C5 motor mount install guide
C5 motor mount install guide Thought I would put together an install guide for aftermarket motor mounts since it doesn't seem like there's much out there for how to do it. Really it wasn't too hard but then again it wasn't easy. I bought some poly motor mounts on the auction site and here's what you need to do:
1. Drive car up onto ramps
2. Remove TB, intake manifold and coil packs to allow jacking motor up high
3. Unbolt passenger side header/manifold to allow easy access to the top motor mount bolt - might not be required based on what type of headers you have.
4. Unbolt headers from X-pipe
Remove top and bottom bolt from each motor mount
5. Jack up passenger side of car until you can pull your ramp out from under the tire
6. Remove wheel
7. Place another jack under the bottom of the lower A-arm and raise it about 1/2" to take tension off of the shock
8. Remove 2 lower shock mount bolts seen below:
9. Unbolt the single 10mm bolt holding the brake line bracket to the inside of the wheel well as shown
10. Unbolt the 4 upper A-arm mounting bolts and note where the shims go. Be sure these shims are put back in the same spot during reassembly. Basically the shims are just washers as shown:
11. Lower the jack holding the lower A-arm up all the way down to take tension off of the front leaf spring
12. Unbolt the swaybar mounts (2 bolts that clamp around the rubber swingarm collar) - you will see what I mean as this clamp blocks access to one of the subframe bolts.
13. Loosen the 4 subframe bolts (2 on passenger side and 2 on driver's side) as shown:
14. Now the subframe should start to lower down away from the motor. Don't remove the bolts all the way unless you have another jack holding up the subframe - you really just want to lower it by about an inch or inch and a half which lowers the motor mount away from the motor.
15. Place block under oil pan and jack up the motor as high as you can.
16. Pull out old motor mount and replace with new one - this was tricky on the driver's side as I had to get the subframe pretty low to get enough room to pull it out as shown:
17. Once new mount is in just lower the motor, raise the subframe back to position and tighten up the mount. New mount installed shown below prior to lowering motor.
18. Now just reinstall everything on the driver's side and repeat the process on the passenger's side. Then reinstall your exhaust/header if you unbolted it along with your intake manifold, TB, coils, etc. and that's "it".
Driving impression: Very small amount of vibration added at idle and can not tell a difference while driving as far as added vibes. The car feels slightly more "snappy" now and with my H/C installed I just felt it rocked a bit too much at idle. Feels much more rigid now just the way I like it!
1. Drive car up onto ramps
2. Remove TB, intake manifold and coil packs to allow jacking motor up high
3. Unbolt passenger side header/manifold to allow easy access to the top motor mount bolt - might not be required based on what type of headers you have.
4. Unbolt headers from X-pipe
Remove top and bottom bolt from each motor mount
5. Jack up passenger side of car until you can pull your ramp out from under the tire
6. Remove wheel
7. Place another jack under the bottom of the lower A-arm and raise it about 1/2" to take tension off of the shock
8. Remove 2 lower shock mount bolts seen below:
9. Unbolt the single 10mm bolt holding the brake line bracket to the inside of the wheel well as shown
10. Unbolt the 4 upper A-arm mounting bolts and note where the shims go. Be sure these shims are put back in the same spot during reassembly. Basically the shims are just washers as shown:
11. Lower the jack holding the lower A-arm up all the way down to take tension off of the front leaf spring
12. Unbolt the swaybar mounts (2 bolts that clamp around the rubber swingarm collar) - you will see what I mean as this clamp blocks access to one of the subframe bolts.
13. Loosen the 4 subframe bolts (2 on passenger side and 2 on driver's side) as shown:
14. Now the subframe should start to lower down away from the motor. Don't remove the bolts all the way unless you have another jack holding up the subframe - you really just want to lower it by about an inch or inch and a half which lowers the motor mount away from the motor.
15. Place block under oil pan and jack up the motor as high as you can.
16. Pull out old motor mount and replace with new one - this was tricky on the driver's side as I had to get the subframe pretty low to get enough room to pull it out as shown:
17. Once new mount is in just lower the motor, raise the subframe back to position and tighten up the mount. New mount installed shown below prior to lowering motor.
18. Now just reinstall everything on the driver's side and repeat the process on the passenger's side. Then reinstall your exhaust/header if you unbolted it along with your intake manifold, TB, coils, etc. and that's "it".
Driving impression: Very small amount of vibration added at idle and can not tell a difference while driving as far as added vibes. The car feels slightly more "snappy" now and with my H/C installed I just felt it rocked a bit too much at idle. Feels much more rigid now just the way I like it!
