1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

Iam building the 352 Cobra Jet and what is the opinion of using motor plates in this application. Pros and cons.
Thanks Kirk

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

When allowed by the rules, use motor plates.
Use the centered front plate, not the offset plate.
Racecraft and ATF make a plate for either using the OEM timing cover or Jesel Belt.
They also make a plate if using the 1994-1995 timing cover, which it is different than the earlier engines.

https://www.racecraft.com/motorplates-c-284/

https://www.atfspeed.com/14-Inch-Thick_c_365.html

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

Theres no cons. You support the engine front and back which takes alot of stress off the block. Ties the front together. And with the motor mounts removed, it increases header clearance. Taking the engine in and out is easier too. You can mount things on the plate like a coil or whatever have you.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

Do they make a special starter for proper engagement to the flex plate or am i over thinking this? I would need spacers for the torque converter spacing which is no problem and i would need to recheck the driveshaft for fitment also. Anything else?
Thanks Kirk

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

I would make your mid plate from 1/8" mild steel and everything should work. If you go 1/4" alum. then you need to change the snout on the convertor so it doesn't pull away too far from the pump in the trans.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

Good idea. The engine already has a 1/16 block plate so just leave it out and add a 1/8 plate to it.
Thanks

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

1/8" is too thick in my opinion, my Comp Engineering mid plate is the same thickness as my factory block plate. It came with a spacer to bolt behind the flex plate to.bring the trans/flexplate and started back to the original alignment. I'm gonna say its no thicker than .062.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

"Snouts" (hubs) on converters are changed routinely, but "long" converters are usually built by adding a button to the pilot and using spacers on the mounting tabs. This way they can be brought back to OEM stack height more easily ;-)

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

I agree with SSDiv6 about using a center motor plate.

I use one that's offset and it's going to be changed. Too bad I put a new rear end housing in the car with MW axles three years ago for the offset engine.

Apart other benefits, centering the engine provides more room for headers.

You may have to offset/relocate the steering column if the shaft connecting to the rack gets in the way of exhaust ports. You can use spacers on the column mounts to move things up or down. You may want to fabricate or buy a tube-style column. That'll reduce some weight and allow you to mount it to suit your needs.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

I'm not sure where CE is sourcing their material these days. I bent the hell out my mid plate after about 10 runs. They're 0.90" thick I believe. I ended up having to weld two of them together and rosette weld all over the place to get them rigid enough.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

Rotational or forward/aft bending? Anything that leaves hard should have travel limiters that keep engine/transmission from moving in any direction.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

I was thinking about leaving the transmission cross member in to control the forward and rear movement of the engine. I have seen some cars with a strut mounted to the motor plate also.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

Add an engine limiter. You can't rely on the crossmember to control the movement.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

Thanks Phil. I have 1" chromoly tube limiters with rod ends on both sides of the engine.

Here are photos of the bends.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

I can't speak for others, but I've always used motor plates and limiters, and a stock replacement transmission mount. The last thing I want is to break a transmission tail shaft housing and spray transmission fluid under my tires.

The stock mounts are forgiving, whereas tail shaft housings can and do break under heavy load especially when mounted solid to the crossmember.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

When I built my former 1994 Mustang Comp Super Modified car, I used the centered engine and mid-plate. As Steve said, not only for header clearance but also because the torsional loads have an effect on the suspension settings and adjustment when the engine is not centered.
For a transmission mount, I used a Polyurethane mount.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

I decided to make a one midplate that incorporates the factory plate which serves as a locator for the starter, and the midplate You were right, it wasn't .060, its .090, I use a 5/8 chromoly tube limiter and after almost 200 runs, nothing has bent. I still use the trans mount also,

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

So the tubing you used as a limiter where did you place them? Thanks for the advice as what to do.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

[QUOTE=Kirk Morgan;675238]So the tubing you used as a limiter where did you place them? Thanks for the advice as what to do.

I made a bracket that bolts to the original passenger side motor mount bolt holes in the block. The tubing attaches to that with a heim joint, and the other end attaches to the crossmember my strut rods attach to.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

Somehow, it's allowing the engine/trans to still move. Had a dragster once that would bend the plate with only 2 inches between the block and side rail - the limiters were on the frame rail which would move on launch. Moved the limiters to a tubing junction and the movement went away. Can't allow movement if it's placed correctly. Chassis twist, or flex, may be doing it. That's kinda ugly.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

I had a couple of hard landings at the hit, which most likely caused the bend or at least contributed to it. The aluminum front motor plate didn't show any signs of stress.

I do a lot of welding and fabrication. If the steel was sourced offshore, then it's not ideal. That's not to say that domestic steel wouldn't have bent, but I doubt it would have to the degree seen in the photos. All of the offshore steel that I have used is substandard at best. You can tell immediately when you hit it with the tig torch.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

Can't argue about quality of the steel, I agree. But, if the front (with any material) isn't bending, then it leads me to wonder if the rear is moving up or down (instead of fore and aft) on the hard landings - crossmember possibly flexing would sort of "pivot" on the front support and help to bend the midplate?

Tossing ideas out here because if nothing is moving, nothing can bend, I don't care what material it's constructed from.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

That's true. I haven't had any problems since welding two mid-plates together, but I'm going over the suspension before getting out this year to see if anything is binding or moving around.

Re: 1995 Mustang Super Stocker
 

Not a Mustang or Super Stocker, but here's something I made for one of my personal hotrods. It's a 3pc setup where the bell, block plate, and midplate are all separate pieces. This gives me the additional option of removing the complete engine/flywheel/clutch as an assembly without having to disturb the trans/driveshaft/shifter. Having the support ears "up" rather than "out" keeps them completely away from the headers. In this pic you can also see three added bolts that serve to keep the bell attached to the midplate when the bellhousing bolts are removed...

https://grannys.tripod.com/bellhousinginstalled.png

The car does have a crossmember under the rear of the trans, but it serves more as lower support and fore/aft travel limiter, it does not bolt to the trans itself.

Here's a pic of the block plate installed on the engine, I made the center hole bigger to aid clutch cooling...

https://grannys.tripod.com/shopmuleblockplate.jpg

Here's a pic from the inside showing one of the aluminum brackets I made to spread the loads across a wider area of the car's thin sheetmetal firewall...

https://grannys.tripod.com/shopmulef...nforcement.jpg

Like I said this is not a Mustang, but it is similar in that it is a unibody car. This car has had the midplate attached to the firewall for 12 years now, no problems.

https://grannys.tripod.com/TNT800w.jpg

Here's a link to some info about the rest of the car, there are some pictures on there that document my process of fabricating this bellhousing from scratch...

http://grannys.tripod.com/20102.html

https://grannys.tripod.com/bellhousingproject18.jpg