The Dodge Challenger Message Board

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I am currently building a 72 dodge challenger for street/strip use. I am having problems trying to center the motor/trans. Is this crutial? I really don't wanna have to hammer the snot outta the tunnel and trans crossmember to incorporate this and am wondering if minimal motor/trans offset would be ok as long as i take that into account when setting up the rearend, so that everything is still inline just offset maybe 1-2 inches. it also has an f-2 procharger so i thought maybe the extra weight of that hanging off the side would help proportion the weight that the motor/trans is offset. any help would be greatly appreciated

Are you using a motor plate or factory mounts? Auto or manual? I would think as long as the rear diff offset isn't disturbed too much it would be okay. If you are using a rod&linkage manual tranny it will move the shifter around and the linkage and frame stud for the Z-bar may cause some problems. Have you thought about modifying the k-member to get the effect you want? I have heard of some guys using "shims" to get the motor where they wanted it. Then you have the exhaust to worry about. Do you have any pics? That pro-charger is awesome man, I saw a few at the INDY trade show. Man, I would love to have one hanging off to the side of mine this one makes a purported 1600+H.P.!

sorry i guess more info would be nice. it will be an auto, has magnumforce tubular k here are some pics to get the gist of it.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r178 ... /chal2.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r178 ... /chal1.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r178 ... i/chal.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r178 ... i/car3.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r178 ... i/car5.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r178 ... car4-1.jpg

PCH72, you arent playing around Sir!! Now to the problem at hand. I would contact MagnumForce and ask them, clearance to the pro-charger head is what you are after? I bet the suspension unit itself doesnt allow for lateral movement does it. With the manual rack, how could it. So the "tunnel mods" seem to be the answer. There is a man on www.moparts.com that has done what you are doing to a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T, his name is Stephen Durr and his "name" on Moparts is blownEFIchallenger, maybe you could contact him and he could be of way more help than I, good luck and that is gonna be one badass car man!!Thanks for the pics, I saved em, keep us updated.

airfuelEddie wrote:PCH72, you arent playing around Sir!! Now to the problem at hand. I would contact MagnumForce and ask them, clearance to the pro-charger head is what you are after? I bet the suspension unit itself doesnt allow for lateral movement does it. With the manual rack, how could it. So the "tunnel mods" seem to be the answer. There is a man on www.moparts.com that has done what you are doing to a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T, his name is Stephen Durr and his "name" on Moparts is blownEFIchallenger, maybe you could contact him and he could be of way more help than I, good luck and that is gonna be one badass car man!!Thanks for the pics, I saved em, keep us updated.

No the head unit has room with the motor centered.(i had to use a small block chevy kit and then make all my own stuff to fit the mopar) and i also moved the inner fender @ the battery tray about an inch to accomodate the head unit. the k-member seems to be made for the motor to be in the original location(offset) and has quite a bit of room to go left to right. my main concern was when centering the motor and trying to center the trans i seen that i would have to heavily alter the trans tunnel and the trans cross member (which i would rather not do)

You want to move the engine to the right because otherwise the procharger will hit the left inner fender?
Is that a correct description or have I misunderstood you?

No engine is centered in line with the chassis. It is always offset to the passenger side.

dave-r wrote:No engine is centered in line with the chassis. It is always offset to the passenger side.

Do you know why?

Yes. Or at least I did.

The full reason is lost in the bit of my brain cut off from the rest of my body just now. But part of the reason at least is clearence for the steering.
I am sure there was another reason though.

dave-r wrote:Yes. Or at least I did.

I guess I am in the same situation. An intresting question that needs to be answered.

I thought it was both Dave. The offset was for Torque and the offset of the differential?

Is the offset for the diff or is the diff for the offset?

Dave, the differential pinion would be in line with the drive shaft, which would be offset due to the engine placement correct? So it would be both, as the ring and pinion are also offset, are they countering each other? Either way, I think he wants to "center" the engine, and to do that, I would think the tranny tunnel would have to be modified. Wonder if he is going to use that 4-speed laying next to the car, with the Hurst T-handle? Will that tranny even be able to take that kind of power?I would think a street Lenco/Bruno would have to be used if he wanted a manual box.

christer wrote:You want to move the engine to the right because otherwise the procharger will hit the left inner fender?
Is that a correct description or have I misunderstood you?

no i wanted to move the motor to the right so i don't have to beat the snot outta the trans tunnel to get it centered. that is the only clearance problem i have when trying to center the motor

prochargedhemi72 wrote:I am having problems trying to center the motor/trans.

I don't understand why you would have such problems.
Are you using the stock (hemi) K-Member, and mounts? OR do you have a modified K-member ? with hemi brackets welded onto it or with conversion mounts?
A motor plate?
What is your transmission?

fbernard wrote:

prochargedhemi72 wrote:I am having problems trying to center the motor/trans.

I don't understand why you would have such problems.
Are you using the stock (hemi) K-Member, and mounts? OR do you have a modified K-member ? with hemi brackets welded onto it or with conversion mounts?
A motor plate?
What is your transmission?

It has a chromoly tubular k-member with no mounts on it. will have motor/mid plate and a 727 torqueflite. the problem is the trans tunnel in the car is offset to accomodate the factory offset of the motor/trans. After hearing alot of feedback i think i am just going to keep the motor offset since i really do not see much gain over centering the drivetrain

prochargedhemi72 wrote:It has a chromoly tubular k-member with no mounts on it.

So that's it. Did you make you own motor plate, or did you buy one? Don't they make them with the correct offset?

Did you also move the engine back or is it at the same distance (say, from the radiator support) as stock?
Same question for height, is it standard, or did you move it up with the motor plate?

If I remember correctly, the hemi mount brackets on a K-member are on the front "ears" of the k-member whereas a wedge k-member has them on the rear ones.
Moving the engine rearward may improve launch, but it costs tunnel clearance.