How do you know when it's time to change the motor/tran mounts?
 

What are the symptoms of worn out motor mounts? I'm experiencing some really tough shifting, and at stop lights, the engine vibration through the chassis is pretty pronounced now. I am thinking the motor mounts are shot, but I don't know squat, that's why I come here. Is there a visual inspection one can do to check the MM's condition? How hard are they to swap out? Thanks in advance!

poke a screwdriver into them

check for cracking

or repl. with new and compare...

how are your shifter bushings BTW??

My tailpipe was about 4-5" lower than it should have been when the engine pulled down through the left side mount, was really hard to shift obviously in that state also. :)

That might have been a little past just "bad" though.

Shifted a lot better once they were replaced.

The big washers on the top side aren't supposed to be heavily concaved downwards, that's definately a sign.

I think you are right. In my car, when it got hard to shift (especially under side loads, at the track) the mounts were shot.

I just replaced my trans mounts on 86 911. You can visually inspect them, if they look ratty, change them out, it's an inexpensive and very simple thing to do and I did notice an improvement in shifting and the car felt a little tighter.

To change the trans mounts you will need to support the transmission with a jack. Then just undo the bolt with an impact wrench and the two screws on each side, install the new ones. It's way easier if you have a lift and can use a pin jack.

Ok, so what motor/transmission mounts are recommended for hard street driving? And is there an online how-to showing the installation procedure?

Sport mounts are what I have and I would recommend them.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/424607-how-do-i-determine-condition-my-engine-mounts.html

Info on replacement in this thread. It's very easy to do.

Am I going to need to replace anything beyond the actual mounts to do the replacement? Washers, bolts, etc? I just want to make sure I order everything at once.

You shouldn't need anything but the new mounts. I would spray the bolts with some penetrant a few days prior to removal.

I performed the replacement of all 4 mounts 2 months ago, it's very straight forward. I used the 101 projects book which was invaluable. +1 on the penetrant! I broke my motor mount cross bar during removal of the right side mount. If you begin to loosen and the bar flexes, back off and get something in there to stabilize.

I used authentic Porsche mounts, they aren't cheap compared to what you see on line.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1271549107.jpg

Here's a picture of my left motor mount. I couldn't get a clear picture of the right side one, but it looks to be in about the same condition. So, does this need to be replaced? The rubber isn't "brittle", but the washer is definitely concave and the rubber is squeezing out. I read those are both signs replacement is due, right?

I put the WEVO mounts on my car. They are a high quality product. Bought them from our sponsor.

If you believe them to be original, then change them out.

You will definately need to get some penetrant on those before you start the removal. Be very careful with the engine crossmount. It WILL bend if you put too much stress on it while trying to loosen the bolts.

I use those too and they work very well (better than the OEM Sports - they have 2 different firmnesses available too).

Are they noisy?