Engine block tilt

[Seppi72]

Does anyone know how far from vertical an L24 or L28 engine block is tilted to the vehicle's right side?  It's not something I can find in my FSM.

[Zed Head]

Here's a picture.

 

[siteunseen]

Knowing the engine sits lower on the passenger's side you can tell right off which motor mount goes on which side.

[Zed Head]

Just realized that you can get the angle from the oil pan also. The bottom ends up parallel with the floor of the ground.  Assuming a perfect world.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Zed Head

[siteunseen]

31 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

Just realized that you can get the angle from the oil pan also. The bottom ends up parallel with the ground.

HaHa Zed! You must first equalize the air pressure in each tire and hope your concrete floor was done correctly.

 

[Seppi72]

Well, the picture was nice but I needed a number.  I have two issues: (1) my engine is out of the car and (2) it's hard to know whether parts of the block that appear to be parallel to the cylinder bore actually are parallel.

To resolve the first issue, I rotated the engine stand until the lowest points of the two engine mount brackets were the same distance from the floor.  I'm assuming that the pillars on the engine cross member have a vertical plane of symmetry between them and are nominally equidistant from the ground.

Then, I took my $37 Pittsburgh digital angle gauge from Harbor Freight and applied it to several locations on the engine.  The results varied a bit but I'd say the general value is between 11 and 12 degrees.

So, now I know.

[siteunseen]

Could you draw a center line on the cam towers and use those for centers?

I do that when I adjust my valves.

[Zed Head]

You could have leveled the bottom of the oil pan and used your angle gauge on the top of the head or block.  Or leveled the top of the head and put your angle gauge on the bottom of the oil pan.  Actually, you can still do that.  

Anyway.  Why do you need the angle?

[Derek]

The engine tilts 12 degrees. I verified this many times during the development of the KN20.

[Seppi72]

22 hours ago, Zed Head said:

You could have leveled the bottom of the oil pan and used your angle gauge on the top of the head or block.  Or leveled the top of the head and put your angle gauge on the bottom of the oil pan.  Actually, you can still do that.  

Anyway.  Why do you need the angle?

I need the angle to help me determine how to cut the ends of the universal brackets that Vintage Air sells for mounting a Sanden compressor as part of an A/C installation.

[Racer X]

On 8/9/2021 at 2:48 PM, Seppi72 said:

Well, the picture was nice but I needed a number.  I have two issues: (1) my engine is out of the car and (2) it's hard to know whether parts of the block that appear to be parallel to the cylinder bore actually are parallel.

To resolve the first issue, I rotated the engine stand until the lowest points of the two engine mount brackets were the same distance from the floor.  I'm assuming that the pillars on the engine cross member have a vertical plane of symmetry between them and are nominally equidistant from the ground.

Then, I took my $37 Pittsburgh digital angle gauge from Harbor Freight and applied it to several locations on the engine.  The results varied a bit but I'd say the general value is between 11 and 12 degrees.

So, now I know.

The only machined surfaces on the block that are parallel to the cylinder bores are the front  where the timing cover attaches, and rear where the transmission attaches.

The deck where the cylinder head mounts and the pan rails where the oil pan attaches are perpendicular to the cylinder bores, and parallel to the crankshaft and camshaft center lines.

I mounted a cylinder block to my engine stand, rotated it so the pan rail was perfectly level, using a smartlevel (a digital level). Next I mounted an oil pan, and measured the angle of the bottom of the pan using the smart level.

I got 12 degrees.

 

[zKars]

On 8/10/2021 at 4:17 PM, Seppi72 said:

I need the angle to help me determine how to cut the ends of the universal brackets that Vintage Air sells for mounting a Sanden compressor as part of an A/C installation.

I think its most important to ensure the compressor drive axis is parallel to the crank shaft to make sure the pulleys run true, I was un-aware that the sanden compressor cared much about being level in any plane. Did I miss something in the past Vintage installs I’ve done? I can think of some comment about the ports needing to be vertical ish, or within some degree swing either way of vertical, but it wasn’t all the critical.

Depending on how you plan to tighten the belt ,ie are you swinging the compressor in slots in the mounting brackets or using an idler pulley, the compressor will rotate anyway.

And yes, as if Derek needs any confirmation, the engine leans 12deg east if you’re driving north.