Thread: How to change lower motor mount and trans mount

unbolt both sides of the mount, then jack the engine and tranny up enough to slide the old mount out. you may need to lift the engine a bit higher to get the new one in.

It freaks me out a little thinking about jacking the motor up by the oil pan. Im paranoid it's going to collapse or puncture... I know it's the most common way to do this, but that worry is what keeps me away from tackling this yet.

Use an offset wrench like this, it's what I use and I never have a problem with it.

Originally Posted by FriboRage

It freaks me out a little thinking about jacking the motor up by the oil pan. Im paranoid it's going to collapse or puncture... I know it's the most common way to do this, but that worry is what keeps me away from tackling this yet.

Put a 12" long piece of 2x4 between the jack and the pan; spread the pressure out. Jack slowly and when the engine won't move, stop jacking.

i used a 2x6 or 2x8. a 2x4 is so narrow 3.5 inches wide only.

unbolting the dog bones helps the engine to rise with less resistance too.

A couple things to add to this thread, potentially for the 04+ guys.

First, instead of wood, i use a hockey puck and placed it on either of the 2 black brackets coming off the oil pan. Choose the bracket on the side of the motor you need to lift.

As far as i could tell you HAVE to have the offset 15mm wrench to get the motor mount done. The best i could do was about 1/8 or a 1/16th of a turn per bite, there's just no way to get another wrench on there. ALSO, the metal half moon opening above the forward nut was casted such that i couldn't get my wrench on the nut. I had to dremel out the half moon opening to get some additional space to get the wrench on.

Anther item of note was that i didn't like how hard I had to jack the engine to get either side up and the mount out. I'm not sure what was taking the stress but hopefully just the other mount :/

This was one of the easier jobs I've completed so don't be too intimated by it. You must be patient. All said and done, the old mounts looked fine and likely didn't need to be replaced. Try to visually inspect yours before assuming they are bad because of mileage - I'm at 100k.

Edit: For sale - used motor mount and transmission mount

I finally did this after having the mount for years, always put it off because I was afraid of messing up my oil pan.
I'm in process of fixing the little things that have been wrong with this car for a while. This is one of those things.

This write was a big help. Thanks Alan!!!

So jacking up the motor, yeah this is kinda scary. I for sure though I was going to fuk something up, pull the some wires, hoses etc lose. When I looked at the new mount before I was jacking the motor up. I was like damn this thing is huge. LOL

Jacked it up, little by little. Just enough room to get the old mount out. wheeww!!
That part wasn't too bad.

Cleaned up all the crap in that bucket and put the new one in.
NOW, this is the fun part. I knew when I was jacking the motor up, it was going up at an angle.
So when I started lowering the motor back down. It wasn't even close to lining up with the mount.
I read on the other forum, this could happen so just my luck when working this car. Nothing every goes to plan.
On the other forum, they said to pry on the motor to get it shifted. I was like am I going to pry on. LOL. I need a damn engine hoist to get it to move anywhere. I tired prying down by the mount and bracket where it bolts too but didn’t do much.

The motor need to be pushed back about 1/2", so this might sound dumb but I put a towel around the supercharger snout and gave some hard pushes and it moved. Did it again, but still wasn't going far enough. Car was on jack stands and I had my other floor jack on the sub frame.
Jacked the motor up again, lowered it. Pushed some more. Did this a few times. Still wasn't moving enough. CLOSE though.
I wanted to give up, but I couldn't and I didn't want the damn oil pan holding my motor forever. LOL

I was about to call my neighbor/friend who btw was doing a cam swap on a Camaro no less, but then his parents rolled up and was not going to bother him.
So went back into the garage, gave two big pushes on the snout. BAM, mount studs slid into the holes.. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!
What’s funny now, as soon I got the upper mounts bolted I noticed there’s a few things closer to other things than before. My vacuum lines I just re-did, one of them is hitting my Evap and my air filter is about to hit my I/C res..lol. I think they will be ok, but crazy how much the motor was leaning back.
Anyways. Sorry for the long post. Just was one hell of a day and my wife could care less on hearing what I’m doing to the car..lol

Steven

Originally Posted by 310toumad

Would it be helpful to raise both ends of the car instead of just the front so when you raise/lower the motor its not coming down at an angle? Just wondering if anyone has tried this because I've read around that people have a hard time 'shimmying' the engine into place once they get off the trans mount or motor mount.

Sounds like it might have helped.

I almost needed a strap to tie to the rear engine mount bracket and tilt it forward but I had nothing to anchor it with.

id not jack the whole engine up from the pans. if you want to lift the whole engine use a engine hoist.

Originally Posted by ScottyDoggs

id not jack the whole engine up from the pans. if you want to lift the whole engine use a engine hoist.

Ohh, I agree. Just don't have one... I was nervous that's for sure.

the mounts are rubber and they will move.

taking the dog bones off lets the engine raise easier.

its how ive done it every time, pick a side change it, then the other side. just get a 2x6x 2 foot long, span the both pans and jack it up.

you can trust just about every how to here, all are proven to work over and over again.