Hi all,
I just did this the past weekend. I know there is another thread out there, but here is my How-To with pics. Hope this helps anyone else:
Replacing the engine mounts is not an overly hard thing to do, but may be tricky.
1. First, before you even do anything, conduct a quick check around the engine bay. This procedure will require you to loosen the mounts and jack the engine up about 4-5 inches. Imagine jacking up the engine, and look all around the engine for anything that might get pinched or interfered with. This normally isn’t a concern, but you just want to make sure the previous owner didn’t run some line between a tight spot. One thing I noticed would be an immediate concern was the exhaust piping coming out of the muffler and into the cat. Mind you, I have an aftermarket exhaust, but the general flow is the same. The pipe curves right under the driver’s side pontoon frame; this is a point of concern because if you jack the engine up, your exhaust pipe will hit the frame and cause some damage. I opted to disconnect part of the exhaust by unbolting the cat and the muffler came off. As you will see in the following procedure, this also gave me more room to work when it came to the driver’s side mount.
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2. After your initial inspection, go ahead and jack the car up on 4 stands. I didn’t have the luxury of a lift, so this was the best option for me. It seemed the most comfortable way to get full clearance under the car to monitor the raising of the engine and comfortably access all the bolts I needed.
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3. Once on the stands, go ahead and loosing the main center bolt on both mounts. This is held in place by 2 nuts FWD and AFT of each mount. If you think they are in bad shape, spray them with lubricant and let them soak for a while. Once the nuts are loose, I used a hammer to drive the main bolts through and out of the mount.
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4. At this point, you can place your jack under the oil pan. I suggest using a piece of wood to cushion the pan and lift from the front portion (front of the car) of the oil pan for best leverage.
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5. Go ahead and start lifting the engine; keep in mind, you do not need to loosen anything on the transmission to do so as it should have enough play to move as well. When raising the engine, do so SLOWLY. Monitor each pump of the jack and check for interference in the engine bay. Check below and above the car for interference. Also, check the engine base is freeing from the mount itself; if it seems “stuck” to the mount, try spraying it with lube or tapping it with a hammer. Worst case scenario here is that you resort to lifting the engine with the mounts attached (this would require you to loosen the two bolts that hold the mount to the frame), but usually this is not the case.
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6. You need to raise the engine high enough for the center bolt hole to be CLEAR of the mount ears. If not, it is not going to work! So while raising the engine, monitor the critical clearances of the EXHAUST PIPE as well! If you see the pipe is touching the frame, STOP! Check if you have cleared the mount, and if not, then you may just have to remove your exhaust before proceeding further. Remove the exhaust by loosening the 4 main cat nuts (located FWD of the cat – you need to be facing the rear of the car) , and if you have a stock exhaust, you will have to remove all the brackets from the muffler to drop the whole thing I am assuming. (like I said, mine is a slightly different configuration and not stock).
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7. Once you have raised your engine high enough to where you think the hole cleared the driver’s side mount ears, and nothing has been interfered with, remove the drivers side mount by loosening the two small bolts holding it to the frame of the car. I suggest you take a pencil and mark the outline of the mount base so you can more or less place it in that exact position when installing the new one. (there is no room for play here, the mount base holes are VERY precise and need to be in the exact position as the old ones). Part of the challenge was to line up the new mount to where the old one was because you do not have a clear view of the hole alignment.
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8. Once the mount is completely unbolted, you should be able to slide it outward, angle it up, and out. Whatever works for you, as long as it is loose to take out by hand. No need to modify the mount in any way to remove or insert; leave it alone, as it is all about clearance.
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9. Now you are ready to place the new mount in. Do so by hand aligning it the best you can by hand. At this point, I placed just the center bolt back in on BOTH engine bases, and lowered the engine to ensure the bolt would help line up with the groove on the mount, and also line up the engine to where it was supposed to be. Do not drop the engine completely; somewhere in between, try to find the hole and hand tighten the outer mount base bolt. Once that is done, continue dropping the engine; the goal is to use the engine to “push” the mount into its position. This step just requires a bit of patience and find out what works for you. This is where the outline of the mount base comes handy. You will find that a combination of tapping the base of the mount and raising/lowering the engine slightly, will help line it up with the inner holes Of course, I suggest putting the outward bolt first before the inner as you lower the engine into place. The inner one is much harder to put in, but with the outer in, it will help line everything up. I personally think the hardest thing to do was lining up the mount holes! Took me a lot of time. Once you have both bolts in the holes, tighten them fully.
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10. Once you have mounted the drivers side mount, raise the engine again and install the other side the identical way.
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11. Before lowering the engine one last time, be sure your main center bolts are in to help line everything up. Once the engine is fully lowered, tighten the FWD and AFT bolts of each mount.
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12. Reinstall the exhaust if you took it off. Start the car just to make sure nothing is loose and to confirm the exhaust is nice and tight. Once you are satisfied, turn the car off, go ahead and drop the car back down.
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13. Congratulations, you are done!
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Originally Posted by Beachdrifter
