Motor Mount DIY Help

So I embarked on the "20 to 30 minute" DIY of changing my 10 yr old motor mounts. It took me 20 to 30 minutes just to figure out how to disconnect the freakin MAF sensor. So I finally get the air intake out, and look to the right, looks good. I look to the left, and WTH is that thing? What is the big *** black thing covering my motor mount? Can I remove it without royally screwing something up? Any tips, guidance, or other help requested, please!

Steve you may want to read a little more before you dive in. Thats the SAI assembly. One nut up top, two bolts on bottom, double wire plug, one hose, and its out. Hint, loosen dont remove the hard to reach bottom bolt. Mounts are easy DIY, look at the DIY section in renntech.org for several easy repairs and maintenance. Great job on doing your own work!

Steve, I just did my mounts, and did not remove any of the wiring attached to the SAI, or hoses...there is enough room to just move it. I think there are only two bolts/nuts, but maybe it was three. Once it was free, I "gently" moved it to the right, and that provided plenty of room to get the mount on that side out. I think I recall you mentioning in your geeeked out garage series that you do have a set of deep sockets, which you will need (18mm on the bottom nut specifically), a 6" extender to get to it easily, and a torque wrench to get everything just right. Let us know if you need any other help, I'll be happy to assist wherever possible.

Good Luck Steve. Did you select the C2 or the Turbo version of the mounts? I have seen them for the same price, so I was wondering if there was a benefit of one over the other. I hope you are successful in this minor project, because I'd like to do mine too.

Sorry Steve, you dont have to remove the SAI buts its a good time to do so while there. You can clean and inspect it.

I read the DIY, removed the air filter box, and the air pump - made it VERY easy to do.

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I hear ya Krazy. I did actually do a lot of reading. I have the Bentley manual and it didn't help with this DIY. Renntech had the same attitude as you. "it's so easy there's no need for a DIY". Everything is easy once you do it. You got to know that I am not very mechanically inclined, so basic stuff like Invius provided is very helpful to me. Thanks! That was perfect. Except...below when it went bad. I ordered the Turbo, but in one of the other threads someone mentioned that if you order from Pelican, it doesn't matter which one you order, you get the same mounts. So I was out most of the day and just got back into this. I decided to do the right non-SAI side first. It came out without much issue, although the engine dropped signicantly to the right when I removed the bolt even though it was supported by my jack. I had to jack the engine pretty high to get the threads to line up. But it worked fine. Then the horror happened. I tightened the top bolts and when they were snug I got my brand new Snap On torque wrench and set it to 20 ft/lb. It got pretty tight and it would not click. I assumed it was just seating but decided to go ahead and do the bottom nut to help it seat. I tightened and torqued the bottom to 64 ft/lb and click. Done. Set it back to 20, and went back up top. No click, turn, turn turn. I began to wonder if the threads were stripped when SNAP. The bolt breaks in two. Out of curiosity, I left the torque wrench on 20 and went back under to the nut that I knew was torqued to 64, and no click. The torque wrench is rated 10 to 100, so I assume it's just defective. So now what? Anyone have a good link for a tool that will remove bolts?

Autozone says they have an extractor. Hopefully it works.

****. That sucks. I'd get a pro involved.

Holy cow Steve, that's crazy. Without seeing how it is broken, it's hard to give you too much counsel. If it's threaded in there, see if you can unwind the top part with the head still on it (assuming it is), and reach the bottom (broken) side from under the car with pliers and thread it out, if that's even possible. If not, I think you are going to have to get a bolt extractor and they basically drill into the broken part of the bolt, and then back it out.

Steve dont panic. I restore older Jeeps and other vehicles and this is a common occurrence. As you found out, no need for torque wrench on top bolts. Just a 3/8 drive ratchet/socket snugging them will do. Sometimes if you hold the craftsman click type torque wrench wrong you can prevent the "click" at lower torque settings. Hopefully this wont discourage you but I would not want to start my mechanic skills on a Porsche. I was thinking you had prior experience. Watch some videos about twisted off bolt extraction, get every thing out of your way, then go for it. DO NOT BREAK OFF THE EXTRACTOR IN THE OLD BOLT!!!!! (I have) If you need extra bolts, I may have some. I bought several nuts, bolts, parts, etc. off salvage 996's and have lots of spares. Could you remove the mount and post a pic? Sure wish one of us was closer and we could help you. Dont despair, this is nothing major.

Steve, Here is a very quick video on removing a bolt that has sheared off. You Tube GL, DS

Thanks guys. I got it out of there. Leave it to me to screw up the easiest DIY. But I have not yet begun to fight. Two decades from now, I will appreciate my current efforts. Ok, next problem(s). I noticed this under my car. (picture). I swear I have done nothing but remove the right motor mount. What is it, and where does it go? Also, I removed the jack, and I noticed my engine is much higher inside the compartment. I just torqued it to 64 ft lb's. What did I do wrong?

That looks like the isolator that goes between the vehicle and the bottom of the airbox.

Regarding the high engine position, did you confirm the mounts were fully seated before you started tightening things? If I recall correctly they have a square fitting in the bottom that needs to be seated in the correct orientation. S.

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Thanks! I found it's home. I'm pretty sure it's seated well. I've only done one side. I've checked both sides, the length of the exposed threads at the bottom, the gaps, etc, and they look identical from what I can tell. I'll go do some measurements.

Steve, this my old mount compared to new. See the difference? Thats why the engine is "higher".

Krazy, how close is the top of your engine to the sound insulation? The line over mine is pretty much flush. It's over an inch higher than it was before. I'll give the new mount 1/2 an inch maybe when I look at my old one to the new one side by side. I am concerned that if I do the left side, it will drop initially like the right side did, and I can't lift the engine any higher than it is to line up the mount threads with the hole.

Not sure if you are, but I put a small piece of a 2x4 (i.e. wood block) on my jack when I jacked up the engine. I did it for 2 reasons, to get more reach with the jack, and to diffuse the pressure across a wider area. I didn't pay too much attention to how much higher/lower the engine was when I completed it -- I know that the mounts were seated in properly, and torqued to the proper specs. There was DEFINITELY a sagging effect in my old mounts vs. the ones I replaced it with, so that could definitely be what you are seeing.

Steve I just did mine today. I think if you are seeing roughly the same amount of exposure at the end of the mount you are fine. It's definitely a great DIY (and I've only done a couple so far). I took it out for a spin and what a difference. Especially when sitting idle (which in NJ is way too much of the time)...no vibration at all.

Exactly as I feared, I took off the bottom bolt, and even though the engine was supported (and I used a 2X4), it dipped on that side of the engine. Now the mounting bar is too low and the threads of the mount are too high for me to catch the nut on the threads. The engine is as high as I can get it. The muffler on the right side is flush with the fender. I need a way of just jacking up the left side of the engine. I only have one jack and it's supporting the engine. Any ideas?

Use another 2x4 block on top of the one you have, and that will get you what you need. It looks like you are about a half inch or less to getting there.

The engine won't go any higher. My jack still has plenty of height to go. In other words, adding another 2x4 would be the same as me cranking the jack twice. I'm already digging into the insulation on the top of the engine bay. One of my neighbors will have a car jack. I just need someplace safe to jack up the left side. There is a secondary drain area on the oil pan that looks reinforced on the left side. Can I use that spot?

Sorry, I wasn't getting that. You will get mixed answers, but I would say you can jack at that point momentarily (I have), and I would use a 2x4 there as well.

loosen the nut on the other side so that the engine cradle can equalize height enough to start the nut.

Used another jack to lift up the side and it worked. Drove it for 50 miles, and it felt good. No Cels, which means I actually hooked up the MAF correctly. Shocking with everything else that went wrong. 20-30 minute DIY complete!

All the joy coming from the other motor mount changeout thread inspired me to buy a set of mounts for my '99 Cab 6. My car has 65k miles. I changed them out yesterday. Fairly drama free aside from losing a rotten rubber wellnut for an air injection pump bolt, and having to reinstall the air cleaner box 3 times due to discovering a rubber mount with my tools later and then getting the MAF sensor lead lost under the airbox after all was bolted in. Observations; The car is smoother. Although idle was not changed, nor was the cold gearbox stiff shifting improved. But it rev's so amazingly smooth. It feels like a jet turbine, I love this car! But here is a before and after pic of the mounts. You can see how much the mount extends with time, not miles.

Nice work Steve, glad you got it worked out!!!

Cefalu, it's a great mod that changed my '99 quite a bit as far as idle and smoothness of ride. Cheers, DS

Glad you stuck with it! WTG!

Steve, just think about how much you learned from this. Bet its easy the next time you do it.

Rather than start my own thread, thought I would bump this one with some pics. Just did the install today, took about 2 hours, with about 30 minutes of that running around the neighborhood looking to borrow a floor jack after mine went caput after the car was on jack stands. Before: Drivers side mount compare: Passenger side mount compare: Driver's side in: Passenger side in: After: There isn't a huge visual difference in the tailpipes but even on a quick jaunt around the neighborhood I could feel the difference between the stock mounts and the RSS mounts. Hardest part was breaking them loose from under the car.

Question. Why do people hide their license plates on photos posted on the internet? A license plate is visible to 100% of the public when you drive your car around, but for some reason the internet is suspected to be less private than being in public? Obviously I am missing something.

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It's because some people think their cars look better with rags draped over the plates. Strictly a vanity thing. I don't get it myself.

DTMiller; Your old mounts appeared to be in good shape, with very little rubber pull. How do your RSS mounts compare to the old ones from a vibration standpoint? Worth it? Martin

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Yeah. They weren't in bad shape. I have experienced a few clunk/thumps in shifting that some thought might be motor mount related so I decided to pull the trigger and swap them out. I haven't put more than 3 miles on the car since the swap today but initial impressions are a much more solid feel to shifts and acceleration seems more direct. There is more sense of vibration with these mounts but I kind of like it. It isn't a violent shake or anything. It is more like it is a more palpable connection between the car and driver. Hard to explain. As for covering the plate, I dunno. I always have.

Im also thinking of doing the RSS mounts soon my car is already pretty stiff from the suspension and I get a little bit of vibration on idle that I can see in my passenger seat which I don't mind. DT how stiff is your suspension? Anyone have experience with these mounts and stiffer suspension then stock? p.s. I also don't get the idea of covered license plates...

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I have stock suspension. Will probably do sport springs in the spring. Currently enjoying this for my job well done:

I'm looking for some empirical way to measure if mine motor mounts are shot or not. Does anyone who has recently replaced stock mounts have a way to measure the stock "sag" that can be measured somehow? My passenger seat shakes at idle (such that wife mentioned it), but my car only has 14k and I did just drop the mufflers for cat back pipes, assume that change may add to the shake. I know age is a factor for rubber parts, but stock pipes looked a decent height and even before the swap. I don't want to replace good parts that ain't broken, there's no satisfaction in it. For those who have been under there, anything you can measure for engine height off frame or other we can use to compare? thx