Removing drivers side motor mount with Prothane

[snowborder714]

My brother and I have been trying to come up with an easy, consistent way of removing the drivers side motor mount, but have had no luck. We both have Prothanes installed, as well as solid aluminum front/rear roll stops.

We worked on another member's car this past weekend and realized how much of a difference the solid stops make. We were able to grab the engine in the other person's car and shake the heck out of it. This made installing the drivers side motor mount (he also has a Prothane in this one) a piece of cake. What really got us was installing the through bolt for this mount took only a few minutes!! It usually takes us a half hour to an hour.

My brother went to remove this motor mount today and it fought with him the whole way out, even if it had a few millimeters to go. Now, he did just paint his engine bay with 3 coats of paint and 3 coats of clear, so we're guessing this might have something to contribute to the difficulty. Mine is difficult, but can usually be removed by hand after it's wiggled 1/2 to 3/4 of the way out. He is not able to pry on the mount (between the body and the mount) because he has ABS lines that run right along that body line.

Any suggestions for those who have Prothanes (and specifically solid front/rear roll stops) on how you remove your mount?

 

[bane3d]

How about jacking up the engine and then removing the mount from the engine? I was able to wiggle the bolt out on my mount with prothanes installed but I think if you removed the mount from the engine, it would give you enough wiggle room to pry the bolt out.

d

 

[turbosax2]

I tried jacking up the engine, which used to work before we got solid mounts. Now it won't move the engine very far, and the amount that it does move just pivots the driver mount so the prothane part is still stuck. I didn't try removing the front mount though.

Getting the bolts out isn't an issue, that's easy, it's actually getting the mount out that is difficult.

 

[->PrOjEcTGS<-]

Wow... I've never had too many problems with mine. Yes, it's harder than the stock mounts but it's not impossible. Then again 1g's mounts are setup differently than 2g's. 1g's don't have studs in the way to keep us from turning the mount up from 9 o'clock to 12 o'clock and just pulling it out. I do coat the mount with WD-40 when I put it in. That might help on removal also.

 

[bane3d]

Maybe it's time for the 2 of you to buy a lift and drop it from below? Heck, between the 2 of you, you could open your own shop and just tune/dyno all vehicles and have a bay for your toys.

d

 

[snowborder714]

Oh, we've thought about all of that.

But I'm not sure how a lift would help if I just need to take off the drivers side mount. For example, if I need to do a timing belt job with the motor in the car, that mount needs to come off. I can't see how a lift would help in that situation, as oh so very nice it would be to have one.

 

[turbosax2]

Anybody else have ideas on this? I'm still open to suggestions so I don't have a battle with the motor mount next time around...

 

[360glitch]

This seems simple, so you have likely already tried it, however... how about a big pry bar?

 

[turbosax2]

Pry against where though? The abs lines prevent me from prying towards the driver side of the chassis. Even if I unbolted the lines I couldn't get a good enough angle that I felt comfortable enough to pry without worrying about damaging the lines. And prying between the motor mount and the part of the mount that is bolted to the block just raises that side of the motor mount and pivots on the prothane.

 

[DSM_PWR]

Iv'e got the same setup (Solid front/rear) (Prothane left/right)

And i know how difficult it is since i have the mount powdercoated and very anal about not scratching it...

To make things easy, i removed the two studs from the driverside motor mount and replaced them with bolts (having a total of 3)..

With that done, i unbolt the front motor mount and use towls and a pry bar to remove the mount... it shouldn't be hard at all since you wont have the studs in the way... (kinda like the 1g's)

 

[El Cuervo]

I just got done with the timing belt and had to remove the motor mount. I also have prothane motormounts. After fighting with it for about 1 hour, I decided to spay alot of wd-40 to it. On the sides between the mount and the braket of the car. I would wait for about 5 minutes. Then pry on the mount a little and spray more wd-40. I did this 4times. Then I went an statrted to pry on it with a long screwdriver and hit it with a rubber mallot (hammer). It was much easier with the wd-40. Jacking up the engine is not going to really help alot because you have stiff mounts and there is little to no give from them. If anything, you might even damage your oil pan. After about 40 min from the first time I used wd-40, I was able to get it out. It will be harder to put it back in. Unelss you use some grease to it, which is what I did. But being my first time at it, It tool me about 1 hour to insert it back and alighn it. But thats the best way to remove it in my opinion. wd-40, tap with rubber hammer, pry a little on it so that the oil gets down and repeat. If you have a curved long screw driver or pry bar, then it will be much easier.

jorge.

 

[turbosax2]

Jorge, I'm not really willing to spray wd-40 all over my engine bay, that's just not acceptable to me. I agree lubrication would help but I don't really want to do that.

DSM_PWR, I actually did have both studs out last time I had the mount out. One came out accidentally so I figured I'd take the other out. You're right, it is easier with them out but it was still a PITA. My car hasn't been run since the prothanes were installed so maybe they just need some run time to loosen them up a bit.

I came up with one idea that I think might work. What if I rigged up something to bolt to the motor mount, then attach a slide hammer to it and yank the motor mount out that way? Anybody ever tried that before or think it would or wouldn't work?

 

[Calan]

Subscribed.

I have a 1G, and the driver-side mount is next to impossible to work with. I had to disconnect it from the block, and then wrestle both it and the block at the same time until everything worked itself into place. I'm definitely not looking forward to having to pull that mount back out any time soon.

 

[El Cuervo]

Oh I see. Though I don't think you would've made a big mess with lube. I only used a coulple of squirts on the motor mount and pryed it loose. I then cleaned the area and done. I just didn't wanted to nick, cut and or tear the mount or even accidentaly bend the mounting bracket. Then again, my car is a 1g, so they could be different.