302/T5 FC Issue
 

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I bought a swap kit from granny’s last year and finally got around to putting the engine and transmission into the car. The engine mounts bolted to the cradle ok but when I install the transmission crossmember it forces the transmission to sit way too far to the drivers side of the tunnel. The transmissions also seems to not be sitting level when looking through the shifter tower in the cab. I’ve tried loosening the engine mounts at the block and cradle to wiggle things around to no avail.

Short of hogging out the transmission mount holes in the crossmember to slide it over, I’m at a loss here. I’ve called and emailed granny’s a few times over the past 2 weeks but haven’t gotten a response.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Myles

Is it possible you have the grannys adapter mounts backwards? I can tell you on the SA the heads are almost against the fire wall when the mounts are in right and the transmission is only off about an inch in the opening.

Thanks for the reply. I’m not too sure what you mean by adapter mounts. The cradle, trans crossmember and engine mounts can only be installed one way. The transmission mount could be flipped around but it puts the trans in the same spot.

After reading through 2 fc 302 swap threads it seems I’m not the only one to have a problem with the transmission crossmember.

I’m building an SA/302/T5 swap and had the same exact issue (still do). After checking my work over I’ve concluded it’s just the way it is. I suspect that the Mustang bell housing orients the transmission that way.

If my memory serves me right, fox body’s I’ve driven always had the shifters really far over to the left. This seems to be a bigger deal on the SA with the smaller car. The shifter pretty much hits the parking brake lever.

The post purchase support from Granny's doesn’t seem to be there unfortunately. I’ve tried contacting them to get my tach modified as part of what I purchased but got nothing.

If you ready through my thread you’ll see similar pictures.

Yolo,

I had a look through your thread. After you hogged out the right side engine mount did that straighten the transmission at all? You also said that some engine mounts were too wide where they bolt to the cradle. I could get a washer between my mount and cradle. Was yours worse than that? I really think something is off either in the cradle, mounts or transmission crossmember.

Ok. On the SA the motor mount adapters can be put on wrong, Forward of the original mount. The adapters need to go behind the original mount on the chassis. Your latter car may use different parts from Granny's. I can see that the trans mount for your FC is totally different than the mount for the SA. I would guess the front mount may be different.

Sorry for the delayed response. It's been some time since I was at this step in the build. I don't know how the FC mounts look, but I am confident that I installed the adapters correctly. I played around with the mounts a little. In the end I lower the RH side by elongating the mount holes for the cross pin (aporx 1/8"), and on the left side, added 1 washer between the block and engine mount. After doing this, my shifter was still looking a lot the same (angled to the left). After looking it over and over, I determined the block sat pretty straight in the car (did not take a level to it). So I am assuming its just the way it is. Your comment makes me feel better about that.

As for the bracket on the right side being too wide, it was. I added one washer to the rear I believe. Which slightly angled the engine forward on the right side.

I might troll the Fox Body Mustang sites. Something make me think they naturally sit this way.

Here's a picture as it sits today. Its a ;little hard to tell with the trim around the shifter. The car still doesn't drive yet to tell you how right or wrong it is.

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From the naked eye the block in my car looks pretty straight as well. I think I’m just going to keep moving forward and see how it turns out. Thanks for getting back to me and good luck the rest of the way.

Can you mount the shifter handle on the passenger side of the shifter base?

That’s the only way the shifter handle will fit.