Chunkerz

I'm in the process of removing the crossmember because it is absolutely disgusting from my leaking power steering rack and 26 years of road grime. While I have it off now seems like a good time to replace my collapsed engine mounts. Right now the only thing holding up the engine is one of those support bars with chains that goes across the top of the engine bay (don't know the proper name for it...), so it seems like I could just remove the rack, finish unbolting the crossmember, lower the engine a few inches, and I'll have easy access to them. In theory it sounds like it will work, but is it actually possible? Replacing them from the top looks like a pain in the ***....

Dougs951S

Do as you said, but its easier if you have a crane or some other way to lift the engine a few inches.

Chunkerz

Why lift it? When the cross member is unbolted it will still be attached to the engine by the mounts. If I lift it the mounts will move back up into the engine bay and become impossible to reach again, right?

A crane isn't really necessary with this support bar I have. The hooks that hold the chains are threaded so I can just spin these handles to raise/lower the engine as I please. They're kinda like giant wing nuts.

Dougs951S

I guess I misunderstood. If you have the engine supported and you are doing the mounts, I'd just drop the cross member and get it out of the way. Then you'll have plenty of room.

Chunkerz

Sounds good. All I need is that universal joint that looks like a bitch to get to unbolted and I can continue on...

Butters944

I changed my mounts W.Y.I.T. when I did my rod bearings / oil pan gasket. Engine hung on one of those crossbars. I think I remember wrestling a lil bit but it wasn't hard.

curtisr

Is there anything in particular one should keep an eye on when doing this job? I have visions of forgetting to disconnect something and breaking it as I lift the motor the needed 2 or 3 inches.

divil

Should be pretty easy to get it...just rotate the steering until you can get one wrench on it from behind the crossmember, and the other one from in front. The pinch bolt has to come out all the way.

I found this job hard to figure out, but once I did it's actually very easy.

You shouldn't need to lift the engine that high. Use a brace exactly like Chunkerz has to lift it maybe 1" or so. Lower all 4 cross member bolts to within a few turns. It might help to disconnect the caster blocks from the chasis. You don't need to disconnect the control arms from the crossmember though, just reach in with an open wrench to get the lower nut off the mount.

On one end, remove the 2 crossmember bolts fully. You will then be able to pull this end of the cross member down by about another inch, since you lowered it by that much at the other end - it rotates around the steering joint, so the more it can move up at the opposite end, the more room you'll have. Once the mount is in, put the 2 bolts back in a few turns by hand.

To seat the lip of the mount into the crossmember recess, put a piece of string across the ridge on the top of the mount, and grab the 2 ends in your hand underneath the crossmember. Then compress the mount with a bar while pulling the string towards the outboard side of the car, and the mount will pop into place. Rinse & repeat on the other side and you're finished!

curtisr

Outstanding. Many thanks.

Van

Changing the mounts from the bottom is the *only* way to do it, IMHO.

Leave all the bolts loose until it's all together, so you have some wiggle room.

divil

+1

One other "gotcha" I remember...when you install the 2 upper bolts for each mount, as well as taking care not to cross thread them (very easy on those ones) you also want to make sure they are snug before you let any weight onto them!

When you start putting them in, it's easy to end up with a gap between the metal stand and the mount, if you have the lower engine mount nut started. As you tighten the 2 upper bolts, they'll pull the mount up towards the metal arm. Obviously that gap has to be gone when you put the weight on the mounts, as the threads probably can't take 500lbs I used an inspection mirror to make 100% sure. Not totally sure if this is really a problem but I remember it looked risky to me at the time.

Darwantae951

I found it easy to install the mounts to the crossmember, first. Leaving them only slightly loose. Then line everything up and secure the mounts to the engine , loosely. After that , set the crossmember bolts and then slowly tighten everything up. I didn't fully seat any single fastener before another, similar to exhaust. Was pretty easy and I didn't have to raise the engine at all.

Chunkerz

Thanks for the tips everyone! I'll get started on removing the rack, cross member, and mounts today.

Does anymore know where I can get the genuine Porsche mounts that have the part number scraped off? I saw them mentioned somewhere on here or Pelican. They were half the cost of the genuine Porsche mounts and are the exact same thing.

Looks like Paragon Products has genuine Porsche mounts for ~$220 each. I think I'll pick up a set from them