620 KA Swap guys: Couple Questions

[madlarkin]

Hi All,

Slowly working through the KA swap in my '74 620 and I have a couple questions for anybody who's done it. I've done a lot of digging through pictures but haven't found any that give a really good perspective. 

 

-How far off are is the back of your head from the firewall? I'm running a 240SX motor/trans and after slotting the trans crossmember back as far as it will go my engine mounts still aren't lining up front to back. I've got about 1.5-2" between the head and firewall now and it looks like the radiator will end up being an uncomfortably tight fit. 

 

-How much distance do you have between the bellhousing/trans and the tunnel? I'm running the KA trans mount for better selection, but I think it's shorter than the truck unit. If i'm going to section and rebuild the trans crossmember, I wouldn't mind moving the trans/engine up a bit as well. 

 

 

[]2eDeYe]

Sounds like you are pretty far forward.

Is this a E or DE motor? The heads are quite different.

 

 Are you building custom motor mounts?  

[madlarkin]

It's a DE. I ogled your mounts hard because they are so damn pretty, but I wanted to run SX mounts and open up my options a bit. My current plan is to section and slide the stock trans mount back. I was just hoping to get some ballpark distances from others who have swapped it before committing to a location.

[]2eDeYe]

You will find that the SX mounts are too tall if you move the motor back far enough to mount them in the stock position. 

 

To keep the motor forward you will have to modify them or the frame side to get the rubber mount in there. 

 

Guys have been slotting the trans mount and the crossmember to get it far enough back. 

BEEBANI offers a custom crosssmember for the longer 240sx trans

[madlarkin]

Figured that I was going to get stuck into custom mounts and not super concerned about that. Going to pull the trans crossmember tonight and start getting it chopped up, just hoping to figure out a ballpark of how much farther back/up I can get away with going from my current position. 

[]2eDeYe]

With custom mounts the world is your oyster lol.

[flatcat19]

Red-eye already built a better mousetrap. Pony up.

[distributorguy]

Why "pony up" if you can make them as well as someone else and you enjoy doing so?  Sometimes the fun is more in the build than the end product.  

[madlarkin]

I wouldn't go so far as to say "as well as", I'll be happy with ugly but functional. 

[flatcat19]

I wouldn't go so far as to say "as well as", I'll be happy with ugly but functional.

 

 

Welcome to Ratsun. Lol.

[madlarkin]

Thanks, man. Back to the original question, any of you awesome folks mind tossing me a measurement from head/firewall and maybe bellhousing/firewall? I think it's become pretty obvious that I need to go back a bit farther.

[]2eDeYe]

3/4" to the back of the head, measured on the passenger side. 

 

It's far to wet to get a bell housing measurement sorry :)

[madlarkin]

Much appreciated, it looks like I need to slide the trans crossmember back by an inch and change.

[madlarkin]

Finished this up a while back, managed to hack up the stock mounts and come up with something that works. Used 3/16" plate and hockey pucks as the isolator. Bolts to the frame with 1/2" grade 8 hardware. 

Ugly but functional passenger side.

Motor sitting pretty. 

[]2eDeYe]

It's in there, now the hard part... everything else.   :D