Lowering motor

I have a CMC kit. The problem is the engine sits high in the engine compartment. There is two inches from the top of the shroud to the bottom of the body. With dual 44's I can only run 1-1/2" high air filters. The stock carb filter I have now doesn't clear the hood. I changed the trans mount to the urethane one. But even if I change to a solid trans mount I'll only gain about a half inch.
Anyone else run into this problem?

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Ben, Check to see if the side walls of the engine compartment are secured properly. The CMC uses these side walls as a support structure. Many of them have been riveted and the fiberglass and or rivets have worn allowing the the back to drop. If this is the case- unbolt every attached to the body at the rear . With the doors closed jack up the rear of the body only. Then re-secure the engine compartments side walls to the body frame rails . I would check this out before trying to lower the engine.
Joe

Ben,

Joe's correct in that frequently the rivets are not doing their job and the rear of the body is actually hanging down. One addition to Joe's suggestion, before removing the rivets close your doors and see if there is a larger-than-normal gap between the rear of the doors and the body. If the gap is too wide then Joe's suggestion will enable you to close the gaps and get a little more space under the hood. If the gaps look okay then you might just look and assure your rivets are in good shape because you will not be able to jack the rear of the body any higher.

I made the adjustment Joe suggests when building my Speedster. After removing the rivets and jacking it up to where I wanted it I also laid a length of angle iron on top of both frame rails. Then I drilled vertically down through the angle iron and the frame rail and horizontally through the angle iron and the engine compartment side walls. Then bolted everything in place and used fender washers against the fiberglass. This gave a stronger mounting which I think worked better than the original rivets.

How much more room are you looking for? Some of us have made modifications to the underside of the engine cover. You might see something in the photo section of this site that you can use.

BTW, what kind of headlights are you using - Mercedes? I have a coule of photos of an original 356 outlaw and the final result looks pretty good. It would take a bit of hunting but I can post them here if you want.

Ben; whatever you do, if using a single carb setup please don't cut a hole through the underside of the decklid. I've seen that too many times and it's a pain, especially because the engine can get wet if it rains.

Thanks for the replys,The rear has sagged maybe 3/8" Not a whole lot. I have future plans to turbo with fuel injection, the plenum is probably the height of a dual carb air filter. As it is now I have 1-1/2" clearance plus the body sag of 3/8" making it just shy of 2" I don't think this is still enough. I'd really hate to take the body off the chassis. As for the lid. It won't make a difference with the EFI system. I plan on using dual trottle bodies.
The lights are from a mercedes, I originally planned to install the smaller light too, but decided It would look too much like the mercedes light. Maybe I'll reconsider and install them as foglights.

Ben ,
driving along the interstates I have looked the 'Benz lights thinking that they might just retro fit into a speedster Can you post a couple of pics?

Alan

ben, any trouble with the wheels you have? they look great.

Ben,

I dug through my files and found the photos of the outlaw with the Benz headlights (see below). You'll have to tell us how you mounted them in your car. These lights have also been popular with the streetrod crowd the past few years.

BTW, alot of the Speedsters run dual carbs which would get that single carb out from under the plenum and probably solve your clearance problem. Just a thought. Good luck with your build and keep us updated on how it's going.

The mercedes lights don't fit exactly, They are slightly tall and narrower. I also had to replace the bulbs which included a little surgery to the bulb housing.
As for the wheels. I got a set of short axles which gave me a little more room. I have custom made spacers to space them back out. I ended up with 1/2" space between the tire and the spring plate and about a 1/4" from the tire to the fender,being a swingaxle they tuck nicely when weight is applied.
Bruce, thanks for the pics of the outlaw. Looks sharp

ben, on ebay right now is a 959 kit car with a 2100cc blow thru=fits fine, lotsa pics.