Motor plate...

[1967coronet440]

Not familiar with them at all, is it necessary or recommended to have one? I already ordered moroso solid mounts and a poly trans mount. Any input is appreciated! Motor is a 505" with victor max wedge heads, est -700hp..

 

[Yatzee]

Not familiar with them at all, is it necessary or recommended to have one? I already ordered moroso solid mounts and a poly trans mount. Any input is appreciated! Motor is a 505" with victor max wedge heads, est -700hp..

Not necessarily. It would seem you've purchased solid mounts so that's the same as far as a motor plate connects the engine to the frame but it's the mounting method of the engine mounts to the block that should concern you. There exists the possibility that you could rip the bosses off the left side of the engine with that kind of horsepower. A good solid torque strap of professional quality would remedy that from occurring. I have one on my 512 stroker with 630 hp. Mine is made from 7/16 rod end and a 7/16 threaded rod that runs down to a wrapped and welded plate at the k-member. The upper mounting point for my torque strap is a bracket that mounts using 3 - 3/8 bolts at the oil pump mount. I have a big block. Keep in mind that there's quite a bit of weight in the engine keeping it seated and all you need to do is contain the rotational force that the engine can produce. That's what rips off the engine bosses, or at worse, makes a fair size crack in the block.

 

[1967coronet440]

Not necessarily. It would seem you've purchased solid mounts so that's the same as far as a motor plate connects the engine to the frame but it's the mounting method of the engine mounts to the block that should concern you. There exists the possibility that you could rip the bosses off the left side of the engine with that kind of horsepower. A good solid torque strap of professional quality would remedy that from occurring. I have one on my 512 stroker with 630 hp. Mine is made from 7/16 rod end and a 7/16 threaded rod that runs down to a wrapped and welded plate at the k-member. The upper mounting point for my torque strap is a bracket that mounts using 3 - 3/8 bolts at the oil pump mount. I have a big block. Keep in mind that there's quite a bit of weight in the engine keeping it seated and all you need to do is contain the rotational force that the engine can produce. That's what rips off the engine bosses, or at worse, makes a fair size crack in the block.

Thanks for the response yatzee, would you happen to have pictures of your set up? I see Mancini sells torque straps, do you know of anyone else?

Thanks.

 

[Wookie316]

AR Engineering is your best friend. Check out their site. Hughes is a dealer.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

"Back in the day" we used to call motor plates "elephant ears". They were used to install "swap motors" into cars before you could get special "adapter motor mounts" and when some k-frame (e.g. Hemi) weren't readily available....or putting a Chevy engine into a Ford for example.

I seem to recall that for Mopars, you had to heavily machine down the water pump housing (big block) the same amount as the thickness of the "elephant ears". The "elephant ears" would bolt up to the front of the engine block, sandwiched between the water pump housing and the block, & were bolted in place using the water pump housing bolts. Obviously, they were machined with holes in the center of that "bolt up area" so coolant would still flow & you had to use two sets of water pump housing to block gaskets (on set on either side of the "elephant ears").

The other end of the "elephant ears" had quite a bit of extra metal so you could custom cut it to fit onto (welded) to your front frame rails. I believe there was a big block Dart (originally 6cyl) in my area that ran "elephant ears".

Now, I'm sure there are more advanced ways of "strapping down" your motor than there used to be. "Back in the day" we used to chain down the motors by running a piece of chain (welded to the front of the driver's frame rail) to the oil pump housing & chain it in place with one (much longer) bolt. You only need to chain down the driver's side in most cases.

Geez.... I'm old. Everything now is "back in the day"

I went a different way and put in solid motor mounts, just like you have now. I looked at the Mancini site & this is basically a "high-tech" chain. Should work just fine for you IMO. Looks like it goes to a long bolt on the motor mount instead of the oil pump housing.

 

[1967coronet440]

"Back in the day" we used to call motor plates "elephant ears". They were used to install "swap motors" into cars before you could get special "adapter motor mounts" and when some k-frame (e.g. Hemi) weren't readily available....or putting a Chevy engine into a Ford for example.

I seem to recall that for Mopars, you had to heavily machine down the water pump housing (big block) the same amount as the thickness of the "elephant ears". The "elephant ears" would bolt up to the front of the engine block, sandwiched between the water pump housing and the block, & were bolted in place using the water pump housing bolts. Obviously, they were machined with holes in the center of that "bolt up area" so coolant would still flow & you had to use two sets of water pump housing to block gaskets (on set on either side of the "elephant ears").

The other end of the "elephant ears" had quite a bit of extra metal so you could custom cut it to fit onto (welded) to your front frame rails. I believe there was a big block Dart (originally 6cyl) in my area that ran "elephant ears".

Now, I'm sure there are more advanced ways of "strapping down" your motor than there used to be. "Back in the day" we used to chain down the motors by running a piece of chain (welded to the front of the driver's frame rail) to the oil pump housing & chain it in place with one (much longer) bolt. You only need to chain down the driver's side in most cases.

Geez.... I'm old. Everything now is "back in the day"

I went a different way and put in solid motor mounts, just like you have now. I looked at the Mancini site & this is basically a "high-tech" chain. Should work just fine for you IMO. Looks like it goes to a long bolt on the motor mount instead of the oil pump housing.
View attachment 494279

Thank you for the reply, I did a search here (probaly what I should've done on the first place) and found some good info, seems like a lot of people run solid mounts with a torque strap. I am going to go that route and see how it works out. Solid mounts delivered next day by summit! Along with a couple other goodies..

 

[Mike67]

Elephant ears are what I have and are 2 piece, where a motor plate is one solid plate.
Manicni makes 3/8 crank pulley shims so you don't have to machine the wp. Alt/ps mounts to the plate or ears which allows proper alignment.
I don't care for the look of the ears myself and will be switching to a plate. Also from what I've read the ears will allow more fore/aft flex.
I will probably use a poly mount to lessen some of the vibration and make it a little more streetable. There is a thread about a fore/aft limiter (very cool) that was made that I will use too even though I have a mid plate as well...

 

[69clone]

I have a motor plate. AR Engineering profiled. I like the look of the plate. I've had to do a lot of grinding and mix and matching pieces to make mine work as I am also running power steering with a 3 core rad. Its real tight. I haven't driven the car yet. but just letting it idle and rev I don't notice any crazy vibration I isn't normal with open headers.
IMO as a kid seeing the real big power cars using them and sometimes watching the whole car jerk when they rev'd it always was awesome.
Another reason I chose a plate was because my 440 is 060. over and I wanted to reduce the chance of distorting the cylinders with motor mounts.

 

[Mike67]

Check out Dougs post #10
http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/motor-plates.109991/#post-910424921

 

[1967coronet440]

Check out Dougs post #10
http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/motor-plates.109991/#post-910424921

I was reading through that earlier, after I posted this thread lol. Had a discount code from Mancini so I ordered up a torque strap from them

 

[493 Mike]

I'm using spool type mounts all around on my 540 build. All urethane and totally captive. Schumacher sells them.
Mike

 

[Canyon707]

my 511 motor plate

 

[66Satellite47]

A torque strap may or may not work. My Satellite had a Mancini torque strap & still had a broken motor mount. I've installed the Moroso solid steel motor mounts. "Back in the day" my Arrow tube car had a motor plate & mid plate. There was no need to modify the water pump, it just had a 1/4 " spacer (motor plate) between the block & the water pump. The water pump didn't know the difference.

 

[Canyon707]

I dont use a strap on my 511 and its in the upper 700 hp range here are some pics.
The water bolt up was perfect with this plate. RTV only no paper gasket

 

[66Satellite47]

A motor plate is much more effective than a torque strap due to the leverage that the plate offers.

 

[6PKRTSE]

A motor plate is much more effective than a torque strap due to the leverage that the plate offers.

I made my own out of aluminum & did not profile it (taper it) like some of them that are pictured so I had some surface are to mount my accessories to like my vaccuum pump, pump catch can, coil & relays for the fans & accusump etc.

 

[Wookie316]

There is mine. Modified slightly to fit the P/S pump for rack and hydro boost.