Engine & Trans Alignment?

[Hatu]

I'm in the middle of installing a bunch of upgrades to my 69 Bronco one of which is a new NV3550 trans. It's a kit I got from Tom's Bronco parts and I have it installed and bolted up just fine. But when I knocked out the hole for the shifter in the floorboard like the instructions recommended by measuring the distance back from the bellhousing; it doesn't line up right. The hole is centered in the trans tunnel, but the shifter is off center toward the drivers side by about two inches.

It's no biggie about fixing the floorboard trans tunnel, I just cut out a big square hole in the tunnel and will fab a new piece of sheet metal with holes in the right spots; it will actually make it a lot easier to service etc. because the new piece with give me easy access to everything there later. The question is; is the trans supposed to be cocked to the left like that?

I loosened the engine mounts and tried to center everything; but it's a no go and I can't see any easy way to center it, so I think it's OK as is, just want to get a little reassurance.

I'll try to figure out how to post some pictures later; the list of what I'm doing is:

1. NV3550 Trans.

2. Headman headers.

3. New cam, lifters, timing chain & gears. (slightly bigger than stock, but not much)

4. New Flow Cooler water pump.

5. New 4 row radiator.

6. Cast Iron 289 4 bbl intake and Pony Carbs refurbished Autolite 4100 4 bbl carb.

7. 23 gal. rear fuel tank.

8. 2" body lift.

9. All new brake lines; including stainless steel flex hoses.

10. Refurbish all the air vent boxes, heater box etc.

11. New Centec wiring harness.

Needless to say, this has turned into quite a project! When I get it back on the road and see how it likes the new overdrive, I'll probably change the rear 9" and front Dana 30 gears from their current 3.50's to 4.11 or 4.56 depending on what size of tires I end up with.

Hatu

 

[bigbluebronc]

I'm in the middle of installing a bunch of upgrades to my 69 Bronco one of which is a new NV3550 trans. It's a kit I got from Tom's Bronco parts and I have it installed and bolted up just fine. But when I knocked out the hole for the shifter in the floorboard like the instructions recommended by measuring the distance back from the bellhousing; it doesn't line up right. The hole is centered in the trans tunnel, but the shifter is off center toward the drivers side by about two inches.

It's no biggie about fixing the floorboard trans tunnel, I just cut out a big square hole in the tunnel and will fab a new piece of sheet metal with holes in the right spots; it will actually make it a lot easier to service etc. because the new piece with give me easy access to everything there later. The question is; is the trans supposed to be cocked to the left like that?

I loosened the engine mounts and tried to center everything; but it's a no go and I can't see any easy way to center it, so I think it's OK as is, just want to get a little reassurance.

I'll try to figure out how to post some pictures later; the list of what I'm doing is:

1. NV3550 Trans.

2. Headman headers.

3. New cam, lifters, timing chain & gears. (slightly bigger than stock, but not much)

4. New Flow Cooler water pump.

5. New 4 row radiator.

6. Cast Iron 289 4 bbl intake and Pony Carbs refurbished Autolite 4100 4 bbl carb.

7. 23 gal. rear fuel tank.

8. 2" body lift.

9. All new brake lines; including stainless steel flex hoses.

10. Refurbish all the air vent boxes, heater box etc.

11. New Centec wiring harness.

Needless to say, this has turned into quite a project! When I get it back on the road and see how it likes the new overdrive, I'll probably change the rear 9" and front Dana 30 gears from their current 3.50's to 4.11 or 4.56 depending on what size of tires I end up with.

Hatu

Your going too need lots of gear if you ever want too see fifth gear unless your tire size is 30 or 31..for a street rig.But good job with all the new parts, I would say skip the body lift..

BBB

 

[bigbluebronc]

The cams on these bricks in the wind, on a 302 should be all torque and fuel economy try using the comp cams software its free and will give you an Idea on curves and operating rpms and hp and torque with your wheel size.. and gears or wanted gears with 3.5 gearsI dont think you will ever see fifth gear maybe down hill!LOL Good Luck

BBB

 

[Hatu]

Your going too need lots of gear if you ever want too see fifth gear unless your tire size is 30 or 31..for a street rig.But good job with all the new parts, I would say skip the body lift..

BBB

I agree, the 3.5 gears are way too tall with the overdrive, I just want to drive it a little before I change them out. The whole idea behind the NV3550 for me is to give me more gearing choices in low range, not to give me real tall highway gears; I want to end up with 5th OD beings just a little taller than what I had before.

The body lift is pretty much a must when you do the NV3550, but it does look like I could drop it to a 1" lift, now that I have the trans installed and I may do that.

Hatu

 

[Hatu]

The cams on these bricks in the wind, on a 302 should be all torque and fuel economy try using the comp cams software its free and will give you an Idea on curves and operating rpms and hp and torque with your wheel size.. and gears or wanted gears with 3.5 gearsI dont think you will ever see fifth gear maybe down hill!LOL Good Luck

BBB

Yep, I agree with what you're saying and that's what I did and what I installed; it's a Comp XE256H cam with gross lifts of .477 Intake and .484 Exhaust with a .50 duration of 212 and 218; 110 lobe separation. This is not a big lumpy cam, it's a mild cam making off idle power and it's all done by 4500-5000 rpm.

Hatu

 

[bigbluebronc]

Yep, I agree with what you're saying and that's what I did and what I installed; it's a Comp XE256H cam with gross lifts of .477 Intake and .484 Exhaust with a .50 duration of 212 and 218; 110 lobe separation. This is not a big lumpy cam, it's a mild cam making off idle power and it's all done by 4500-5000 rpm.

Hatu

I went smaller with the cam 31-230-3 XE250H 206/212/at 110 .460/.474, with headers and such its still rumbbly LOUD!

WHADDAYASAYY!!!!! AndFor even more noise my truck came too me with a XE274H WOOOWWW ARE YA STILLSEATIN NEXT TOO ME!HHHHHHHHHHHHAYY ARE YA THERRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE!I Cant see ya my eyeball are vibrating, wait till I hit the go pedel!!!

And that was fun for about 6 months!!! I took it out and rebuildt the destoyed head, with seats valves and springs and put in the right cam for me the XE250H..This cam is all grunt for me with good idle, which is good for the rocks.

I dont want too stall on a boulder with a clutch

BBB

 

[Hatu]

I went smaller with the cam 31-230-3 XE250H 206/212/at 110 .460/.474, with headers and such its still rumbbly LOUD!

WHADDAYASAYY!!!!! AndFor even more noise my truck came too me with a XE274H WOOOWWW ARE YA STILLSEATIN NEXT TOO ME!HHHHHHHHHHHHAYY ARE YA THERRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE!I Cant see ya my eyeball are vibrating, wait till I hit the go pedel!!!

And that was fun for about 6 months!!! I took it out and rebuildt the destoyed head, with seats valves and springs and put in the right cam for me the XE250H..This cam is all grunt for me with good idle, which is good for the rocks.

I dont want too stall on a boulder with a clutch

BBB

I'm right there with ya; IMO, that XE274H is way too big for most Early Bronco applications; I debated about the cam you used, but decided to go one step bigger because I'll be going more in the sand than the rocks, but we shall see. I also had the heads rebuilt with all new valves and seats to go with the new springs that came with the cam kit.

Hatu

 

[bigbluebronc]

I like it the higher rpm cam should be fun in the sand and or mud. I rarely run above 4000 rpm so this smaller is working good, I just need too do a little more propane carb tuning too get better mpg. My last questimate was 6.5 mpg offroad only( had too rely on buddies odometer) with 250 pounds hacked off the rig after adding in additional weight and some tuning I hope too get 8-9 in the dirt, I know my tuning is way off I can smell the rich propane comin out the tailpipe...

BBB