Motor Mount install help!

[viperdude118]

Well, I decided that I was going to install poly mounts into the viper this weekend. I gave up for today as I ran out of sunlight. I must say that this job is much more challenging then I expected, so much so that I'd rather eat glass then do this job again.

It seems simple, loosen some bolts raise the engine, take out the bolts, take out the mounts, switch to new ones, put back into the car, lower engine and tighten everything down.

Well the first problem I ran into was removing the lag bolts holding the bracket to the engine block, I have the stock exhaust manifolds and there isn't enough clearance for the upper bolts to come out, they hit the collector.

There really isn't room to get anything in there, I managed to get the dremel in there to hack off about half of each bolt, then bend them to get them out. I really didn't want to have to loosen the manifolds unless I absolutely had too.

Now that I have everything out and switched, I am trying to get the new ones in, and get all the bolt holes to line back up. It isn't working though, I followed the steps in the illustrated write-ups done by ViperTony, however everything is not lining up, so I can't get two of the lag bolts to go back in. I've had the motor up and down about a dozen times now.......

I'll give it another shot tomorrow, anyone have any tricks to share?

 

[dave6666]

I'll give it another shot tomorrow, anyone have any tricks to share?

I'm doing mine when I put my headers in. Seems like one of those purrrfect timing kind of things...

 

[ViperTony]

My biggest problem with the install was getting the bolt holes to line up when lowering the engine AND getting the mounts to seat properly on the frame. If I recall correctly, I ended up attaching only one of the two bolts holding the motor mounts to the engine and angling the mounts down on the frame so that the mounts would catch on the frame holes and guide the engine down which ended up working. I think I had to raise the engine slightly, like 1/4" after it was lowered, to line up the remaining motor mount holes with the engine. Once I did this, the lag bolts slid through.

 

[ViperTony]

I'm doing mine when I put my headers in. Seems like one of those purrrfect timing kind of things...

Much easier to do with the headers off or with aftermarket headers that give plenty of clearance by the collector area which your Belanger's will definitely do. Enjoy and post pics!

 

[viperdude118]

Everything is back together now. It was a much better day. I guess after thinking about what could be wrong after yesterday, I realized that I had the passenger and driver bracket switched. Now when I took them apart I did mark them P and D on the heat shields, but I didn't mark the brackets. I ended up having to walk across the street and have my neighbor torch off the old bolts and when we took everything apart forgot to note which bracket went to which side, It got even more confusing when trying to put the new ones back together since the new mounts weren't designated P or D.

So now that everything is back together and the car is running, I can't say I notice too much difference in the ride. Perhaps its little tighter, but if if is I can't really tell.

The old mounts were shot though, the passenger side had cracks in the rubber, and the drivers side was split in a couple of places, so all in all I'm glad I changed them out.

 

[dave6666]

First off... You dumbsh1t!!!

Secondly... Glad to hear it ain't rocket science. Makes me feel better about doing mine this winter!

 

[viperdude118]

First off... You dumbsh1t!!!

Secondly... Glad to hear it ain't rocket science. Makes me feel better about doing mine this winter!

If that mix up happens to you when you do yours......give me a call I'll talk you through it Not that that would happen to you.

 

[ViperTony]

If that mix up happens to you when you do yours......give me a call I'll talk you through it Not that that would happen to you.

I remember actually labeling my mounts passenger/driver side after I removed them...Dave is too smart to mix up the mounts. He'll probably take them off and indicate the driver's side mount by placing a full beer can on it, half beer can on the passenger mount.

 

[thebigsnake]

P or D?
What happened to good old LH or RH?

 

[viperdude118]

P or D?
What happened to good old LH or RH?

I guess in some countries P and D could be opposite of what we think of. LH and RH is clear.

 

[Copernicus]

ViperDude - How many miles did you have on the stock mounts?

 

[dave6666]

I guess in some countries P and D could be opposite of what we think of. LH and RH is clear.

OR, "This ain't workin', maybe I should switch 'em. There's only two of 'em..."

 

[viperdude118]

ViperDude - How many miles did you have on the stock mounts?

34,000 miles.

 

[Copernicus]

34,000 miles.

OK, thanks. Was not sure if the cracks were developing as a result of age or mileage, or perhaps a combination of the two. This is something I have thought about looking into during the down months.

 

[viperdude118]

OK, thanks. Was not sure if the cracks were developing as a result of age or mileage, or perhaps a combination of the two. This is something I have thought about looking into during the down months.

Could have been either one.....I've heard of people changing out their mounts after 10k miles. I couldn't tell by looking at them in the car that they were cracked. It wasn't until after they were out of the car that it was obvious that they were shot.

 

[BullRider]

I'm looking at doing this over the winter. I'm getting wheel hop under hard acceleration, and I want to end that before I start tearing things up. They're probably way overdue for replacement as the car has 57K miles on it right now.

Besides the two motor mounts, how many mounts are there for the tranny?

What's the best place to source the poly mounts from?

 

[Affatica]

There is only one Tranny mount and crossmember.

 

[viperdude118]

I'm looking at doing this over the winter. I'm getting wheel hop under hard acceleration, and I want to end that before I start tearing things up. They're probably way overdue for replacement as the car has 57K miles on it right now.

Besides the two motor mounts, how many mounts are there for the tranny?

What's the best place to source the poly mounts from?

Transmission mount from Summit Racing

summitracing.com

Engine mounts from Polybushings

Dodge polyurethane engine mount

On the mounts, though Polybushings doesn't have paypal or take CC's so I contacted Forward Motion, ask for Scott and ordered the mounts through them since they are a supplier for Polybushings. Their number is 302-658-2829.

They had them dropped shipped right to me from Polybushings, I had them in 3 days.

I had the Tranny mount from summit in 1 day.

If you use the mounts from Polybushings you will need to make up 1/4" steel shims to go along with the mounts to keep the stock engine height. This was easy for me since I have access to a machine shop.

 

[ruckdr]

BullRider,
Like Viperdude118 said, If you get the Polymounts, and need the shims, let me know, I have 1/4 inch stock cut to size and would be happy to send them to you (no charge, well maybe shipping).
Email below,
Later,

 

[dave6666]

Transmission mount from Summit Racing

Summit Racing - High Performance Car and Truck Parts | 800-230-3030

There's also the issue of the wimpy OEM cross member on the tranny. Dave's Big Brakes has the fix for that.

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