Dope

iTrader: (2)

I only did the driver's side, not the passengerside.

First off, HOLY SSSSSHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEITTT it is a MASSIVE pain in the ***. I did this in my driveway with jack and stands, no lift, no garage. I did NOT remove my header (FLPs). I don't really see where it would really help all that much honestly.

You have to remove the alternator. This is a given. 3 bolts (2 front, 1 back). Weatherpack connector and positive cable (remove cable from battery before you touch this!!) come off before you remove it too. Don't forget that weatherpack connector or you'll snap the thin gauge wire that's in it (sigh). Liberal use of a crowbar helps here, as the alternator is REALLY REALLY snug in it's mount.

Biggest pain was figuring out how to get the bolts out. I only have 33k miles on my car but the bolts were practically seized. This was hugely complicated by the fact that you can't even see half the bolts, nevermind get a ratchet on them. To get the bolts out, I eventually used series of socket, ujoints, extensions, more ujoints and so forth, till the 'train' of extensions was outside the k-member. From there I could use breaker bars or impact. It was just NOT happening otherwise, despite the liberal use of PB blaster.

I ended up removing the rack + pinion from the car. Relatively easy - 2 bolts into the k-member, except one of them is IMPOSSIBLE to remove. I had to take a bolt out of the oil pan, and jack the motor up really far (had to remove my STB because the intake manifold was hitting it, that's how far I jacked it up). Only then could I barely wiggle the bolt out. Liberal use of the crowbar was required to get it out of there. Once it was removed, it was a LOT easier to get to most of the bolts, and also made it possible to actually remove the clamshell after the bolts were off (I don't see how you could get the clamshell out without removing the steering or header). It took 5 mins of positioning the clamshell in various ways before I could even pull it out, and 10 mins to put it back when I had the poly mount in it.

I also dropped my swaybar. Took out the bushing bolts but left the endlinks in. The clearance is most helpful in getting the alternator and steering rack out, plus in general 'arm room'.

The clamshell was relatively easy. You drill out 5 rivets with a 3/8" drill bit, then use the supplied bolts/nuts/washers to put it back together with the poly unit. Rubber unit is glued to the top of the clamshell, but careful use of a prybar made it easy to seperate the two halves. Fit of the poly unit was perfect.

Hmm what else. I didn't remove the 'pedestel' from the k-member. I tried to get one bolt off and I couldn't budge it after repeated attempts with a breaker bar. Plus, 2 of the bolts are very hard to even see, even with all the stuff out of the way. After I got the steering rack out, I realized that I could just remove the 4 13mm bolts that hold the clamshell to the block and with the engine jacked up, slide out the clamshell and pull it out the front.

Putting everything back was a complete nightmare for me. Nothing lined up. Not one thing. Even the 'through' bolt for the engine mount wouldn't go through, I had to use a huge crowbar to pry the engine to the left. Neither steering bolt would line up, ended up using a small bottle jacked horizontally to get it to go the last 1/4". Swaybar wouldn't line up (must've been hanging for too long). Alternator took me 2 hours, no joke. It's so tight in it's mount, I used a 2.5 ton jack and a piece of wood to jack it into place after getting one bolt in. This paragraph was reserved for whining and moaning, sorry, no tech tips here. It actually took me a full day and a half to get this done. The only thing that was worse was when I did my FLP install. I even managed to crossthread one of the bolts in the head on THAT one (sigh).

Oh well, it's all back together and it works great. Initial results are impressive. Engine does not move at idle at ALL. It is stock internally but it always jumped around quite a bit at idle. Even revving it up, it barely budges at all. It used to JUMP when you revved it.

Header banging is gone. Car seems to 'jump' faster when you get on the gas, guess the less drivetrain flex takes some 'reaction' time out of the drivetrain and puts it to the wheels faster. NO vibration in the car. I am a real stickler for vibration and rattling because this car is my daily driver (rain or shine). It feels just like it did before, only better.

Overall I'm impressed. I would recommend to anyone who is a crappy mechanic like me - do the install when you put headers on the car. With the coil packs, AIR tubes, plug wires, and exhaust manifold/header out of the way, you could probably do this from the top. Maybe even with the alternator in. I'm on the fence, regarding which would have been faster. But if you already have that stuff out for a header install, it would be easy to do, one through bolt and 4 clamshell bolts and you'd be done.

I could probably do it all again in about 4 hours if I had to do it again. Remove alternator, steering rack, and serpentine belt. Through bolt, then 4 clamshell bolts. Swaybar probably wasn't so necessary after I got the steering out. First time about 15 hours. Yoink.

Couple pics of the poly mount, old mount and assembled clamshell: http://fear.net/~dope/camaro/suspension/poly_mount

Sorry, no pics of anything else unfortunately. I didn't feel like taking pics of the engine and surrounding parts covered in my skin and blood. (sigh #3)

Dope

highgmc

glad I did mine with the motor out! I used bolts and nuts to fasten mine together and also ran a bead of weld around them just to be sure my S1 cam didn't vibrate them loose.

Magnus

iTrader: (4)

I too did both sides with the motor out of the car.. The car does vibrate quite a bit.. especially sometimes at a light.. change in the cup holder or keys or even change in the center console with the lid close does like to make noise sometimes..

Engine is SOLID in its cradle though.

jpz28

****....a friend and I did them on my car a while back!!!what a pain in the ***! ...but after a couple of stripped screws and cross threaded ones....we got them..........

robertbartsch

...why did you do this?

Did you install these to stop your LT headers from banging or just because you hate to have your engine and tranny flopping around under the hood?

My FLP's bang like hell too but I'm reluctant to do all this work for a product that does not fit my car.

I used to do engine mount replacements on older cars without all the junk that is attached to engines today....back then, it was a snap! ...sounds goulish now.

Do you think it would be easier to do the passanger side mount?

Viper

iTrader: (6)

I've thought of that; just doing one side first.

Dope

iTrader: (2)

I did this to stop header banging. I had a ghetto torque strap installed at first, it was ok, but still did not prevent banging when launching at the strip on sticky tires. I removed the torque strap - no banging on the street but who knows about the track. I don't see how it could really bang anymore, the amount of difference in engine movement was phenomenal.

Dope

Fulton 1

iTrader: (9)

Here's a link to a thread I posted up a little while back on my motor mount swap. In my case it was time consuming, but pretty straightforward. It really is like a little puzzle, but don't let it intimidate you because IMO its a great mod

Tips or instructions for replacing driver's side motor mount? *edited link*

Viper

iTrader: (6)

Dang, with my H/C car, 3-1/2" exhaust and RAM 980 clutch, you just convinced me 100% to do this next.

Dope

iTrader: (2)

It's odd, it actually seems like I get LESS interior vibration than before. Before, with the cutout open, windows up, and idling, my console would always shake and rattle. Not anymore. I'm not sure how I get less vibration with a stiffer mount, but hey, I deserve it after all the freakin' trouble.

Fulton, I actually used your tips as a basic outline. I just have no idea how you got those pedestel mounts out, especially with just the alternator out.

Dope

Fulton 1

iTrader: (9)

Dope, I hope the info was helpful. I gotta agree with regard to the vibration. The funny thing is that now you can put your hand on the intake while the engine idles and hardly feel it move. Before it would shake pretty good. Same with the shifter. It does shake the body a little more now (you can tell when it idles with the hood up), but its hard to feel inside the car. At first I thought I could feel it a little, but now I'm not sure. At any rate its so minimal that its a wash IMO.

As far as reaching the pedestal bolts goes, I alternated (no pun intended ) between reaching them from behind and in front of the crossmember. I was even able to get a torque wrench on all of them. Maybe your headers are different enough that it makes it harder I crossthreaded a couple of the pedestal bolts on the driver's side and that was a PITA to fix, but the passenger side was cake. On that side I had already learned my lesson and I loose assembled the pedestal to the K-member and the clamshell to the block and then lowered the engine into place. I had to tap the throughbolt in with a rubber mallet, but that worked better. I think each side is do-able in about 3-4 hours assuming there are no problems.

BTW, thanks for the edit WILWAXU

Dope

iTrader: (2)

It was helpful. It got me pretty far, honestly. I appreciate it - thanks.

I thought I might also mention that I am the hugest punisher fan ever, and so your avatar makes you into my brother, or something.

Dope

Dope

iTrader: (2)

Also, we registered 13 days apart (my lucky number) and our town/state initials are MWA and WMA.

Dope

Fulton 1

iTrader: (9)