motor mounts, in a day and by yourself
05-25-2013, 10:47 PM
#1
motor mounts, in a day and by yourself background, tools & equipment:
thanks to ls1tech first of all for those who have written about motor mounts, their experiences and posts were very helpful.
car is 2002 camaro ss with LS1 and 6-speed. It is 10 years old and stock, been on jack stands and rhino ramps all winter as i put an S60 rear axle in. Front is on rhino ramps, suspension loaded. Rear body is on jack stands, rear suspension and axle hanging unloaded. I have a small 2 ton cheapo pump jack with 2x8 piece of wood about 10 inches long for jacking under the oil pan. Also have a larger pump jack from harbor freight that i used to prop the driver's side off the rhino ramp. All i needed was basic metric craftsman socket set, using smaller handled 3/8" ratchet with 1.5", 3", and 6" extensions, a 3/8" universal swivel joint, and 10mm through 18mm sockets. A 22mm wrench for the O2 sensor, 18mm wrench for motor mount nut. Pedestal bolts and motor mount bolts were 15mm and 13mm. Steering shaft bolt was 11mm socket. You will definitely need 10, 13, 15 mm sockets, preferably normal/short length and deep sockets. I also used a 3/8" to 1/2" adapter with a long 12" or so extension to a 1/2" ratchet, was useful for breaking motor mount to block bolts free. Also a foot long piece of round black pipe that slides over a 3/8" ratchet handle to use as a mini breaker bar for tight spaces. With the extensions, universal, and mini breaker bar you can easily undo all motor mount bolts. I also used black rustoleum rust-converter spray paint to paint underside of the pedestals and the body as both were rusty. Consider touching up anything under there that has rust. Having done this and knowing what works, I think i can honestly say i could do this job again in a day. It was not bad at all. Since the car was already on ramps and stands, I spent about an hour first evening just working on the top of the motor removing the air lid and electrical connections. Most of the time was spent looking underneath understanding what needed to be done. Next day the plan was to tackle the passenger side motor mount completely. I did, along with cutting the grass and take a nap after the pedestal was removed and painted. I finished reinstalling the passenger side mount, AC, and starter later that evening. Spent about 6 hours total. Following day I worked on the driver side about another 6 hours total, much of which was going slow figuring out what works. A lot of time also spent going in and out from under car not having correct socket things like that, also trying to remove mount fasteners with pedestal in place and dicking around with the steering shaft. And I installed rubber oem style motor mounts that i purchased from rock auto.
Things that do NOT need to be done were
- don't need to drain coolant or move any coolant hoses. You can access the ac compressor/bracket bolt that is behind the heater hose.
- don't need to remove radiator fans
- don't need to remove exhaust, nor driver side CAT as described in service manual. Do not need to remove oem exhaust manifolds.
- as long as you go easy with the AC compressor your AC system should be fine, you don't need to undo any AC hoses nor loose any refrigerant.
thanks to ls1tech first of all for those who have written about motor mounts, their experiences and posts were very helpful.
car is 2002 camaro ss with LS1 and 6-speed. It is 10 years old and stock, been on jack stands and rhino ramps all winter as i put an S60 rear axle in. Front is on rhino ramps, suspension loaded. Rear body is on jack stands, rear suspension and axle hanging unloaded. I have a small 2 ton cheapo pump jack with 2x8 piece of wood about 10 inches long for jacking under the oil pan. Also have a larger pump jack from harbor freight that i used to prop the driver's side off the rhino ramp. All i needed was basic metric craftsman socket set, using smaller handled 3/8" ratchet with 1.5", 3", and 6" extensions, a 3/8" universal swivel joint, and 10mm through 18mm sockets. A 22mm wrench for the O2 sensor, 18mm wrench for motor mount nut. Pedestal bolts and motor mount bolts were 15mm and 13mm. Steering shaft bolt was 11mm socket. You will definitely need 10, 13, 15 mm sockets, preferably normal/short length and deep sockets. I also used a 3/8" to 1/2" adapter with a long 12" or so extension to a 1/2" ratchet, was useful for breaking motor mount to block bolts free. Also a foot long piece of round black pipe that slides over a 3/8" ratchet handle to use as a mini breaker bar for tight spaces. With the extensions, universal, and mini breaker bar you can easily undo all motor mount bolts. I also used black rustoleum rust-converter spray paint to paint underside of the pedestals and the body as both were rusty. Consider touching up anything under there that has rust. Having done this and knowing what works, I think i can honestly say i could do this job again in a day. It was not bad at all. Since the car was already on ramps and stands, I spent about an hour first evening just working on the top of the motor removing the air lid and electrical connections. Most of the time was spent looking underneath understanding what needed to be done. Next day the plan was to tackle the passenger side motor mount completely. I did, along with cutting the grass and take a nap after the pedestal was removed and painted. I finished reinstalling the passenger side mount, AC, and starter later that evening. Spent about 6 hours total. Following day I worked on the driver side about another 6 hours total, much of which was going slow figuring out what works. A lot of time also spent going in and out from under car not having correct socket things like that, also trying to remove mount fasteners with pedestal in place and dicking around with the steering shaft. And I installed rubber oem style motor mounts that i purchased from rock auto.
Things that do NOT need to be done were
- don't need to drain coolant or move any coolant hoses. You can access the ac compressor/bracket bolt that is behind the heater hose.
- don't need to remove radiator fans
- don't need to remove exhaust, nor driver side CAT as described in service manual. Do not need to remove oem exhaust manifolds.
- as long as you go easy with the AC compressor your AC system should be fine, you don't need to undo any AC hoses nor loose any refrigerant.
Last edited by 1 FMF; 05-25-2013 at 10:57 PM.
05-25-2013, 10:49 PM
#2
I did one side at a time, passenger side first then driver side.
1. disconnect battery, required for doing either side. For the passenger side you will need to remove the AC compressor and bracket and starter. For driver side you need to remove alternator, and upstream O2 sensor before the CAT as it blocks access to a pedestal bolt.
2. remove upper air lid and MAF assembly from throttle body, and remove lower air lid.
3. disconnect all electrical connections along wire harness going to MAF, throttle body, and engine coolant temp sensor on driver's side head above alternator. This harness also has the wire that goes to the infamous alternator four-pin plug that often gets wrecked. Undo the plastic clips that hold the wire harness to the injector rail, you need allthe slack possible with the harness to successfully remove alternator without pulling wire out of the plug when doing driver side.
4. remove large upper serpentine belt if doing driver side. also remove AC serpentine belt in order to do passenger side mount.
5. The big thing I believe which makes the job easy is I loosened the transmission mount nut nearly all the way (but didn't remove the nut). My assumption was as i jacked the motor that the transmission tail could rock if need be and i wouldn't be stressing the transmission mount, and it would also allow easy jacking of one side of the motor at a time. After doing driver's side mount when letting engine down i definitely heard the transmission mount thud back down. I believe doing this helps allow you to easily line up the new mounts and push the thru bolt through the mount with zero effort.
Passenger Side
note: i did this side with both front wheels on rhino ramps. not sure if it would be better to have front body on jack stands and wheels hanging free. when i jacked motor under oil pan, I used a jack with piece of 2x8 wood under the pan with it biased on the right side of the pan. I had cut a piece of 2x8 about 10" long which is the length of the oil pan. i placed the wood under the pan lenth-wise going front to back of pan and catching the corners of the pan. Be sure the force of the jack is spread to the corners of the oil pan where it is strong, don't jack into the middle of the pan to possibly cave it in.
1. unplug oil level sensor connector from oil pan.
2. with battery disconnected, remove starter bolts and drop starter. Undo electrical connections to starter solenoid and place starter aside.
3. remove AC compressor and bracket from motor. 2 long bolts on bottom and 2 short on top hold compressor to bracket. you will work mostly from underneath the car, but will need to get in from the top to get at some of the AC compressor/bracket bolts. drop compressor slightly to access the electrical connection near the pulley and unplug. move compressor forward as much as possible and rest on front swaybar.
4. with compressor off bracket, you can now access the bracket bolts. There were either 2 or 4 of those, remove bolts and wiggle bracket out and set aside. I was able to wiggle bracket out with radiator fans and hoses all still in place.
5. with starter removed, unplug crank sensor electrical connector above it.
6. disconnect ground cable going to block that was part of the starter wiring harness. pull starter wiring harness up and out of the way.
7. disconnect passenger side front O2 sensor (before CAT). do not need to remove O2 sensor, just get wiring from it out of the way so it doesn't get snagged.
8. undo 18mm nut from motor mount through bolt.
9. break loose the 4 mounting bolts that hold motor mount to block. also break loose the bolts holding motor mount pedestal to car body.
10. place jack with appropriate piece of wood under oil pan and lightly raise motor, you'll hear the motor mount assembly loosen as you raise the motor since all bolts were loosend about half way. I only had to raise motor 1-2 inches.
11. with engine jacked properly and just enough, there should be no weight on the motor mount and you should also be able to pull the motor mount thru bolt out by hand with little to not effort. continue to jack engine until you can easily tug the big thru bolt out by hand and also wiggle the mount and pedestal since their bolts are all halfway out. Before you do pull the thru bolt out between the mount and pedestal, make sure your jack under the pan is stable because it will need to support the motor until you get everything back in.
12. now pull the thru bolt out and undo the 8 bolts holding the pedestal, and mount to the block.
13. to get the pedestal and mount out from under the car, I rotated the pedestal with the mount still inside it (but no thru bolt) 90°. Rotation was top towards front of the car and it was pretty easy to wiggle the hole thing out. This is with the AC compressor as far forward as possible and resting on the swaybar. I found that with having the engine raised about 1-2" that there was not enough room on passenger side to get the mount out from under the pedestal, and I did not want to jack the motor any more then necessary.
14. wipe clean the body where pedestal was, paint if necessary. Mine has slight rust and underside of the pedestal was completely rusty. Paint the pedestal mount if you wish.
15. before reinstalling mount, place mount against block as test fit. It will only fit one way. If good then install mount in pedestal but don't but the thru-bolt in, and wiggle both pieces back under the motor in reverse to how to you took them out. I was able to easily catch all 8 mounting bolts by hand and attach the mount to the block and the pedestal to the car. Screw down the bolts about 1/4 way, don't tighten yet, allow everything as much wiggle room as possible.
16. when you removed the pedestal and mount as one piece, the thru bolt was lined up. you only jacked the motor up enough to remove weight off the mount and get about 1-2" of clearance between the mount and block and between pedestal and body with their bolts undone halfway. You didn't jack the motor to the sky where it started stretching the old mount. Therefore, without having moved the engine at all since you pulled the thru bolt out you should be able to get the mount and pedestal bolts snugged up while being able to slide the thru bolt in and out with little effort. I was able to tighten the pedestal and and mount completely while being able to pull the thru bolt in and out, it had not weight on it and was lined up no problem. If however as you tighten the pedestal and mount bolts you can't move the thru bolt then you probably have the motor too high so lower it slightly then recheck the thru bolt for being under load. Ideally you want to fully tighten the pedestal and mount bolts with no load being on the thru bolt. Then fully tighten the thru bolt, and then you can let the motor back down and remove jack from under the pan.
retighten transmission mount nut if not doing driver's side.
reinstall starter and AC compressor and electrical connections.
1. disconnect battery, required for doing either side. For the passenger side you will need to remove the AC compressor and bracket and starter. For driver side you need to remove alternator, and upstream O2 sensor before the CAT as it blocks access to a pedestal bolt.
2. remove upper air lid and MAF assembly from throttle body, and remove lower air lid.
3. disconnect all electrical connections along wire harness going to MAF, throttle body, and engine coolant temp sensor on driver's side head above alternator. This harness also has the wire that goes to the infamous alternator four-pin plug that often gets wrecked. Undo the plastic clips that hold the wire harness to the injector rail, you need allthe slack possible with the harness to successfully remove alternator without pulling wire out of the plug when doing driver side.
4. remove large upper serpentine belt if doing driver side. also remove AC serpentine belt in order to do passenger side mount.
5. The big thing I believe which makes the job easy is I loosened the transmission mount nut nearly all the way (but didn't remove the nut). My assumption was as i jacked the motor that the transmission tail could rock if need be and i wouldn't be stressing the transmission mount, and it would also allow easy jacking of one side of the motor at a time. After doing driver's side mount when letting engine down i definitely heard the transmission mount thud back down. I believe doing this helps allow you to easily line up the new mounts and push the thru bolt through the mount with zero effort.
Passenger Side
note: i did this side with both front wheels on rhino ramps. not sure if it would be better to have front body on jack stands and wheels hanging free. when i jacked motor under oil pan, I used a jack with piece of 2x8 wood under the pan with it biased on the right side of the pan. I had cut a piece of 2x8 about 10" long which is the length of the oil pan. i placed the wood under the pan lenth-wise going front to back of pan and catching the corners of the pan. Be sure the force of the jack is spread to the corners of the oil pan where it is strong, don't jack into the middle of the pan to possibly cave it in.
1. unplug oil level sensor connector from oil pan.
2. with battery disconnected, remove starter bolts and drop starter. Undo electrical connections to starter solenoid and place starter aside.
3. remove AC compressor and bracket from motor. 2 long bolts on bottom and 2 short on top hold compressor to bracket. you will work mostly from underneath the car, but will need to get in from the top to get at some of the AC compressor/bracket bolts. drop compressor slightly to access the electrical connection near the pulley and unplug. move compressor forward as much as possible and rest on front swaybar.
4. with compressor off bracket, you can now access the bracket bolts. There were either 2 or 4 of those, remove bolts and wiggle bracket out and set aside. I was able to wiggle bracket out with radiator fans and hoses all still in place.
5. with starter removed, unplug crank sensor electrical connector above it.
6. disconnect ground cable going to block that was part of the starter wiring harness. pull starter wiring harness up and out of the way.
7. disconnect passenger side front O2 sensor (before CAT). do not need to remove O2 sensor, just get wiring from it out of the way so it doesn't get snagged.
8. undo 18mm nut from motor mount through bolt.
9. break loose the 4 mounting bolts that hold motor mount to block. also break loose the bolts holding motor mount pedestal to car body.
10. place jack with appropriate piece of wood under oil pan and lightly raise motor, you'll hear the motor mount assembly loosen as you raise the motor since all bolts were loosend about half way. I only had to raise motor 1-2 inches.
11. with engine jacked properly and just enough, there should be no weight on the motor mount and you should also be able to pull the motor mount thru bolt out by hand with little to not effort. continue to jack engine until you can easily tug the big thru bolt out by hand and also wiggle the mount and pedestal since their bolts are all halfway out. Before you do pull the thru bolt out between the mount and pedestal, make sure your jack under the pan is stable because it will need to support the motor until you get everything back in.
12. now pull the thru bolt out and undo the 8 bolts holding the pedestal, and mount to the block.
13. to get the pedestal and mount out from under the car, I rotated the pedestal with the mount still inside it (but no thru bolt) 90°. Rotation was top towards front of the car and it was pretty easy to wiggle the hole thing out. This is with the AC compressor as far forward as possible and resting on the swaybar. I found that with having the engine raised about 1-2" that there was not enough room on passenger side to get the mount out from under the pedestal, and I did not want to jack the motor any more then necessary.
14. wipe clean the body where pedestal was, paint if necessary. Mine has slight rust and underside of the pedestal was completely rusty. Paint the pedestal mount if you wish.
15. before reinstalling mount, place mount against block as test fit. It will only fit one way. If good then install mount in pedestal but don't but the thru-bolt in, and wiggle both pieces back under the motor in reverse to how to you took them out. I was able to easily catch all 8 mounting bolts by hand and attach the mount to the block and the pedestal to the car. Screw down the bolts about 1/4 way, don't tighten yet, allow everything as much wiggle room as possible.
16. when you removed the pedestal and mount as one piece, the thru bolt was lined up. you only jacked the motor up enough to remove weight off the mount and get about 1-2" of clearance between the mount and block and between pedestal and body with their bolts undone halfway. You didn't jack the motor to the sky where it started stretching the old mount. Therefore, without having moved the engine at all since you pulled the thru bolt out you should be able to get the mount and pedestal bolts snugged up while being able to slide the thru bolt in and out with little effort. I was able to tighten the pedestal and and mount completely while being able to pull the thru bolt in and out, it had not weight on it and was lined up no problem. If however as you tighten the pedestal and mount bolts you can't move the thru bolt then you probably have the motor too high so lower it slightly then recheck the thru bolt for being under load. Ideally you want to fully tighten the pedestal and mount bolts with no load being on the thru bolt. Then fully tighten the thru bolt, and then you can let the motor back down and remove jack from under the pan.
retighten transmission mount nut if not doing driver's side.
reinstall starter and AC compressor and electrical connections.
05-25-2013, 10:50 PM
#3
Driver Side
note: this side i placed my big floor jack under the driver side front lift point and raised the body so the left front tire was off the rhino ramp by an inch, so the left front suspension was not loaded (but the right side still was). When i raised the engine with smaller jack under the oil pan, the engine seemed to raise much easier and quicker without raising the body as much like when i did the passenger side. I still raised the motor the same amount as the passenger side, about 1 to 2 inches. Doing the driver's side this way, i definitely noticed the motor rock to the passenger side.
1. Remove driver side upstream O2 sensor and unplug electrical connector and place safely aside. It will be in the way of accessing a pedestal bolt.
2. need to remove alternator. make sure battery is disconnected first. do not let alternator drop, you need to remove the 4-pin plug connector on the top of the alternator that you can't see, it's blocked by the power steering pump. begin by unbolting the alternator from it's bracket. I was not able to easily pull the alternator out of the bracket. I also unbolted the bracket from block. with alternator & bracket separated from block, rotate the whole thing to access the 4-pin plug and unplug. make sure to have the MAF and throttle body unplugged and as much slack in that wire harness as possible so you don't pull out that small wire from the alternator plug. Also unbolt the large battery feed wire to the alternator, now you can safely ply the alternator out from the bracket. you will need them seprated to get them both out from underneath the car. Remove the remaining wiring connections at the end of the alternator wiring harness, it was a ground wire to the block and ground strap to the body. pull the whole harness up and out of the way.
At this time or before reinstalling, consider extending the alternator plug wire that is known for being pulled out because there is almost no slack. Mine was a 2002 and only has one red wire going to the 4-pin plug. I soldered in about 6" of wire to extend the reach, using heat shrink tube over the soldered connections.
3. Undo steering shaft from top of power steering rack. need to completely remove the bolt with 11mm socket, it will be hard since it has thread locker on it. you also need to completely loosen the bolt on the upper part of the steering shaft that connects to the steering column shaft protruding into the engine bay, this is so the shaft can slide upward and let you remove the lower nuckle off the steering rack . took me a few minutes to figure out why the shaft wasn't coming off the rack, it was because you need to loosen the same bolt on the other side that lets the shaft slide on the steering column shaf. tap the steering shaft off the rack using a long socket extension and a hammer, it should pop right off. push the steering shaft up and out of the way above the spark plugs.
5. Undo the 4 pedestal bolts about half way. don't attempt any of the mount fasteners yet, the pedestal is in the way. Also remove the 18mm nut from the thru bolt.
4. Place jack with appropriate piece of wood under oil pan and begin to slightly raise motor. I biased the jack on the driver's side. raise about an inch and you'll hear the pedestal wiggle against the frame as the weight comes off it.
5. Like with the passenger side, if you have the motor jacked the right amount there should be no weight on the thru bolt and you can remove it with zero effort. When this is the case, leave thru bolt in and remove all pedestal bolts, then remove thru bolt. I had no problem rotating the pedestal off the mount and removing from under the car with the height the motor was jacked to (which was hardly any). If need be raise the motor slightly, only an inch no more than necessary and you should be able to pull the pedestal right out.
6. with pedestal out, it's now easy to access the mount fasteners. you need to remove the heat shield on top of the mount, it's two 10mm nuts. Then you can undo the mount bolts and remove the mount. Don't bother trying to undo any mount fasteners with the pedestal in place, I wasted a lot of time trying to break them free with the pedestal in place.
7. wipe clean the body where the pedestal sat, paint if desired.
8. when reinstalling, first install the mount to the block completely on the passenger side. don't forget the heat shield and 10mm nuts. it's much easier to reach and fully tighten all the mount bolts with the pedestal not there.
9. now install the pedestal the same way you removed it. catch all four bolts by hand that mount the pedestal to body, only screw down 1/4 of the way and allow pedestal as much wiggle as possible.
10. when i went to insert the thru bolt, i could see with a flash light that the mount and pedestal holes were off by 1/8" to 1/4", nothing major. I know the jack i used under the motor is prone to leaking down so maybe that is what happened. I gave 2 small pumps and raised the motor about an inch and was then able to instert the thru bolt by hand with very little effort (not as easy as passenge side but easy.
11. With thru bolt in and no load on it, motor mount is already secure so just tighten down the pedestal bolts. Keep eye on the load that gets placed on the thru bolt but there should be none since the pedestal is heavy and is should be sitting completely on the body. After pedestal bolts tightened, tighten 18mm thru bolt nut. Lower engine back down.
Retighten your transmission mount nut.
reinstall alternator and electrical connections.
note: this side i placed my big floor jack under the driver side front lift point and raised the body so the left front tire was off the rhino ramp by an inch, so the left front suspension was not loaded (but the right side still was). When i raised the engine with smaller jack under the oil pan, the engine seemed to raise much easier and quicker without raising the body as much like when i did the passenger side. I still raised the motor the same amount as the passenger side, about 1 to 2 inches. Doing the driver's side this way, i definitely noticed the motor rock to the passenger side.
1. Remove driver side upstream O2 sensor and unplug electrical connector and place safely aside. It will be in the way of accessing a pedestal bolt.
2. need to remove alternator. make sure battery is disconnected first. do not let alternator drop, you need to remove the 4-pin plug connector on the top of the alternator that you can't see, it's blocked by the power steering pump. begin by unbolting the alternator from it's bracket. I was not able to easily pull the alternator out of the bracket. I also unbolted the bracket from block. with alternator & bracket separated from block, rotate the whole thing to access the 4-pin plug and unplug. make sure to have the MAF and throttle body unplugged and as much slack in that wire harness as possible so you don't pull out that small wire from the alternator plug. Also unbolt the large battery feed wire to the alternator, now you can safely ply the alternator out from the bracket. you will need them seprated to get them both out from underneath the car. Remove the remaining wiring connections at the end of the alternator wiring harness, it was a ground wire to the block and ground strap to the body. pull the whole harness up and out of the way.
At this time or before reinstalling, consider extending the alternator plug wire that is known for being pulled out because there is almost no slack. Mine was a 2002 and only has one red wire going to the 4-pin plug. I soldered in about 6" of wire to extend the reach, using heat shrink tube over the soldered connections.
3. Undo steering shaft from top of power steering rack. need to completely remove the bolt with 11mm socket, it will be hard since it has thread locker on it. you also need to completely loosen the bolt on the upper part of the steering shaft that connects to the steering column shaft protruding into the engine bay, this is so the shaft can slide upward and let you remove the lower nuckle off the steering rack . took me a few minutes to figure out why the shaft wasn't coming off the rack, it was because you need to loosen the same bolt on the other side that lets the shaft slide on the steering column shaf. tap the steering shaft off the rack using a long socket extension and a hammer, it should pop right off. push the steering shaft up and out of the way above the spark plugs.
5. Undo the 4 pedestal bolts about half way. don't attempt any of the mount fasteners yet, the pedestal is in the way. Also remove the 18mm nut from the thru bolt.
4. Place jack with appropriate piece of wood under oil pan and begin to slightly raise motor. I biased the jack on the driver's side. raise about an inch and you'll hear the pedestal wiggle against the frame as the weight comes off it.
5. Like with the passenger side, if you have the motor jacked the right amount there should be no weight on the thru bolt and you can remove it with zero effort. When this is the case, leave thru bolt in and remove all pedestal bolts, then remove thru bolt. I had no problem rotating the pedestal off the mount and removing from under the car with the height the motor was jacked to (which was hardly any). If need be raise the motor slightly, only an inch no more than necessary and you should be able to pull the pedestal right out.
6. with pedestal out, it's now easy to access the mount fasteners. you need to remove the heat shield on top of the mount, it's two 10mm nuts. Then you can undo the mount bolts and remove the mount. Don't bother trying to undo any mount fasteners with the pedestal in place, I wasted a lot of time trying to break them free with the pedestal in place.
7. wipe clean the body where the pedestal sat, paint if desired.
8. when reinstalling, first install the mount to the block completely on the passenger side. don't forget the heat shield and 10mm nuts. it's much easier to reach and fully tighten all the mount bolts with the pedestal not there.
9. now install the pedestal the same way you removed it. catch all four bolts by hand that mount the pedestal to body, only screw down 1/4 of the way and allow pedestal as much wiggle as possible.
10. when i went to insert the thru bolt, i could see with a flash light that the mount and pedestal holes were off by 1/8" to 1/4", nothing major. I know the jack i used under the motor is prone to leaking down so maybe that is what happened. I gave 2 small pumps and raised the motor about an inch and was then able to instert the thru bolt by hand with very little effort (not as easy as passenge side but easy.
11. With thru bolt in and no load on it, motor mount is already secure so just tighten down the pedestal bolts. Keep eye on the load that gets placed on the thru bolt but there should be none since the pedestal is heavy and is should be sitting completely on the body. After pedestal bolts tightened, tighten 18mm thru bolt nut. Lower engine back down.
Retighten your transmission mount nut.
reinstall alternator and electrical connections.
