This is a read-only archive of the old Madabout Kitcars forum. New posts and replies are no longer possible, but every thread is still here to browse and read.
Sorry to ask such a novice question but what issues are there with angling your engine at a high amount? Say 20 degrees (front up/back down)? The only thing I can think of is the issue of the oil but no one seems to have asked it - because no one has asked it I'm sure its a stupid question but I'd like to know!
Yes the oil issue will be the main one, things that need to be considered are:- Where is the oil pickup feed position when the engine is in the new orientation and where is the drain back on the head. If the oil pickup is not submerged correctly the oil will not be drawn through the pump, hard cornering, braking or acceleration will affect this also. If the drain back is on the wrong side the top of the engine will flood.
In the past engines have been tilted in production cars to either lower the C of G or allow them to fit under the bonnet etc e.g. Vauxhall tilted their engines in the Victor's and Hillman also had a tilted engine in the Imps. You have to way up the disadvantages as well, tilted engines suffer from ovality in the pots as the boxer engines.
Other things to consider are if fitted with a timing chain and how the side loading will affect its tension idler.
Gearbox oil could be another problem, will it circulate correctly? one way to overcome this is to rotate the gearbox to bell housing interface back to allow the gearbox to sit in its original orientation if possible, you would have to reposition fixing holes to do this.