Garth S

Add one more graduate to the "Replace(d) w. Ford Motor Mounts" school. .
Having done it, hats off to all who have previously developed and/or tackled this job: For anyone thinking of it, it's not all that bad, the results are great, and the price is right.
My '88 S4 had that unpleasant vibration felt through the chassis on a cold start: The mounts still had some life, for as the engine warmed up, the mounts 'softened' enough to do their job, and the vibration dissapeared. The MM replacement was therefore being deferred until the winter hibernation - until the steering rack packed it in! The time to proceed was now ....
Reading of Rog100 Tech Team's success prompted me to add some comments, for we each find slightly different ways to do the job.
With the car up 18" on 4 jack stands, the rack came out in 1.5 hours, of which 1/2 hour was wasted trying to pull the universal off of the pinion splines without completely removing the bolt ! I also removed completely the stabilizer bar: that is far easier to do than work around it.
Once the rack was sent out for rebuild, I had an opportunity to get a fresh T-shirt not soaked in ATF (from the rack) - and plan out the rest. The key tool was an air wrench!
With a fresh start, the whole cross member with old mounts attached was lowered ( after a second jack lifted the engine ~1"). see pic .... The #2698 Hyd mounts measured 76mm vs the quoted 78mm of the oem units, so a 2mm washer was added to the top on the new mounts - the mounts firmly attached to their upper brackets, and loosely attached to the cross member.
The comedy began with a 6'6" 'mechanic' attempting to lift and jiggle this thing in place long enough to get a bolt started: a three point lift was managed with one knee, one elbow, and one hand - leaving the last hand free for the bolt! A dog humping a football would have looked more elegant! The top cross bolts went in easily using a tapered drift to 'spring' the attachment points down and center them.
All said and done, this portion of the job took an even 3 hours to get the cross member out and the engine settled on new mounts - far better than I had expected, especially working alone.
Once inspecting every inch of the pan gasket, and checking each bolt - the gasket was as new, dry and 'elastic', so was left in as it looks to have many years left.
The rack took ~ 2 hours to put in - most of that time (~10x) bouncing between the steering wheel, the rack centering dimple, and the universal/pinion spline line up: two people could have done it in minutes.
When all back together, no leaks in the rack and the engine rocks!! . The engine sits high enough so that the right air tube (passenger side) is a very tight fit under the cross brace ( extra plumbing and ign. wires there not present on the right side).

While I had a few days waiting for the rack rebuild, the brakes were redone, flex plate checks, ATF levels, etc., etc.
Should you plan to do one or more of these jobs, some of the points that surfaced were;
- remove the lower bolt from the rack universal to remove the rack.
- to reinstall the rack, loosen the top universal bolt, but do not remove! Once the rack is in and torqued,and the lower universal bolt correctly positioned and tightened - tighten this bolt last.
- It is easier to remove the stabilizer bar than fight around it.
- I dropped the crossmember with old mounts loosely attached - and reinstalled the same way: no need to move heatshields, etc.
- use a tapered drift/pin to center the x-member upper bolts
- an air wrench will save you a huge amount of grunt work - and time.

Costs for this 'shade tree' work were minimal - converted to $us,
Rack rebuild $230
MMounts $82
Rotors resurfaced, new mintex pads $70
Misc supplies $20
~$400 for three jobs - that would cost you a bundle to farm out.
The results are great, happy to have it behind me - and believe any of us can do it!

ROG100

Garth,
Looks familiar from that angle!
We were able to let the rack hang to the back. Luckly the rack was OK - famous last words.
My mounts were not as compressed as I had expected however the end result was well worth the effort.
Roger

UKKid35

Been there done that, but on my very first car a 3.0 V6 Ford Capri...

GT Jackson

Thanks Garth, I have added you to "My Favorites" as this job is next on my "to do" list. I must admit that I am scared ****less while working under floor jacks. Does one eventually gain bravado after a few hours under there?

H2

I keep putting the job off....your description gives me a bit more incentive to dive in. Thanks, Garth/

Harvey

chaadster

UKKid, you gotta be the best at diggin' in the archives, because I've noticed you resurrect some pretty old threads!

auzivision

I felt the same way when I did this on my car... never working with jack stands and all I gained a lot of bravado by trying to knock my car off the stands before crawling under it. When the car is lifted properly onto stands, it does not budge at all (or at least it didn't in my case). Then, just for mental support, I stored the wheels covered with blankets and some wood under the car. Not too far into the project, I caught myself coaching off a tie rod end using a pickle fork and sledge (of course I wasn’t under the car at the time).

JP Rodkey

Dunno, I've done an awful lot of work under jackstands without any excitement. Assuming you aren't using the cheapie bent-tube type, they're safe as long as you place them properly (both the stand and the car). If you want more security, you can often use ramps on one end and stands on the other. Sometimes when I knew there would be rocking and lots of force involved, I put concrete blocks at appropriate places so that IF anythying went wrong, the car would only trap me enough to still be able to scream for help. Now I use a lift, and ain't never goin' back.

perrys4

You resurfaced your rotrs? I was told this wasn't a good idea because of warpage. Opinions?

Garth S

I caught this thread, started reading - and exclaimed " what a long winded butt-hole wrote this!" --- whoops, guess who of over two years ago - quite an archeological dig Paul

Re jack stands, I share the same concern - so always placed the 2 1/2T floor jack under a location that would leave me breathing room if the car shifted.
As JP noted, now with a two post lift, things are a little easier ....

jon928se

DON'T work under the car supported only by floor jacks. A floor jack is for lifting not supporting. Use Jackstands and ensure they are a snug fit to the cars jacking points.

this sort isn't ideal for a 928 'cos the mount is the wrong shape for the jack point , great for trucks with a rigid axle though.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=38846

This sort is better for a 928 as the mount fits the jacking point better. I have a pair of these and had to reduce the length of the "ears" so that the 928 jack point sits on the horizontal part of the mount and not the tips of the two inclined "ears"
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product...0&r=2048&g=107