Side motor mounts and their rubbery badness... no press available

[Gsx_hooptie]

Hi again.

After having such a good time with the front and rear prothane inserts awhile back, I thought it was time to do the side mounts. They've been collecting dust, so what the hell. I took out the easy engine mount, on the driver's side. It acutally gave me some trouble to pull out; had to push the engine toward the firewall as I pulled up on the mount. I did the block of wood over the transfer case thing, and maybe that torqued the engine forward, or something. Anyway.

I'm having the classic problem of removing the rubber in the mount. Neither of the two machine shops in town want to touch it. The private mechanics in the area, as well as two car dealers, told me they don't have presses large enough for it. The Ford dealer tried an air chisel and didn't have a steady hand. She ended up scarring the piece pretty nice. So, without a press, I need to do it the hard way. I know people have before, there are several threads about it on Tuners. I'm just having a hard time.

Tools at my disposal:
Propane torch (97gstspyder style?)
Hacksaw
Chisel
Big mallet and hammer
Borrowed electric drill
Kitchen knives

So far, I removed the center piece by drilling a line of small holes, then enlarging them with a bigger bit, and finally cutting along the "dotted line" with a kitchen knife. By hand, then, I could rip the center portion out. My problem is getting the rubber around the edge out. The hacksaw isn't getting me very far. The torch didn't seem to work well, it just literally caught the mount on fire. I wouldn't mind, but the rubber was burning very slowly. Real, real slow. My neighbors didn't like the smoke, either. First time I've been sworn at in Japanese. I don't understand how other people did this with no trouble, I'm having a hell of a time.

Any ideas on how to make this work, or should I send it to someone with a machine shop? All good or bad ideas welcome, thanks guys.

[1stGenRocks]

i hope youve read that the side mounts dont really do anything other then make the interior vibrate. too late now.

it shouldnt have been too hard for a shop to press out. where do you live? im in lancaster PA if thats anywhere near you im sure the garage i work at would do it pretty cheap

[Gsx_hooptie]

I bought them before I knew better, and figured that since I had them I'd install them. The guys around this area really are clueless. I'm not too far from the PA border (from NY state), but I think Lancaster is in south PA. Am I wrong?

[kjewer1]

I put in the side mounts, and i'm glad I did. There is more there than just vibration.

I will say that they may not be worth this much trouble though. For me, its a 10 minute trip to the machinist, and about 45 seconds of his time, and they are out. He's done a dozen sets for us, and only one cracked. Its a risk you take. The whole thing from the dealer was 35 bucks, and he pressed that one out for free.

Any half ass machine shop worth its own weight in shit has to have a press, and they have to have some adapters to get to the right size. This guys shop is small, but you can't build motors without these most basic tools. I would keep looking. Any place that rebuilds motors and heads should be able to do this for you in a couple minutes for about 10-20 bucks.

[Gsx_hooptie]

Originally Posted by 95 GSXracer

Any half ass machine shop worth its own weight in shit has to have a press, and they have to have some adapters to get to the right size.

Gee that's what I thought.

I talked with a machine shop guy on a local forum who's about an hour's drive from me. Hopefully he'll let me send him the mounts. It's a janky solution, but I'm without a car and there are only two machine shops in town-- neither of them were any help.

Thanks for the response.

[kjewer1]

I had to go "out of town," but for me its the next town over. 10 minute drive from the garage (nearly an hour from the condo). Its worth it to find a good machinist within driving distance. At first I found this guy because the local NAPA stopped resurfacing flywheels. They sent me across the street to this small shop. Best flywheel work I had found to date. He then moved down the street to a nicer bigger shop, and I followed. Had him do the mounts. Then realized that I was getting shit head rebuilds from another slightly less local shop, so I decided to give this guy a try. Solved all of teh problems I had with the previous 3 heads. He started asking for a block to build, but I was still having SBR do it at the time. When I got tired of the 24 hour round trip to PA and back, I gave one to Edgar. Excellent work. Dozens of heads, blocks, and other small jobs later (sandblasting, pressing, planing, etc), I couldnt be happier. Thats why he's on the main page of my website. I couldnt carry on with these POS DSMs without Edgar. Even the little things are such a relief. For example, many many TB elbows for FMIC kits come slightly (or severely in some cases) warped, causing hell with eliminating boost leaks. I just swing by and have him check for flatness, plane if necessary, and recheck. Venom had a round of intake manifolds with warped flanges that were giving people hell. So when I picked up my BJs intake manifold I had a friend run it by Edgars for me. It was within .002" corner to corner. Piece of mind, free of charge.

Anyway, my point is to find a machinist you trust. He will become your best friend in this business That goes for everyone on here that does his own work or would like to start...

[ted_ex]

I did it the hard way. I removed the center section with a drill and then used a hacksaw on the metal ring the rubber mount was attached to. It took a long time to do but it really wasn't all that hard. Just make sure you only cut the metal ring and not into the aluminum bracket.

[Gsx_hooptie]

Originally Posted by ted_ex

I did it the hard way. I removed the center section with a drill and then used a hacksaw on the metal ring the rubber mount was attached to. It took a long time to do but it really wasn't all that hard. Just make sure you only cut the metal ring and not into the aluminum bracket.

That sounds a lot like what I did, or tried to do. I had a hard time getting my hacksaw through the aluminum ring. You wedge the thing through rubber as you cut down into it, then fight the friction on either side as you try and get through the aluminum. I had a nice hacksaw but I couldn't manage.

Originally Posted by 95_gsxracer

Anyway, my point is to find a machinist you trust. He will become your best friend in this business That goes for everyone on here that does his own work or would like to start...

Currently the mount is at Hybrid Connections, a machine shop an hour north, inbetween Syracuse and Rochester. I sent it out a week ago priority in nested boxes (matryoshka style), I imagine getting it back sometime soon. Maybe these guys will be my hook-up for future jobs, but I'd like something closer.

Engine on a jack= 10 days and counting

[Gsx_hooptie]

Hey guys, I need more help, again. Sorry.

I got the mount back from the shop with the rubber and ring out, and pressed the new Prothane mount in with a little dielectric grease. Good times.

The red Prothane overlap on either side is prohibiting me from putting the mount back in. It's too wide. The stock mount hardley squeezed out, too. Has anyone else had this problem, and what did you do?

The two solutions I can think of are to bend the mount bracket back, to fit the wider mount, or cut some of the urethane off the mount. Good ideas?

Thanks.

[kjewer1]

Beat that fucker in there with a big hammer, then jack the motor up into the mount. After a few K miles of abuse, that mount will become looser in the bracket. They make it too big for that reason.

[Gsx_hooptie]

God bless you for your help, Kevin.

I'm tired of everything seeming difficult to do to the car. I'll beat the mofo tomorrow and see how it goes. I'm eager to do it now, but 10pm "hammer time" isn't very considerate

[spyderturbo007]

Originally Posted by 95 GSXracer

Beat that fucker in there with a big hammer.....

Beautiful!!!