Re: 1980's 258 six in 1970 Hornet...

["Jim Blair" <carnuck@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

A: Silly thought, but what about lowering the trans crossbar to get the 
cover out? That's how I do the Pacers with 6 cyl. Just the frame bolts 
needed undone with a jack underneath to lower the motor slightly. Motor 
going forward slightly tends to find the radiator. I know it's an 
afterthought now, but the car motor mount pads are same style as the AMC 
Eagle, right? If so, then those are also the same for CJ and Full Size 
Jeeps, so you can get Energy Suspension CJ poly mounts (they vibrate a bit 
at first, but this is a strength thing) and use the universal trans mount 
with a bit of work. The alignment pin holes may need redrilling, but I just 
cheated and tightened mine down because it's a truck and I was in a hurry. 
The old Mexican 282 (really more like 280 cu inches according to Randy and 
the specs I got from Mauricio in Mexico who translated the VAM repair 
manual)in my Eagle (originally from a Mexican Jeep, but swapped for the 
Eagle's 80,000 mile original motor because "it ran bad" and I drove it after 
fixing the bugs, then put the motor in my '83 Cherokee after wrecking the 
Eagle trans 3 times towing trailer) ate stock motor mounts and destroyed 2 
hard to find FSJ fan shrouds before I found these ES poly mounts.


From: Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>
To: AMC List <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: 1980's 258 six in 1970 Hornet...
Message-ID: <20050528154835.T1488@localhost>

What a @#$%!! ordeal I had getting the valve cover off.

I bought a cast aluminum one from AJ. Fits the motor fine; good
quality and price.

The problem is that it's really tall, and very square. The later
258's are taller blocks I think, and the 1970-1972 Hornets have a
cowl sheet metal protrusion that houses the wiper motor -- this
interferes.  Later cars don't have it.

It's a bit late now, but there is a simple fix -- re-drill the
motor mount pads on the x-member 1/2" forward, and move the
motor/trans forward. (The rear trans mount, I could never find the
correct part -- the horizontal ear part is too long; I had to cut
and redrill. Had this same problem with the 75 Gremlin. THe part
looks correct, just one dimension off. Would ahve to redrill the
rear mount too.) There's no strength/safety issue, as the pad is
plenty big. It would however shift weight forward. All of these
cars are nose-heavy enough (I may go do SOLO II again with this
thing).

But since I had clearanced the valve cover before, I'll simply

redo it. Hopefully there's enough room to do this.