Turning back the clock
The lines have more than enough wiggle to drop the K past the brake line. You can see a zip tie in the radiator support bolt hole holding the line in place on the K. I do not remember seeing any engine install / removal (NHRA or NASCAR) thru the bottom, back in those days or even now for that matter. Engines came out thru the top, with or without the transmission.
We started mimicking the factory install thru the bottom in the 90's to eliminate the scratches and install the engine, transmission, and exhaust manifolds / headers as a complete as possible. I don't think either was / is a high priority with either.
Yeah, I agree, installing the engine from the bottom is really a restoration procedure. Figure if the team had to take the engine out it would have been easiest to just pull it out from the top like normal so as to not have to mess with the suspension. Probably took 20 minutes at most with the motor plate. No way anyone is dropping the K frame in the pits at a race or even in the shop trying to make repairs for the next meet. I'd be willing to bet they even made the core support removable to facilitate that.
The two main reasons for me come from the bottom is because 1) I can with a lift and 2) header clearance. I'm not even sure it will work with larger headers though. It's worth a try since fighting with them can be a nightmare. Either way I'll be investing in some moving blankets for sure.
I looked at the brake lines yesterday. It's a little more complex to run them along the radiator support, more stuff in the way. I'm a little wary of it across the K frame though with street driving. If it was a dedicated race car then 100% it would go there. Also considered running it in the passenger compartment under the dash. Looking at thru-frame bulkhead fittings to ease the install.
I looked at it time and time again and the fuel line location makes sense. The 1/2" aluminum fuel line travels for the most part on the outside (like OEM) of the car and connects to 1/2" steel braided fuel line that stays out of the engine bay freeing up needed space but more importantly (IMO) away from engine / header heat. Where the steel braided line installs under the UCA, it cannot get crushed and is easily removable.
It makes sense, just not used to seeing it there. There are a couple existing spots in the frame rail one could pass a line through or higher up on the fender apron. Just getting it there through the outside bulkheads is a bit of challenge though so that's the hesitation. I'll figure it out one way or another, that's what it's all about.
Always interesting to see how the race teams did stuff though, provides a lot of inspiration and ideas to copy or expand on. They (presumably) did not street drive these cars so there was little to no need to accommodate things that could be damaged during regular street driving. Not having to compromise makes things easier for sure.
I'll step out now, thanks for playing along in your thread.
