Just wondering if anyone that has installed a mid and front engine plate has made up some engine travel limiters?

I'm looking for pics and ideas.

I got the tabs, tube, rod ends and cut up an old motor mount.

 

Because of how the front and mid plate allow the engine/trans to move forward and backward, you only need to eliminate that movement. There are many ways to to it depending on your application, room etc.

It's common to make a mounting plate to attach to the engine mount holes in the block. They won't be used anyway. A rod on either side angling forward or backward towards the frame rails makes movement impossible.

I didn't have the room beside the big block to do this. With a powerglide, I do not use a trans mount. Transmission is simply bolted to the engine and hangs off the back of the engine. I have a crossmember behind the transmission for a driveshaft loop to be installed. I fabricated a mount that bolts to where the trans mount on the transmission would usually bolt to and I ran a rod from that bracket to one attached to the crossmember behind the transmission. Does the same job as any other limiter and keeps the engine/trans from moving forward and backwards.

If you still use a trans mount with front and mid plates on the engine, changing the rubber/poly trans mount to a solid mount will also act as a limiter.

 

Thanks for the reply and suggestions!
Ya, my loose plan was to use the existing motor mounts and use rod ends.
The driver side would have to go forward towards the rad.
The passenger side could go back

I heard that changing to a solid trans mount puts too much pressure on the case, and guys cracking the case.
I have an aftermarket powerglide case (A1). Not sure if its that much thicker/stronger that it would crack

 

Too much pressure on the case maybe when the weight of the transmission is sitting on it when using regular motor mounts. Using front and rear motor plates, the weight is being held up by the motor plates. Transmission mount isn't holding nearly as much weight now and powerglides are much lighter than TH350, TH400 etc

Cracking transmission cases really depends on how much flex the motor plates will have. My front plate is 1/4" aluminum (home made) and the mid plate is 1/8", I think, steel (purchased). They both need to be cut and modified to fit each application. As short as they are, if there's any flex large enough to crack the transmission case then there's a serious issue somewhere else (chassis twist etc). My front plate is modified to sit on top of the frame rails although having mounting brackets on the sides of the rails would work just as well and would make the front plate a little bit shorter.

Biggest downside of a front plate is the thickness. Mine is one piece so it also goes behind the water pump. Double water pump gaskets. If you have a belt driven water pump, the pulleys also need to be move forward the thickness of the front plate for the belt to align.

With limited room at the front of my engine with a belt drive fuel pump, vacuum pump, crank trigger and an alternator, how I mounted them was tricky. Water pump is electric so no pulley to use. I couldn't high mount the alternator without a water pump pulley. The motor plate prevented me from mounting it low beside the engine. Easiest thing I could do was flip the alternator around to run backwards which allowed me to get a pulley mounted on the mandrel to line up with the alternator pulley. I use a CS style alternator so no external fan and the alternator doesn't care which direction it spins.