Metal working

Right direction on how to deal with projects

Q. I hope you can point me in the right direction on how to deal with one of my projects. To cut a long story short, I have squeezed a big block motor into my 1968 Plymouth Valiant. It fits, but just barely. As you can see in the photo, a couple of the bolts on the valve cover are very close to the sheetmetal. One bolt is almost directly in line with the shock tower, and the other one is further down.

Unfortunately, in my part of the world, the vehicle inspectors require you to have a certain amount of clearance between the engine and body of the car. I need to make some space on one of the shock towers - not much – only around three to four millimetres.