I’m pretty sick and tired of making and breaking motor mounts for this thing.
Previously it was mentioned (or it should have been, anyway) that the bobble relocation bracket on the transmission got bent up in one of the last adventures in breakage. Apparently it wanted to mount to the firewall.
After whacking it with a hammer for a bit and putting it in the 20-ton press, I was able to flatten it out a bit.
A little bit of welding and some more hammering and I was left with this:
Since that picture, I also hit it with the flappy wheel to clean it up, shot some primer and then a few coats of gloss black on it. I didn’t get a picture, but just imagine in your mind that the above picture shows a bracket that looks just like that, but shiny. And black. And shiny.
To complete the bobble, I will need to pull the bottom section out and build a new strut. I’ve got a wide and sundry array of poly bushings that I think are for a Honda of some sort so I should be able to use those to cushion whatever I build. I’m thinking about some round tubing this time. Something to give it a little more strength.
In order to provide support for the engine’s up/down and rotational movement, it needs to be tied into the core support. The torque strut is fine for the street, and I’ll probably re-build it (again) and put it back on, but it’s held on with a single bolt that’s in shear. When the car is moving over very rough terrain, it’s just too much for that and it winds up breaking that bolt since it’s the only thing holding up the whole front weight of the engine. If all I had to worry about was the rotational force, I think it would be okay.
The problem with the stock FMM is that the engine-side of the bracket goes where the structural collar goes on the 2.4 turbo which would leave a gaping hole in the flywheel/clutch/bell housing area. The body-side of the FMM also interferes with the hot-side charge pipe as well as the block-to-bell housing bracket on the 2.4 Turbo. Fixing the interference with the air plumbing is easy enough – just grind off a bit of the steel on the side of the mount and the problem is solved. But there is absolutely no way that the body side of the mount will fit with that bracket.
My initial plan was to make a plate that would bolt to the offending bracket and then that plate would have some fingers to come down to the mount. Now that I see the impossibility of that, I’ve started making a new bracket to replace the aluminum one that was in the way. I’ve got some bar stock that I’ve trimmed down and put bolt holes in to connect to the block. Next, I’ll need to add some angle to that for the two bolts that connect to the bell housing. That will give me the connection between the engine and the transmission that the bracket provides while not getting in the way of the collar.
Once I have that bracket made, I will attach some fingers that come down and will bolt to the center of the Prothane-insert-filled rubber mount. At that point, I should have a mount that is mostly in tension held in to the block and transmission with 5 bolts. The bracket will also be rocked forward along with the engine so that the forces are directed at least a little bit inward towards the block instead of straight up on the welds that I’ll have to make.
With that mount in place, it should prevent the motor from moving up and down and the torque strut and bobble strut should only have to worry about providing resistance to rocking back and forth.
And they say “hope is not a plan”. Ha! It’s the only plan I’ve got!