boomboomthump

Took my engine carrier off to do a Clewett swap and noticed I have multiple issues with it. In addition to it being bent in the middle, the ends are both noticeably bent and on the verge of failure. I had every intention of TIG welding the Rennline reinforcement on myself but I don't think I want to try to repair my carrier after close inspection.

I have stock mounts on there, both of which I found are shot. Not sure if at one point there were stiffer mounts on there but given these motor mounts have reached the point of failure, I doubt it. They're probably original to the car. Will be replacing the mounts (Rennline, RS, Wevo?) and the carrier with a Rennline tubular carrier.

Can worn motor mounts cause your carrier to bend like this? I've read that stiffer mounts can lead to failures but I'm trying to figure out how this is so tweaked. And no, the car was not in a wreck.

AOW162435

The 993 engine carrier is really a weak sauce design. More specifically, how the engine mount bosses mate with the carrier itself.

As for the deformation you show, has the engine been dropped in the past? Overzealous torquing, or general cave man wrenching could lead to such tweaking.

FWIW, my carrier is arrow straight and I've had RS mounts for 10 years or so.



Andreas

boomboomthump

I do know the engine was dropped at some point. Could be that. Was curious if worn/neglected mounts could have been a cause.

So glad I took the Clewett plunge and discovered this. I was playing out the scenario in my head of this thing failing and ruining my day.

Churchill

That's about as nasty as I've ever seen. Sure looks like whoever had the engine out before did a number on it. The bend in the first pic looks like the engine was sitting on a floor jack and someone was yanking on the carrier end to get it rolling.

TDW993

When you say you are doing a Clewett swap, what do you mean? Are you replacing the plug leads with the Clewett ones or the Clewett fan belt kit? Sorry for my ignorance in advance. I have only had my 993 for a week.
cheers

71-3.0-911

It would be the clewitt fan belt kit. No other reason to mess with the carrier.

Jlbarnett

That's pretty bad, lucky you caught that before it failed. These Engine Carriers are the weak point. I'd say that's from hard driving and worn mounts causing an "impact" like force being placed on the carrier repeatedly when the engine is flailing around back there. Highly doubt that's from incompetent wrenching. considering the mounting points on the frame of the car are straight.

Get the RS mounts, they are excellent and with an upgraded engine carrier there will be no more issues here.

Hilltopper

Buy the Rennline stainless carrier and I have RS mounts in my 993 3.8l and 997.1.
Rennline Stainless Steel Engine Mount Cross Bar - Porsche | RennlineRennline Stai

MarinS4

Consider yourself fortunate to catch it now. I was behind a 993 on track when his failed, it was a nice spark show from exhaust dragging. Can’t image the damage done. I got mine re-enforced and powder coated after seeing that.

pp000830

Engine carrier is toast? A little extreme. Looks more like the engine carrier is bent a little but perfectly serviceable. Are any of the welds failing? I understand some have experienced mount failures but it is unclear to me what percentage and what contributing factors were involved.
Seems to be it could be simply bent back and the welds inspected and it is good to go. If any of the welds look suspect they could be reinforced before the installation.
Andy

boomboomthump

That one is for older 911's or 993 Turbos, no? I'm getting the tubular one.


Yikes and agreed.


Yes it is serviceable. I'm a highly competent TIG welder, with plenty of fabrication experience in the motorcycle world taking life/death considerations into direct account with each weld.

The welds are not the concern at all. The welds have plenty of material. It's the area outside the welds which has now been stretched under stress and weakened. You are off base when saying it is as simple as bending back and looking at the welds. After straightening, this would need to be reinforced as the Rennline gusset kit does, with steel overlapping the ends. It would additionally need a reinforcement plate on the backside which overlaps the original welds, removing load from the area which has been weakened.

To straighten and reinforce this would take me 2-3hrs total. It's only $10 in material (which I have laying around anyway) and some may look at it as a $75 fix (materials/refinishing) but I value my personal time at $100/hr minimum when considering whether it's worth the time in my already backlog-ridden list of projects/life. I'm sure we can all relate to that (not trying to sound "busier" than others). So $300 personal time + cost to powder coat (and another $100 of personal time back and forth to the powdercoater). The much stronger Rennline tubular carrier for $450 is an easy choice for me here. Time is money, as they say.




This one is "toast" for now but will see new life at some when I have nothing better to do. Either that or Andreas is offering to buy it. Apparently he doesn't have enough work doing Clewett serpentine conversions and control arm work and wants to take on this rehab, LOL!

Hilltopper

I have black Rennine stainless carrier in my 993 3.8l. I do not believe the are offering the older tubular.

Mark in Baltimore

The stainless version fits NA 993s?

You're only in New Jersey. Send that bad boy over here, and Andreas and I will use my 16 lb maul to whack that thing back to shape. Good as new! No one will ever know! I watched Youtube videos on English and Italian coachmakers' body shapings! NBD; save some money.



Yeah, I'd just replace it. Do it right and do it once.

boomboomthump

If you don't have a large hammer in your toolbox with "the convincer" or "the persuader" written on it, what kind of workshop are you even running??

Mark in Baltimore

LOL. Mine is called "Lil' Darlin'".