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Thread: coyote engine not square to chassis

  1. #1
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    coyote engine not square to chassis

    I’ve got my coyote installed and noticed the engine is not square to the fire wall or to the chassis. The enclosed pictures show 2 1/4” between the engine and the firewall on the passenger side and 1 3/16” on the driver side. The front of the engine is also closer to the frame on the driver side. As far as I can tell there is no adjustment at the engine mounts, Soooooo, what am I missing? Has anybody else run into something similar? I know the coyote is tight in the engine bay but some components are hitting on the drivers side plus I’m concerned about the engine not being centered. An inch difference seems like a lot to me and I’m not even sure how that could be, I don’t notice anything obviously out of alignment that would cause it. I also notice it when i installed the exhaust system which is skewed, drivers side muffler further back than passenger side. HELP!
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  2. #2
    Seasoned Citizen NAZ's Avatar
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    On a V8 (or V4, V6, V10 ...) one bank of cylinders is slightly forward of the other to accommodate mounting the rods in pairs on the crankshaft. To accurately measure the engine alignment relative to the chassis you need to establish a center line of the chassis and the drive train.

  3. #3
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    Ah, ok, that makes me feel better. So based on this I'm assuming it is normal for the driver side to be tighter. The drive shaft looks good so i would assume that would be out of alignment as well if it were crooked. I guess the exhaust and the driver side clearance got my imagination into overdrive! I did notice in taking a bunch of measurements tonight it would be hard to determine the centerline because not a lot on that engine is perfectly symetrical. Thanks for the advice!

  4. #4
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    +1 about cylinder offset.

    Look down from the top and see if the Trans flange is parallel to the firewall. Not exact science but will give you and eyeball idea.
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  5. #5
    Senior Member AJT '33's Avatar
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    I wish i had that much clearance with my Coyote Engine. I had less room than that it seems. Never really looked at it based on each side but here are a couple pics which show it just after initial installation.
    20180211_160434.jpg 20180218_152620.jpg
    I'll look tonight as you have me thinking now!

    Follow up: I looked at it and the centerline of the engine is aligned with the centerline of the frame. The drivers side of the car is closer than the passenger side relative to the firewall.
    Last edited by AJT '33; 10-26-2018 at 06:59 AM. Reason: Update to issue

  6. #6
    Seasoned Citizen NAZ's Avatar
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    The chassis centerline is the datum used for aligning most everything on a car. Pickup points along the frame have to be referenced back to that centerline. It's important to get the drivetrain aligned to prevent the car from crabbing down the road (skewed rear axle) or driveshaft vibration (yes, misalignment of the engine to the chassis centerline can cause driveshaft vibration same as misaligned pinion angle).

    Dan, the crankshaft is the linear centerline of the engine and the trans output shaft is a continuation of that centerline. It's fairly easy to drop a plumb bob from the center of these and mark the floor. The tricky part is finding the centerline of the chassis but even that's not a big chore -- just takes some time. One of the first things I do with a new chassis (whether I build it or buy it) is to mark the centerline with witness marks that I can use during assembly, set-up, and for crash evaluation. And on an assembled roller I will use string lines and plumb bobs to transfer the chassis centerline to the floor (a clean, flat, level floor). From there I can check and adjust the drivetrain including the rear axle and get everything aligned.

    Trying to measure from the center of the crankshaft and trans output shaft to some point on the frame can be fraught with problems as typically there are so many angles on a frame that its hard to get a good dimension from side to side. It may seem like a lot of work to establish centerlines but it is significantly more accurate than trying to measure from say the engine to some point on the chassis on both sides. Something to consider for this build or the next.

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    Yes you need to setup a center line and that will let you line all the rest of car from that. I had plumb bobs and a long strat piece of tubing, then set center on front of frame, fire wall, back of cab and back frame. Average the center marks with the tub and plumb bobs, mark center at back of trans and front of crank to line engine. Hop that helps you,

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    thanks guys for the advice, I guess I know what i'm doing tomorrow... Centerlines!
    Actually, makes perfect sense, shouldn't take that much time and then ill know for sure.
    I'll update my results

  10. #9
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    Well, I'm embarrassed to say the engine it is dead square to chassis, sorry for jumping to conclusions. I measured to center of rear cross tube of chassis and to center of frame at very front, plumbed down to floor and taped a string line down. Then plumbed down from back of transmission center and centerline of engine crank pulley (assuming that is centered?) and believe it or not both ends hit the string Dead on! The distance between both points was about 58". Now i know why Dave and the guys at FFR get a chuckle reading these posts,
    Now all i have to do is figure out why my exhaust is cattywampus...
    Thanks for the help guys!

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by dan's33 View Post
    Now all i have to do is figure out why my exhaust is cattywampus...
    What S/N is your kit? A few years back there was a problem with the exhaust pipe fabrication.
    https://www.factoryfive.com/whats-ne...t-rod-exhaust/ This article was published in March 2016 and FFR sent me replacement pipes a few weeks later. IIRC, the replacement parts were free, but you had to ask for them. HTH Keith

  12. #11
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    My kit is #1070, delivered 6/18, I think the exhaust pipes are correct, everything seemed to fit in nicely, just not symmetrical.
    Now I know why my exhaust is not symmetrical, as mentioned earlier, the headers to the coyote are 1" further back on the driver side, hence why the exhaust is 1" further back.
    So in order to get the rear tips square am i supposed to cut off 1" where the tips mount? i don't think there is enough adjustment on the tips to make up 1"?

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