Is this normal?

HaveII

Founding Member
Sep 9, 2001
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Houston, TX
I was looking at cutting a hole in my hood and mounting a scoop to allow more clearance and more fresh air when I noticed that the motor is not centered in my 75'. The center of my motor is a little more than 1" to the passanger side assumming the raised line in the hood and cowl are true center. I speculated that this is the way it should be and that this was done for steering clearance. If this is the case is the center of the rearend also off center (one axle slightly shorter than the other)? I just can't believe that I never noticed if this were the case. Can someone confirm that I am just stupid for not knowing or noticing this before and that my car is not bent.
 
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That is correct. This is the primary reason why mounting or making any scoop functional (and effective) on a II is not easy. A shaker scoop will require a custom base or top to offset it towards the center. Obviously with a bolton scoop there is more room for mistakes. I'm not certain why exactly this was done by Ford. My guess would be for steering or power brake clearance. However I've heard others say that it was for balancing purposes. As for the rear, I don't think the axles are shorter/longer. I believe the offset comes in the differential carrier. Anyway those are my experiences/opinions for what it is worth.

d
 
Thanks for all of the replys, I feel much better now. :)

Dmoody, you must be phycic. I have been dreaming out doing the Shaker hood scoop, but a little different than usual. I was thinking about building up a raised area on the hood, kind of like a cowl hood to make more space (Using Airgap RPM and would like to have a 1" spacer) and still have the shaker sticking through at the correct height. I guess doing the offset on the base would probably create the best results appearance wise. I found a guy in Australia who sells reproduction shaker kits for small blocks for $375 plus shipping. Someday, hopefully sooner than later.

Thanks again for the help!
 
HaveII said:
I was looking at cutting a hole in my hood and mounting a scoop to allow more clearance and more fresh air when I noticed that the motor is not centered in my 75'. The center of my motor is a little more than 1" to the passanger side assumming the raised line in the hood and cowl are true center. I speculated that this is the way it should be and that this was done for steering clearance. If this is the case is the center of the rearend also off center (one axle slightly shorter than the other)? I just can't believe that I never noticed if this were the case. Can someone confirm that I am just stupid for not knowing or noticing this before and that my car is not bent.


I was in your shoes a few years back just look at the bracket the motor mount bolts to just below the battery. then you will see the offset

I bought an offset breather base or make you own ---there always edelbrock's triangle breather but its not good if you have a backfire through the carb.

Either way the hole should be centered on the hood if you put a 10" breather it should fit regardless of the offset.
 
On the rear axle, as said before, the pinion IS centered, but the axle housing is NOT. In fact there is a long and short axle because the carrier assembly sits off center in the housing iteslf. :nice:
 
HaveII, your idea sounds cool and is certainly unique to the II world. It reminds me a lot of the Mach's that Ford is producing now with the raised hoods/shaker combo. Since, you're talking about adding a raised portion to the hood it would create a pitch which would have to be added to the base as well. It certainly isn't impossible, however it would require a lot of fabrication followed by trial and error. As for me, I bought David Wilson's old base. He done away with his original base and added the offset to the lid for a cleaner look. Anyhow it seems to line up correctly on my car. I haven't cut the hood yet but I will be doing that soon. I bought a trim ring for the hood from fordramair.com. It is fiberglass and is much, much cheaper than buying one of the original ones. As for shakers, I would not buy the reproduction fiberglass ones. Since you're going to be custom making your own base, I would look for an original shaker off e-bay. You should be able to find an original intermediate plate with shaker for $375 or less. You'll still have to buy a reproduction seal for around $80. Anyway, hope that helps some.

d


d
 
Dano and Cobraman, regarding the short/long axles, how come I hear of other II owners swapping the axles or differentials out to go to a five lug combo? Do other differentials such as the Granada, Maverick, etc have that same offset in the axles? If not how could you swap the axles? And if you swapped the whole differential, wouldn't that stress your U-joints a lot and/or cause the driveshaft to hit the transmission tunnel in certain situations? Thanks guys..

d
 
dmoody said:
Dano and Cobraman, regarding the short/long axles, how come I hear of other II owners swapping the axles or differentials out to go to a five lug combo?


The chunk doesn't matter. AFAIK Their all interchangable.

The housing is what makes the difference in half shaft length.

Sticking the longer shafts in the shorter housing? I think it's not that good of idea, I would need to see hard numbers on measurments before saying for sure. (Notice I'm not saying "why".)

I should put this on the list of things to do next time I have a II 8" apart.




And if you swapped the whole differential, wouldn't that stress your U-joints a lot and/or cause the driveshaft to hit the transmission tunnel in certain situations?


??
 
dmoody said:
Dano and Cobraman, regarding the short/long axles, how come I hear of other II owners swapping the axles or differentials out to go to a five lug combo? Do other differentials such as the Granada, Maverick, etc have that same offset in the axles? If not how could you swap the axles? And if you swapped the whole differential, wouldn't that stress your U-joints a lot and/or cause the driveshaft to hit the transmission tunnel in certain situations? Thanks guys..

d

I can't speak for all the variables, but I can say this:

The Maverick I pulled the shafts out of that are in my '77 had axle shafts that were VERY close to the II shafts. It was, however NOT a direct swap. Bearing diameters, housing ends, etc were different.

It is my assumption that the pinion is centered in the small intermediate Ford cars of the era. I can't speak for all the Ford vehicles, seems like early Broncos had offset pinions, but it's been a long time....
 
dmoody said:
HaveII, your idea sounds cool and is certainly unique to the II world. It reminds me a lot of the Mach's that Ford is producing now with the raised hoods/shaker combo. Since, you're talking about adding a raised portion to the hood it would create a pitch which would have to be added to the base as well. It certainly isn't impossible, however it would require a lot of fabrication followed by trial and error. As for me, I bought David Wilson's old base. He done away with his original base and added the offset to the lid for a cleaner look. Anyhow it seems to line up correctly on my car. I haven't cut the hood yet but I will be doing that soon. I bought a trim ring for the hood from fordramair.com. It is fiberglass and is much, much cheaper than buying one of the original ones. As for shakers, I would not buy the reproduction fiberglass ones. Since you're going to be custom making your own base, I would look for an original shaker off e-bay. You should be able to find an original intermediate plate with shaker for $375 or less. You'll still have to buy a reproduction seal for around $80. Anyway, hope that helps some.

d


d

I saw a shaker for a Torino on e-bay a week or so ago. It is a little different with the front coming to a point. I think this would compliment the II since the shape is the same as the front of the hood and nose. Might be a cheaper option and would probably be one of the only ones on a II. I saw a metal shaker scoop on e-bay for a resonable price like the 69 mach 1. $189 buy it now. Thanks for your insight, Can't wait to see some pictures when you get yours done!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43946&item=7910498834&rd=1
 
78Mach1 said:
That auction you linked looked like it was for the scoop only, you would still need the base, and the hood seal

I am considering several options including just buying the scoop and either fabing or modifing something to work. As mentioned earlier in the post the stock base would need to be modified due to the motor being offset. Not sure I want to buy a new base just to cut it up. I found kits with everything needed less the mods starting at over $500..
 
As far as I know, here are the parts you need:

torino or mustang scoop (two pieces)
intermediate plate
custom base
reproduction hood seal
trim ring
air cleaner lid

My recommendation was to buy the intermediate plate and hood scoop off e-bay. By the way, watch out for auctions on e-bay...sometimes people split up the scoop into two separate pieces and sell them that way. I recommend you only bid on both pieces together. Then buy the reproduction hood seal, fiberglass trim ring and air cleaner lid separately.

You'll probably end up with $500 in it doing it that way but you'll have a steel intermediate plate and aluminum scoop. Since you're going to be doing a lot of fabrication/fitting I think there are some advantages to this approach. However if you are good with fiberglass (I'm not) then go with a complete aftermarket kit. It would be a lot less trouble and you'd have a base to start modifying. Also the Torino reproduction kit has no plug in the scoop to cover up the screw going into the intermediate plate. I'm not sure why Ford felt they needed to stick a screw in the middle of the scoop.

d
 
THE COBRAMAN said:
I can't speak for all the variables, but I can say this:

The Maverick I pulled the shafts out of that are in my '77 had axle shafts that were VERY close to the II shafts. It was, however NOT a direct swap. Bearing diameters, housing ends, etc were different.

It is my assumption that the pinion is centered in the small intermediate Ford cars of the era. I can't speak for all the Ford vehicles, seems like early Broncos had offset pinions, but it's been a long time....

The pinion is pretty much dead center in all of ford's car line as far as I've seen. It's the 3rd member itself that makes for offset axles as the 3rd member never sits dead center in the housing. (ring gear can't be centered if pinion is) Now, I have seen many occasions where the whole axle assembly is actually mounted 1" or more tward the passenger side, for some odd reason. It's really noticable in alot of the 60's intermediates, easily seen on the 67-68 Cougar. And oddly enough, the car doesn't "dog-walk" at all...(surely not like a 4wd chevy pu!)

I too did a comparison with a pair of 67 Cougar axle shafts I had out of my brother's car at the time. Seemed to be right on the money. But like was said earlier, the retainers are different sizes. I didn't mic that part of the axle to see if the bearings could be pressed off and interchanged along with the retainer plates. I would imagine so, as Ford's been real good at keeping things the same and simple across the board.... until the MII anyways.. :rolleyes:
 
Dano78 said:
I too did a comparison with a pair of 67 Cougar axle shafts I had out of my brother's car at the time. Seemed to be right on the money. But like was said earlier, the retainers are different sizes. I didn't mic that part of the axle to see if the bearings could be pressed off and interchanged along with the retainer plates.

My 78 has axle shafts from either a 66 or 67 Mustang 8". It was almost an easy swap. I used my original retainers due to a difference in bolt patterns, but had to modify them to clear the substantial extra meat on the older axle shafts. Other than that, it was out with old and in with the new - or was it the other way around?