all components played nice with each other.
Leveled the motor side to side.
Measured where the crank was in relation to centerline at the front and at the trans tailshaft at the rear. Make it the same, not crooked in the chassis.
Used the carb pad to tilt the motor down in the rear. You can also check for roughly 3-5 degrees at the oil pan rail.

Measure 3 times, make sure nothing is moving then build mounts. Also allow for a small amount of sag in the rubber mounts. You don't want something to 'just clear' underneath without the weight of the engine/trans supported off the mounts.

I'm using the entire 90 Dakota frame, floor pan, firewall, and drive train under my 48 Plymouth coupe. I ended up moving the engine (3.9 & 5 speed) towards the rear 7", but I also moved the floor pan and firewall back 7". The Dakota firewall location lined up with the original location of the coupe's firewall. The relationship with the engine/trans to the firewall is the same as it was when the truck was still intact, everything is just towards the rear 7". I also moved the original trams crossmember back 7" and modified it and the frame so it would bolt up.

It sounds like a lot, but I had the coupe and the pickup sitting side by side, and had both frames sitting side by side with the bodies off and took a lot of measurements. Everything fits real nice once the firewalls are in alignment, shifting the truck floor pan and firewall (and engine & trans) back 7" put the front wheels, firewall, and drive train in the correct relationship with each other on the car. Moving the engine back 7" sets the engine pretty much into an open area with lots of clearance for everything. For the record, I also removed 7" from the frame between the back of the cab and the fuel tank to get the correct wheel base.

The motor sits square in the frame at the factory angle on the original Dakota mounts simply raised 1/4" and moved rearward. I have the spool mounts unbolted from the frame, bolted to 1/4" plates and the plates are reinforced and bolted to the location where the spool mounts used to bolt. Gene