Engine Mount Questions

[93formulalt1]

Hey guys, I have a question. . . I ordered new motor mounts for the Formula a few months ago, and I want to install them tomorrow. Problem is, I have no idea what I'm doing. lol I've done plenty of other things to my car before, from clutch swaps in the Camaro to header install in the Formula, I know I can tackle this project. Has anyone replaced their engine mounts? I'm putting in a set of Moroso solid mounts, I got a smokin' deal on them, and I'm not driving the Formula enough anymore to worry about vibrations, so I'm going to stick with these. Part of the reason they've just been sitting is because I was contemplating sending them back and going with a set of poly engine mounts, but I'm going to give these a shot (since they're already outside of the return policy and removed from the packaging).

Anybody have any advice? Is this something that I can reasonably expect to accomplish in a few hours? I've heard there are 3 rivets that need to be drilled out, but besides that, I have no clue. I've searched for a write-up so I could see some pictures, but haven't found any. I'm just looking for some pictures and maybe a few tips/tricks to make the job easier. Thanks in advance!

[93formulalt1]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I installed the 160* T-stat and new trans mount, car drives MUCH better now! The old trans mount was toast, I could move it a good inch using just my hands. I did some research before ordering the motor and trans mounts, and read in numerous places that it's not a good idea to run solid motor AND trans mounts, to run one or the other, and use poly mounts for the other. I chose solid engine mounts and a poly trans mount from Energy Suspension. The car runs right around 180* now (Yes, the car was tuned for the t-stat, so the fans kick on at the right temps), as opposed to about 215* with the stock 195* t-stat.

Another question (I know it's off-topic, but I don't want to start another thread for a simple question), but is it normal for my steering to feel "heavy"? My old V6 Camaro had REALLY light steering, the Firebird takes a considerable amount more effort to turn the wheel. Still a LONG way away from feeling like a manual steering vehicle, but seems a bit heavy for having power steering. Pump has plenty of fluid, no leaks, and doesn't make any noise, but it feels heavy. Maybe it's a firebird thing, because I think Ben's '97 V6 'bird feels about the same (maybe a little easier to turn), but I would really like to figure out what's up with this, or if there's even anything wrong with it.

[Derek]

This swap should realistically only take you a couple hours. But with all car modifications, the simplest of task can be a pain if you just can't get at something quite right or if bolts don't want to come loose.

My prothane poly mounts made more vibration, I can only guess solid mounts are going to vibrate like a mother. Why not just sell the solids and buy poly mounts? Poly mounts are only like 50 bucks.. You will probably wish you had just swapped them when you had the manifolds off, there is not much room to work with (at least on the ls1). What we did with mine is we put the car up on our lift in the shop, loosened both engine mounts and used a transmission jack to lift the engine enough to get one mount out, then we slipped it back in after putting the poly mount in the clamshell and left the bolts loose. We then lifted the other side and slipped that mount in, once all were in we tightened them up good. The hardest part for me was just getting the right angles to get at the bolts, and then trying to maneuver the unit back in place once I filled the clamshell with the poly mount. It may be easier to get everything in place with a solid mount though? The main thing that would concern me about your car would be the amount of rust and buildup on the factory mounts. My car had never seen rain since it was rebuilt, and everything came loose like cake, you might have a lot more fun trying to get the bolts out. One thing that could be in your favor is that you do not have to try and break apart the clamshell, I've read of a few people having a huge struggle trying to break their rusted together clamshell apart to get the old mount out, and the new mount in.

[93formulalt1]

Well, I would go with poly engine mounts, but I've driven cars with solid mounts before, and the vibration really isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Those cars all felt much more solid than a stock car, more responsive even. I don't drive the Firebird more than maybe 1-2 days a week. It's actually more fun to drive when you don't drive it often. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I guess. I'm eventually going to pull the motor and trans just to freshen everything up, replace gaskets/seals, take a look and make sure everything is in good shape internally before I go ahead with heads/cam/intake. Maybe I'll just keep these mounts on the shelf until I pull the motor, and install it then? It'd probably be easier to go about it that way.

[2EVUL4U]

My engine poly-mounts came late for my engine install, it only took an hour to install them later. Just used a cherry-picker to raise the engine up a few inches, so we could pull the old mounts out. You do have to drill some rivets out of the mount bracket, but you can do that AFTER the mount-bracket assembly is out of the car. Let me know if you find any good poly-trans. mounts, both kinds that I found ended up being too tall (the trans. would slap the tunnel every time it'd shift) Nothing like a loud BANG, to make you want to switch back to stock-height rubber trans. mounts.

[93formulalt1]

My engine poly-mounts came late for my engine install, it only took an hour to install them later. Just used a cherry-picker to raise the engine up a few inches, so we could pull the old mounts out. You do have to drill some rivets out of the mount bracket, but you can do that AFTER the mount-bracket assembly is out of the car. Let me know if you find any good poly-trans. mounts, both kinds that I found ended up being too tall (the trans. would slap the tunnel every time it'd shift) Nothing like a loud BANG, to make you want to switch back to stock-height rubber trans. mounts.

I'm using Energy Suspension's poly trans mount, and I haven't heard any banging or anything from the trans hitting, and I took it out to romp on it pretty hard after that and the t-stat install. . . What are you using? Maybe they sent you the wrong part? Did you double check the part numbers?