1987 – 1989 Engine/Transmission Mount Change

[dkirk]

With the rubber powertrain mounts on my ’88 being 37 years old, I thought a refresh was in order. My friend also has an ’88 (cars are only 17 VIN numbers apart) plus a lift, so we did both vehicles. The job is relatively easy, taking about 1.5 hours to complete. In addition to the lift, a support stand is necessary to support the transmission end when the front mount/crossmember is removed. A support is also required under the engine crankcase when replacing the two rear mounts. An arbor press is a must for pressing the original mounts out of the transmission crossmember.

The replacement mounts used were ordered through our sponsor. First step was to remove the front crossmember and press out the old mounts on the arbor press. Caution – they come out with a BANG!



The new mounts for this part are two-piece assemblies that have a slight interference fit on the steel inserts. A bit of grease on the ID allows for easy assembly.



The mounts can be seated easily with a few taps from a plastic hammer. This just holds the two halves in place for easy assembly.



With the transmission crossmember reinstalled, the lift was lowered, support added under the engine crankcase, and the rear mounts were removed. After removing the M12 mount bolts, the engine was lowered slightly to make room for accessing the M8 mount hold-down nuts. The A/C tensioner bolt must be removed as this may interfere with the chassis.



With the new mounts in place, a rare earth magnet can be used on the head of the M8 hold-down bolts to allow fitting the lock washer and nut to said bolt. One is working blind here so it’s very easy to drop parts.



Some aligning is necessary to get the mount bolt to align with the engine crossmember.



With everything in place and torqued to proper values, and while under the car, a good practice is to blow out the engine oil cooler and cylinder and head finning with compressed air. This will dislodge anything that may be obstructing cooling air flow (mouse remains, etc.). When we did this on my friend’s car, this bracket fell out from underneath the engine in the area of the oil cooler.



Can anyone identify this mystery part?

With the job completed, my car still looks original.



The changes when driving the car are subtle, but slight vibration felt in the pedals seems to be gone and the cabin noise is slightly reduced.

Torque specs:
M12 Hex Bolts – 80 Nm (58 ft-lb) – 1 per mount
M8 Hex Nuts – 25 Nm (18 ft-lb) – 4 per transmission cross member, 2 per each rear engine mount

[Flat6pac]

Possibly the support for oil scavange line around the back of the motor. Bolts to chain box cover, supports the oil line.
Bruce

[A930Rocket]

Thanks for the write up.

I’ve got all new bushings in a box ready to go, just need motivation…