I've searched several times, but didn't see this: did you have your car on ramps or on stands? I'm getting ready to replace the 2 motor mounts, and had the front end up on stands (under the frame rails (as the FSM says). It seemed to me that if I remove the engine support member, the weight of the front end might cause some sagging, which would make it hard to put back on (even with the engine supported). Thanks for any advice!

 

While I was searching yesterday...I found that you really need to support the cross-member then unbolt the front engine mount from the engine and cross member, them lower the jack, remove the mount...put the new one and put the bolts...raise the jack, bolt crossmember then bolt engine mount bolts...I think that about covers it....did I miss anything fellas?

 

he got it just about right.

what I did when changing mine was to jack up the car (ramps or jackstands are fine)..

then get about THREE jacks.. put one under the tranny, and another under the oilpan. put small boards between the jack and car so you don't damage anything.. the third jack will be needed to "tweak" the engine this way or that to line eveything back up later.

then jack up the engine just a tad so there's no stress on the engine mounts. then unbolt the mounts from the engine and remove the entire cross member with both mounts on there.

you may also want to break all the bolts loose on both ends of the mounts before you get the jacks under the engine. they're going to be VERY tight and will require room and elbow grease to get loose.

If you don't have at least 1/2" drive tools, then you shouldn't waste your time trying. I believe they're all 17mm stuff, so you could buy at least a 1/2" breaker bar and a 17mm socket. once you break everything loose, a regular 3/8" drive tool will work, but don't even think about starting the job with only 3/8" tools. you'll break them, trust me


so once you get all the bolts loose, make sure the engine is correctly supported and drop the entire cross member. pull one mount off at a time and replace it (make sure it's facing the right way and you're using the correct one. it makes it MUCH easier than trying to figure out which went where afterwards).

Dont' forget that your Oxygen sensor wire is attached to the rear engine mount also. be sure to remove it before you start the fiasco, or it'll bite you in the butt later.

 

Thanks very much! I think only my rear one is bad (based on the fwd/rev watch the engine test), but I'm going to replace them both. I got the Flexane 80 already, so I'll be taking them both off together. Maybe I'll take some pictures to make sure it goes back together right. Thanks for your advice!

 

1. I'll bet you money it's the front one that's bad. the front one ALWAYS goes before the rear.


2. you're going to flexane the mounts? be prepared to wait a WEEK for the stuff to cure. even if you bake it in the oven overnight like they talk about, still wait at least 1.5x what they say is okay..
and make SURE YOU MIX IT PROPERLY!!
I didn't, and the stuff never set up.. after months of curing time, the stuff was still like thick, sticky syrup. not a good thing when you're tyring to hold a car up.


if you don't have another car to drive around in the meantime (if you need one).. then I highly suggest buying a set of crapped out mounts from a junkyard and using those to flexane.. THEN swap them out.

otherwise, your car will be out of commission for minimum 2 days.

 

How much you sending me?? I pulled them out last night - front one cracked but pretty solid, rear one much more cracked with a much looser sleeve (where the bolt goes through). Neither one is completely torn, though. For the first shot, I think I'm just going to fill in the space at the top of each. The rear one actually had a rubber insert in the space. It's a factory part, though - not something just stuck in there. Have you seen these before?

I have an old truck to get around in while they're curing, so it'll be a week at least. Thanks again for your help.

 

damn- you've got a stick. I missed that part... on a 5 spd, the rear mount will usually wear out first. on autos, it's the front.

the rubber inserts were in mine too when I bought new ones from courtesy. they go on the 5 spds to help firm things up to keep the mounts from tearing apart so quickly on the 5 spds.

as long as yours aren't falling apart (my front one came out of the car in 4 pieces, rear came out in 2), then just fill the gaps in with the flexane and reinstall. might want to clamp it down and drill some holes through the rubber where the tear is then fill them with flexane too, just to help glue it all back together.

 

That's a good idea, I'll do that. I was also going to put a rod through the bolt hole and pull the crack shut before filling, just to make it as solid as possible. Thanks again!

 

I just used some long zip ties and wrapped it through the center hole and around the mount to hold it in place while the stuff cured.

 

Matt, it turns out that's not such a good idea after all. No sooner had I drilled through the crack on the rear mount than this smelly brown fluid started oozing out. Once it stopped, the mount still seemed pretty solid, so I'm going to go ahead and fill it in tomorrow. Hope it's not totally f****d up, though. BTW - the instructions say to mix the flexane 77% resin/23% hardener by weight. Did you use some type of scale, or just eyeball it?

 

With the flexane I ordered from McMaster...it was already premeasured..the right ratio, all I had to do was mix it...and pour.... idiot proof!

 

that's if you use the entire can. one can is enough to do about 3 sets of mounts.



Dave, the mounts are liquid filled, but just open the cavity up and clean it with something, then fill with flexane. I'd heard they were liquid filled, but mine didn't have anything come out of them, nor were there noticeable cavities in it where the stuff would come out. weird.

 

I actually called Devcon today about the mix ratio. The guy told me it's REAL critical - that's why it's measured by weight (not volume) and it's 77%/23% (not 3:1). I don't have a beam scale, but he said (like you and nupe) that it's the right ratio if you use it all. I must have filled mine in more (up to the outer rim on both), because I didn't have enough left to do another set. Glad I mixed it all instead of eyeballing it! If I was doing more than one set, I might have used less, but it was just going to be thrown out anyway.