Anybody ever put shims between the frame rails and the K-member to gain any under hood clearance? I just want to know what issues were involved, I'd like to drop mine 1/2" to gain space between my bell housing and firewall.

You'd have to drop the torsion bar frame mounts the same length as well. Also, the steering column and radiator to fan shroud would be out of wack too. It'd be a can of worms not worth opening.

I have a 440 in my Dart with the Schumacher motor mounts. When I put the NOS plates on I needed a 1/4" more hood clearance. I put the 1/2" spacers between the frame and k-member with no problems at this point. No issues with TB's, exhaust, steering, fuel, throttle cable, trans cable, cruise cable, wiring, hoses, or anything else. My only concern was the fan shroud clearance and it turned out I had plenty. Check out the pic of the spacers I made. I countersank one side of the holes in case they came in contact with the bolt. I loosened all four bolts, took them out of one side only, pried the k-member down slightly, slid in the spacers, replaced the bolts but not completely tight. I then installed the other side the same way. Torqued all the bolts and good to go. Hope I didn't forget anything:)

What causing the engine & trans to sit up so high?
I had a similar issue, but not quite so much. It turned out to be a bad set of Dynatech aftermarket interlocking motor mounts. They were warrantied and the replacements fit right and dropped the motor down to the stock position.


If you do shim the K-frame, be sure to check your driveline & pinon angle in relation to the crank/trans centerline.

Those Schumacher mounts are very handy, but they don't put the engine in the stock location...exactly. I used a set of hemi conversion mounts in a challenger and the air cleaner just clears the hood (like, by a millimeter). I never got around to shimming the K member, but at some point you have to do what you have to do. Also, at some point you will really start screwing with the geometry of the front end. The 68 SS cars used special components (lower ball joints, etc) to correct the geometry. Those parts, so far as I can tell, are not available for a 68 SS car let alone a B/E body.

Shimming the K member up is a bad idea. The self centering feature of the bolts is lost too. This "fix" is like buying a hat that is too small, then going to get your head shrunk to fit the hat.

m i have driven my 72 road runner, was 624 now 572 hemi with shumacher conversion mounts 50,000+ miles with 1/4" shims between the k member and the frame rails without significant problems. i have moog offset A arm bushings to get 3* positive caster, and i corrected the driveshaft angles before i drove it anywhere. the torsion bars slide in and out of there mounts without problems.
the only problem i have is a mild bump steer on large bumps at speed, like potholes. i mostly drive highway miles, was daily driver for 8 years. if you plan on cornering you probably won't want shims.

Check the archives, this has been discussed here several times. And there are people that have never done it and say it is a bad idea.

But then there are a good number of us that have done it and had no insurmountable problems. On my current car, I had to let the steering column drop with the K, and had to shorten the tranny mount to keep the front joint from binding.

I have done this several times on several different cars. Each time there has been something or other that needed attention, but overall, no big deal.

Why not just try it? If issues come up that you cannot fix, just take the spacers back out.