Question about engine mounting bar
 

I just bought a '76 914 2.0 and hve a couple of questions. I'll do one per thread to avoid confusion.

The engine is joined to the chassis by a long steel bar, which I'll call "the bar". If this bar is viewed end-on (from the side of the car) it is very clearly angled to the rear, as if the car had run over a stump. BTW, the car was run over a stump. Is this angle normal, or should the ends of the bar be vertical ? One other hint that something is amiss is that I tried to pop the air filter cover and it seems to be blocked by the rear edge of the (ample) engine bay.

I examined the little hanger brackets that attach the ends of the bar to the chassis, and couldn't detect any ripping, bending, or other carnage. What worries me more is where the bar bolts onto the engine -- magnesium isn't all that flexible :o

Any hints or suggestions appreciated. I do plan to drop the engine some day, but for now I want to drive it a little...

1st, engine isn't Mg it's Al
2nd, it SHOULD be almost if not completely vertical, the bolts or interior engine mounts could have bent... check for cracks in the bar, try replaceing the 2 interor mounts and the 2 outer bolts, and maybe the outer mounts... hope you didn't bent the body where the outer mounts attach.

Thanks for the info.

On the outer engine mounts, is that a plain old bolt that holds the bar on, or is it an integral part of the mount ? These bolts are definitely bent and the rest of the chassis seems ok.

I saw a photo of the inner mount and it looks very likely that that's what gave at the bar/engine interface. I could use a new set of mounts, so I'll R&R them; hopefully, that's the extent of the damage.

No more stumps !

any bolt will work, as long as it's long enough... the engine mounts are available new...

JWest engineering makes very nice semi-solid mounts for the interior...
:D

Also check the tranny mounts at the rear of the car. If the engine and transmission are displaced that much, the tranny mounts may be out of place also. Check to make sure the 'ears' on the 'horns' on the rear cover are in good shape and have no cracks.

If they are cracked or bent, do not dispair too much. Fortunately that rear cover is simple to replace, with the tranny in the car no less!

Followup :

I unbolted the bar from the chassis and from the engine. Removed the motor mounts and they had hardened into a wedge shape, so it was definitely something that happened some time ago. Installed new motor mounts to motor and to the bar, and the bar hung properly -- no bending of the motor mount brackets on the engine. At the outer ends, the bar mounts to a smallish (1" wide ?) bar that in turn bolts to the chassis. This smallish bar had been slightly bent, so that when I tightened up the bolts, the engine mount bar cocked to the rear again. So one of these days, I may pull those smallish bars and pound them flat. But for now, car seems to be running smoother with the new mounts, and I'm not dreading my engine breaking loose from the chassis any more.



NOTE : When I completed the project I backed out of my buddy's garage, which has a couple inches of drop. SCRRRINNNCH ! Guess what the very first part of the car to bottom out is ? That's right, the engine mount bar. In fact, the old bolts I pulled had been seriously scraped on the ends. So anything bigger than a modest speed bump seems likely to tweak the bar backwards. Anybody else find this to be the case ?