gen 2 guys, can someone help with some measurements?

[Kris396ss]

Hey guys, I am looking for two measurements from a gen2. They don't need to be perfect but just as close as you can get would help me out a lot with my project.

First measurement is the crank centerline height (looking for the height of the center of the crank in relation to the chassis). Best way to measure this would probably be to put a straight edge or tape at the top of the chassis across from the balancer, tape a string to the center of the balancer and pull it across to the ruler. Pretty sure the balancer sits BELOW the chassis but if it sits above, you'd just put the tape/ruler at the bottom of the chassis instead.

Second measurement is just finding a reference point of where the back of the block (mating surface to bell housing) sits in relation to the chassis (how far forward or back). If it lines up with any easy to find reference point, that would be fine. If not, maybe a measurement to the nearest landmark would be really helpful.

Unfortunately all I can offer you in return is the satisfaction of knowing you'll be helping bring my viper back from the dead, but if I ever see you at the track I'll let you take a lap as a thank you as long as you promise not to crash

 

[serafins]

The centerline of the crank sits right at about even with the front frame rails. I'll grab a measurement for you tonight. Car is torn apart so it will just take a second.

You can kind of see what I'm talking about in the pic below.

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I also have the body and frame dimension manual that may be helpful for you. Send me a PM with your email and I'll send it to you.

 

[Kris396ss]

Serafins, thank you I’d greatly appreciate that! Sending you my email now. Hard to tell in the pic, but when you say the crank is about even with the front rails you’re saying the center of the balancer is about at the center point of the rails?

 

[GTS Dean]

I measured mine at lunch. The crank damper OD is 3.875" above the lower frame rail bottom. The damper radius is 3.5", so crank CL is 7.375" above the bottom of the frame rails.

The back of the block is maybe 6.875" behind the center of the small gauge hole in the lower frame longitudinal. It's just ahead of the 3x2 brace tube angled toward the wheel well.

 

[Kris396ss]

I measured mine at lunch. The crank damper OD is 3.875" above the lower frame rail bottom. The damper radius is 3.5", so crank CL is 7.375" above the bottom of the frame rails.

The back of the block is maybe 6.875" behind the center of the small gauge hole in the lower frame longitudinal. It's just ahead of the 3x2 brace tube angled toward the wheel well.

Thank you so much! That’s exactly what I needed and will be a huge help. Trying to get a baseline of where the factory engine would have sat for weight biasing purposes so I can play around from there with corner scales. I’m figuring things won’t change much with the little amount of room I have to work with but I’d really like to keep the crank centerline at least as low as the factory and engine placement at least as far back.

I really appreciate the help!

 

[Dan Cragin]

What exactly do you need these measurements for? Maybe I can help.

 

[GTS Dean]

My fully dressed G2 engine with clutch and aluminum FW weighs 605# with no exhaust.

 

[Dan Cragin]

We were able to lower the engine and move it back in the day on the Gen 2 cars.
Also we found moving some weight around was better than adjusting the springs and loading the the sway bars a bit to improve the corner balance.

 

[Kris396ss]

What exactly do you need these measurements for? Maybe I can help.

I'm working on swapping a scatpack drivetrain (6.4 gen 3 hemi/8hp70) into my junkyard 00 RT-10. I've got a build thread on it here I believe in the new member section. I test fit the motor a few months back when the car was at my house, but haven't been able to do much with it in a few months since we've been working on it at a local tech school my buddy teaches for doing the chassis straightening on a laser tram/frame table. Progress has been slow since it's being used to teach the kids. Once it's all square, I'll get it back here and weld up the reinforcements/repair the buckled areas and get to work on the swap.

Just looking for measurements to get a baseline on engine placement. I figure if I start with matching crank centerline and the bell housing mating surface then the engine would be in a very similar place weight wise (most likely it would bias it slightly more to the rear since the whole engine is 5 or so inches shorter) and I can start working with corner scales from there.

GTSDean, that's a lot lighter than I had expected. sounds like it'll be pretty much a wash weight wise. The Hemi is a heavy engine. Total pullout weighed 857# with oil drained but probably some residual oil/coolant left. that was including a rather heavy factory engine harness, exhaust manifolds, crossmember etc.. Engine itself with full accessories but no harness/manfiolds weighs about 580lbs. I won't be running AC so that'll save some weight. It sounds like total weight of the gen3 hemi/9hp vs the gen 2 v10/T56 may be within 50lbs of each other with hemi being surprisingly the heavier option.

Few other things on this car should shed some lbs overall though. It'lll be mostly gutted, light weight seats and my plan is to shave some weight out of the hood and convert it to a pin on style. May end up lexan windshield just out of cost as well and at least at first I won't have any windows/window regulators, though if I ever decide to buy a top for the car that may change.

Only X factor with the weight is how far I decide to go with the bar/cage and if I can find it in my budget to build it from cromoly or just end up with mild steel, since I have a bunch of mild steel tube kicking around from other builds. A full 8.5 cert or SCCA mild steel cage for example will probably offset any weight I take out of the car lol


Weighing the plg heavy hemi makes me really reconsider going back to the plan of using an L92 aluminum LS engine that would shave off probably 150# off the nose (easier to fit too) but I got the hemi for real cheap and it just seems a lot cooler. Also makes more power and substantially more torque in factory form.