Ya thanks to doc l67 series I himself i seem to be pretty well educated on the 93 ssei engine. Many Many thanks. But i have a question you may think is out of the subject, but the side engine mount on the ssei, which is basicallto parellel steel pieces going to a steel knuckle on the frame well. This seems as though it will be my #1 problem in this swap. there will probobly only be and inch of clearance at most between the pulleys and the the strut tower/ frame rail. So the engine mount is at least 8-10 inches in space required. so my thought is what if i eliminate the knuckle part of the mount cut the mount on the block off about three inches from the block weld a piece to the end of it and bold it right to my frame rail. Is that possible or is it going to put to much stress on the engine/tans/frame rail to hold the engine from rocking. My thought is that engines used to be bolted right to the frame so why do i need a mount with flex, or am i wrong?

Well hmm...I'm not a big body guy so I could be wrong on this but I have some info to back it up. Yes it will be a problem. You need to have flex especially in the high torque engines. Looking at www.Fierox.com, he made his own engine and trans mount by doing something similar to what it sounds like your doing but where the mount actually attaches he put a chunk polyurithane. Of course his was directly bolted to the frame but the idea is still the same. I've also read in other places that you have to have a certain amount of flex in the mounts or your going to quickly screw things up for your engine. I could imagine the first thing is that all that torque is going straight into the metal in the mount instead of being obsorbed by the rubber/polyurithane. This might end up with a bent mount or torn threads on your bolts reeeaaal quick. The amount of flex is probably subject to debate too. I would think if you added 1-2" of cushion to both sides of the mount and shortened the lenght of the mount you might be able to pull it off. How long 1-2" of cushion will keep the bolts/mount from snapping is beyond me. Try looking at different places to mount it. Make sure its in the same basic area and don't go too low on the block. Too low and when it torques it'll have the added weight of the top end pulling on it. Get it? Sounds like its going to be a fun swap tho

Well the problem it that the stock bonny mount wont fit, know where near enough room, so i started thinking about it and now im thinking a grand am 3300 mount might bolt to the engine and of course itlle fit because the 3800 same block same mounts should fit both, the side mount should swap im thinking ill i have to look at my gf'* moms grand am it has a 3300 i'll park it next to the bonny and compare them, or ill make a mount thats similar to the 3300 mount but bolts to the 3800. I'll figure something out.

Could you also clarify exactly what it was you were saying about puting under the valve springs?

GA Man, you have to remember something important....it'* totally different swapping out front wheel drives as opposed to rear wheel drives. The engine torque is exerted at 90°......And with the way the transaxle and engine are mounted transversely, it gets really dicey. That mount has to flex. If it doesn't give, your frame/body will.

Will is right...as always. To clarify the valve spring thing its really simple. A shim is basically a washer with an enlarged hole in the middle. This fits snug under the valve spring. Since the spring under NO load sits slightly higher compressing it the same 1" from above will actually compress it slightly further causing higher loads thus it will return to 0 faster. You can test this out yourself, get a spring. Compress it 1/2" in your hand now try compressing it 1", gets harder huh? Same theory. The difference in pressure is up to you this way, you can add or remove pressure easy as pulling the springs and putting a thinner or thicker shim under it. Yeah "easy" huh? Bust still your not buying new springs. I'm not going too much higher I'm sure unless my tech guy suggests otherwise. Off hand I'd think going from stock 80lbs to 90-95lbs would be ok and not play too hard on the valvetrain geometry. Also you get into the rocker not seating properly on the valve because its sitting slightly higher but I believe he mentioned doing some machine work to fix it if its a problem. I'll let you guys know how this works out. Oh and I'd think that if you can bolt a chevy 350 in a mini van, a 350 in a yugo and yes even in a civic hatch back I'm SURE there'* a way to mount that joker in your car. Hell that fiero guy mounted a 3800 in that little thing! Take it to a pro for suggestions. Someone will probably just tell you how it has to be done. If not come at him like your going to pay *** loads for him to do it and be curious on how he'll do it. Then take that info back to your own shop. Its shady but hey, he isn't out anything but 5min having explained it to you.

whats to hold the washer from sliding around under the vlave spring it seems to me that it would slideing around. I dont know to much about valvetrains but maybe i just dont really under stand all of it.

Damn thats one aws0me project, keep up the go0d werk, and put up lots of pix!

Will do Tim . So I just got my supercharger, transmission mount, and water pump in the mail today and the only thing I'm jumping for joy over is the mount. The supercharger is in good shape, no play in the pulley and as you can see in the new pics its got good shiny rotors. The paint on it leaves something to be desired but I'll choose function over form anyday so we'll see how it performs in a few weeks. The water pump is a whole other story. I got it from www.Gmpartsdirect.com and it showed up in an ACDelco box saying "New Water Pump". Reputable company so you'd think it would look great. HEEEELLL NO! Its got rust on the pulley, a huge purple splatter on the body and numerous scratches and stains all over it. Its down right ugly. It really looks like a half assed rebuild. The last few water pumps I got looked nothing like this. I wrote gmpartsdirect.com a firm letter requesting the name of the dealer that sent this. Their warranty is very specific warning that they don't send all of the parts themselves and they aren't accountable for bad parts. So we'll have to wait and see how that goes. Depending on what they're response is I may also write to ACDelco and let them know what kind of product gmpartdirect.com is sending out as NEW. But before I go buck lemme ask you guys, is this common among water pumps you've seen? Go look at the new pics and let me know before I make a big deal out of a common thing. Other than the looks everything is ok (it seems) but if it really is a crap rebuild I would in NO WAY install this on my car. Progress is moving along with the machine shop. I didn't bother him today but tomorrow I'm calling just to check in and see how things are going. We're ordering all new exhaust valves and just cleaning the intake valves. The exhaust valves were a little worn and pitted on the seat. Filing it down far enough could cause more problems so new ones are a good way to go. I'm excited to have the worlds fastest Bonneville.*


Jason


* Owned by a guy named Jason living in Washington

Doc, keep me posted on that water pump. If you need some help with GM, I can run some interference for you. We've got some power here now. About 1100 horsepower.

On the SC, if you decide to paint, choose your coatings carefully. You don't wanna trap heat in there!