Pulley clearance

The 6.5 diesel is almost 2.5" longer than the small block 350. This means the front pulley is going to end up over the crossmember rather than just behind it. One solution would be to cut a piece out of the crossmember and weld in a patch with more clearance.

Another solution would be to make spacer plates to raise the motor up at the motor mounts. Raising the motor would also give a little additional ground clearance.

The downside to raising the motor will be decreased clearance under the hood and decreased clearance between the bellhousing and firewall.

Here's a drawing for a motor mount spacer plate. Because it will sit at a 45 degree angle a 5/8" thick plate will raise the motor about 7/8".

I'll probably make both modifications. If raising the motor runs into too many unseen difficulties I can remove the spacer plates. If I've already modified the crossmember I won't have to pull the motor back out to do it later.