How to change engine mounts!

[splintermcinnes]

Right'o chaps and chappesses, my lovely new poly mounts arrived a few days ago from the US of A, so i decided to get off my arse and fit them when the weather cleared up, which it did a couple of days ago.

So, up went the arse end of the car and out came the tools!

decided to start with the front touque mount, seen below in its original state:-

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/04/174.jpg

the lower bolt on the drivers side was a bastard to get to (14mm for reference) there is a bracket coming off the main mount in the way, made it difficult to get to with a ratchet and socket! had to use spanner and gentle pursuader!!! :mrgreen:
The mounting bolts front and rear are all 14mm bolts, and the central bolt is 17mm.
There are 4 mounting bolts and the central bolt to undo and it just pulls out easily. Once removed, insert a hacksaw blade through the gap and cut through the outer band of metal thats securing it to the main mount. see picture for the after effect. Then take hammer and remove the old POS.

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/04/175.jpg

While it was appart i got the trusty TB spanner (read grinder!) out and removed the useless bracket that was blocking the lower drivers side bolt!

Then insert the new poly mounts, they are in two halves with a metal insert for the central bolt: -

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/04/176.jpg

when it comes to refitting it was quite difficult to line up the bolts to the chassis. so to get more movement i loosened the bolts of the bracket on the engine block (14mm bolts - with spanner), this allowed me to get a few threads on all bolts so i could progressivley tighten all bolts successfully.

In place sitting pretty: -

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/04/177.jpg

The rear one is a lot more restricted for access with the way my exhaust is piped! The torque mount bolts go through the sub frame (x3 14mm bolts) and are easy to get to. The hard one was the bolt through the middle, three extention bars and a universal joint and my second ratchet (broke one as it was so damn tight!!) but eventually came off after lost nuckles and a few choise words!!:blabla: :-

Removed:-
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/04/178.jpg

Inspected and found what i suspected, the V6 has destroyed my mount. This has caused excess movment of the engine which has desroyed the flexi section - Again!!!>:[ So, same trick with the hacksaw and it was soon in pieces: -

The dammage: -
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/04/179.jpg

The mount in pieces: -
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/04/180.jpg

Same process as the front, fit the two new poly mount halves and insert the new center metal piece - rubber hammer to assist!

Putting the mount back in place was actually alot easier than the front mount! inserted the three bolts through the subfram first and got a few threads on them, then fitted the central bolt, then tightened them all up - job done!!! : -

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2008/04/181.jpg

Enjoy, it took me bout hour and half start to finnish.

hope you enjoyed the write up, thanks.

People have metioned to much excess cabin vibrations, but i only realy notice it at tick over - get more vibrations, mirrors wobble humming etc, as soon as the throttle is blipped its normal again! dont know if its all in my head but i feel as there is less movement in the engine the pick up/throttle response feels a bit better! no lag as the engine picks up! might be in my head.

Matt

[sengk]

Great write up. I have the same mounts but only the front one installed. Coming from a 3m window weld filled front mont to these mounts there is noticeably more noise and vibrations at idle. sometime I forget my car makes that much noise at idle and I turn my stereo down to see where all that bass is coming from. The noise and vibrations do go away after you get going.

Seng

[Garbe]

I see why mounts were such a tight fit. I didn't take the metal ring out :slap:

[splintermcinnes]

how on earth did you get them to fit????!!! was quite a tight fit as it is!

crazy fool!:nuts:

[sengk]

I didn't even have that metal ring in mine.

[jimgreen]

Haven't done my rear one, but have plenty of my RS poly left. Very interesting about the 'ring' never noticed it being separate. Is it hard getting the hacksaw in there ?

[sketchy]

easy if you wanna get a blade in there....

we have this thing called "fire"(tm)....and it can burn rubber....

but cant be too hard too get the blade in...or just an excuse too use the air saw with a slim blade:P

[jimgreen]

yeh, think we have fire up here, at least that's what I think I used. Mine came out of a blow torch, but I hear in the southern hemisphere yours comes out of 2 sticks when rubbed together ? :)

[Paff]

fire.......

what is this stuff and can someone post some to me :)

[OlberJ]

Nice write up Matt.

For future reference, if the bolt holes for the mounts don't line up in future, try jacking the gearbox slightly, it'll give a little bit and allow the bolts to go in.

Only doing it on a couple of turns each can lead to stripping the threads. Trust me, i did it on my front torque mount on the mk1 :doh:

[splintermcinnes]

i tried to use the jack on the gear box to no avail!! seemed to be fine by doing the bolts bit by bit.

[OlberJ]

Nairy fuff, jus a heads up incase.