Transmission tunnel gap

A_+ · Sep 13, 2019

You know, the place where your trans lives? Do any of y’all know how much space you have between your car (tunnel)and the shifter? Loooooong story short, I’ve been chasing a rattle/ vibration for YEARS and I just noticed that the shifter base was coming in contact with the body of the car due to a spacer I had to install when I changed to a stifflers mount. After removing the spacer most of the noise went away but it looks like I could use some more space because that gap is really small. I’d say it’s as wide as two toothpicks stacked on each other. The transmission shop I took it to suggested that I may have the wrong factory mount on there as it looks a little tall. I will admit, a shorter mount would give me more room but I replaced that mount a while back with a stock piece from Oreily. Are energy suspension mounts shorter? What do you think?

lutter94 · Sep 13, 2019

This is all under that seal correct? Cut some metal out of the ol girl!

When I swapped from AODE to T5, I had to do some trimming. I guess you'd notice if you tore my interior all apart, but it has zero influence on functionality.

ttocs · Sep 13, 2019

I would question that if the tranny is that far out of alignement that the shifter is rubbing that the noise might only be the symptom to a much bigger problem. I have a stifflers mount and mine doesn't rub.

A_+ · Sep 13, 2019

First is was the mid-pipe touching the crossmember, then it was the mount then it went back to being to mid-pipe or so I thought but removing the spacer provided by stifflers did help. I never thought that this car could have been an original aod car and I can’t believe I never noticed how close the shifter was to the body.

A_+ · Oct 11, 2019

Is this a little too much to the right?

07GtS197 · Oct 13, 2019

How are your motor mounts?

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A_+ · Oct 13, 2019

In great shape. I took the car to a trans shop and the guy suggested I remove the crossmember spacer that stifflers provided . It helped with the rattle but it came back again. The guy also mentioned that my trans mount looked a little too tall.

A_+ · Apr 1, 2020

So is the trans and drive shaft supposed to sit in the middle of the tunnel? the top of the bell appears to be touching the body of the car, probably because it sits so close to the pass. side. Therefore, drive shaft sits closer to that side but it doesn’t pose a problem, yet. I’m just wondering if there is a way to move the trans a little more to the middle.

01yellercobra · Apr 3, 2020

Stock K member?

A_+ · Apr 3, 2020

01yellercobra · Apr 5, 2020

I was hoping you'd say aftermarket so you had some adjustment. I don't think the stock K member has a whole lot of adjustment. But something is out of whack. Your shifter should be about a half inch to the left. Might be time to break out the tape measure and start checking things.

A_+ · Apr 5, 2020

Half inch to the left would change my life! It looks like the vibration already caused the top bolt of the trans to fall out! All mounts are in good shape but I don’t think they match. I wouldn’t want to buy a matching set and still have this problem.

01yellercobra · Apr 5, 2020

I would unbolt the trans from the mount. See what it does. Maybe you'll be lucky and it's just something with the crossmember. If it stays in place you need to start looking at motor mounts and the k member.

When you say they're different do you mean different heights? Or????

ttocs · Apr 6, 2020

I have not given this much thought because its not something I have messed with much and hoped someone would recognize the issue and know the problem. Now after giving it some time and a little thought, it either has to be off in the back or the front to make it off in the middle correct? Has the rear end been out? If it has not then lets assume it has not moved, that means the front has to in order for the middle to be off. You mention one the original post that one of the shop guys thought the motor mounts looked tall/different. For shits and giggles take it up to the parts store and have them get a new set of mounts off the shelf and compare what you have to what they have and see if there is a difference. After my recent discovery of having the wrong spark plugs in my car I trust the a-holes at the store as much as do the government. Less really...

A_+ · Apr 6, 2020

ttocs said:
I have not given this much thought because its not something I have messed with much and hoped someone would recognize the issue and know the problem. Now after giving it some time and a little thought, it either has to be off in the back or the front to make it off in the middle correct? Has the rear end been out? If it has not then lets assume it has not moved, that means the front has to in order for the middle to be off. You mention one the original post that one of the shop guys thought the motor mounts looked tall/different. For shits and giggles take it up to the parts store and have them get a new set of mounts off the shelf and compare what you have to what they have and see if there is a difference. After my recent discovery of having the wrong spark plugs in my car I trust the a-holes at the store as much as do the government. Less really...

I checked out the back yesterday and everything seems to be in order but then again, I really don’t know what I was looking for. I’ve never messed with the rear end except for when I had uppers and lowers installed. A while back , I removed to trans mount and took it to oreilys to compare it to another and they were identical. The previous owner installed “fox body” motor mounts because the let the engine sit lower but I couldn’t find anything on the internet to replace them if they were busted. I did find an Anchor 87-93 trans mount and it was a little shorter than the one I got from Oreily. It helped a little.

01yellercobra said:
I would unbolt the trans from the mount. See what it does. Maybe you'll be lucky and it's just something with the crossmember. If it stays in place you need to start looking at motor mounts and the k member.

When you say they're different do you mean different heights? Or????

Yes, they were different heights but not by much. When my 87-93 trans mount came in, I switched out the stifflers crossmember to the factory, to see if it made a difference. It didn’t.

01yellercobra · Apr 6, 2020

Then I'd start looking at the K member and motor mounts. I vaguely remember the mounts on my old 351W being side specific. But that was in an old Mustang. Might be worth pulling the motor mounts and giving them a good once over. Does the engine really need to sit lower?

Also, was this originally a V8/manual car or was something swapped at some point?

A_+ · Apr 6, 2020

01yellercobra said:
Then I'd start looking at the K member and motor mounts. I vaguely remember the mounts on my old 351W being side specific. But that was in an old Mustang. Might be worth pulling the motor mounts and giving them a good once over. Does the engine really need to sit lower?

Also, was this originally a V8/manual car or was something swapped at some point?

Last I pulled them, they were in good shape. I guess I could look at them again. Does the engine have to sit lower because the top is swapped with fox stuff? Maybe the Gt40 intake won’t let the hood close. It’s always been a v8.

ttocs · Apr 6, 2020

The gt40 stuff will not let you use the stock strut tower brace but it will still close under the hood. If we know the mounts are not stock and are different than what an sn uses I would try swapping them out and see if it doesn't buy you that inch or two that you need. The only thing you would loose is the stock strut brace and there are aftermarket that can fit around it if you have to have it but the cobras didn't....

A_+ · Apr 6, 2020

Dang, I didn’t even know that these cars came with a strut brace! I think you’re right. I should probably stick the correct model mounts in there and see what happens. I just know I’m gonna have a hard time finding some that fit correctly.