The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 235 ci engine mounting question

I can't remember this detail about my engine. I am hoping to get an answer quickly so I know what I'm looking at tomorrow. I'm buying a 235 engine tomorrow and I'm wondering if the front metal engine mounting bracket under the harmonic balancer is a removable item that bolts on or is it a permanent part of the engine? The gentleman I'm meeting tomorrow said he would give me one of the mounting brackets since his engine he is selling does not have one on it and I'm trying to be sure this 55 engine will work in my 50 3100 truck. Also, Is there any other details I should look for?
Thanks in advance for helping!

The front plate needs a major engine teardown to change it- - - -remove the oil pan, the camshaft and the timing gear at the front of the crankshaft and unbolt it from the front of the block. There is also at least two different designs of engine mounts, with different front plates for each one. If the engine you're shopping does not have a front plate, someone has left it off during assembly. The engine cannot run properly without that plate installed due to misalignment of a bunch of parts at the front of the engine without it in place.
Jerry

Here is a picture of a timing plate.
All Chev plates have a flange on the bottom. Not all plates are drilled for mounts. The one pictured is drilled for both passenger car mounts and truck (1950 truck will mount with the two in the lower flat area, Picture ). It is not a problem to drill a plate that is not drilled.
Some GMC timing plates do not have the flange at all.

This is something that I don't quite understand. When "drilling" those holes, do you just drill a round hole or do you go to the trouble of filing them out to be squares?

I think I had to drill those holes in my 1960 261 (is that the first year there were no holes, Dave). I just drilled round holes. That was about 39 years ago.

Those square holes were probably used to allow removal of the nuts without worrying about the bolts spinning (it is difficult to put a wrench on the head of the bolts in that location).

The square hole is designed to hold a carriage bolt. That is because it is very hard to get to this area with a wrench when the balancer is installed.
I generally drill a round hole then weld a nut on the plate. I then run the bolts up from the bottom.

Tim, I have not documented which years were drilled or not.

If you get it that far apart, you might want to think about tapping the two holes in the front main cap so you can install the bottom two bolts from the outside. There is a bit of pro and con to that approach, it isn't really easy to adjust shims that way, but since I didn't install shims, I saw no reason to allow for that.

I started a new thread on the lower bolt reversal topic.

Hey Pre '68 Dave, I'm going to give your method of welding in the nuts to the top of the plate a go. Do you loosely bolt it up from the bottom first to get it centered? I'm a bit uneasy having the bolt work its way out since it is in upside down. What do you do there? If I remember correctly those bolts are not cinched down too tight.

Dennis

You can drill the heads of the bolts and safety wire them together. That will stop any movement and put your mind at ease. Just make sure you drill them before installation.

This is what it would look like on an aircraft. Your results may vary but you get the idea.


http://image.customclassictrucks.com/f/techarticles/1003cct_how_to_safety_wire/28178947/1003cct_16_o%2Bhow_to_safety_wire%2Bbolt_heads.jpg

The center two bolts on the mount get torqued down(the ones attaching to the engine).
You can bolt the mount on first to spot weld them in place, but remove for final welding so you do not catch the rubber mount on fire.

So then do you just use a lock washer under the bolt head? Maybe blue LockTight?

Dennis

OK, done did it. Had a little trouble with the welder when I went to weld the nuts in after tack welding them. It seemed like a bad ground. So I hit the area the ground clamp was on with a wire brush. Still not so good. The culprit turned out to be the copper clamp itself. I brushed it with my wire brush then all was as it should be. I wouldn't have guessed I'd have to do that. But now I know. Still just a wannabe welder.

Dennis

The bolts will be tightening against a spacer/pipe vulcanized in the rubber. I use a small outside diameter flat washer and a lock washer. I say small outside diameter flat washer because you do not want the washer to contact the surrounding cross member.

Then that's what I will do too. Thanks for the idea on this and the follow-ups.

Dennis