With the engine removed from the '89 F-Bird, you'd think freshening up the motor mounts is a natural thing to do. Does anyone know if you must remove the lower control arm to gain access to the nuts on the underside of the frame to then remove the motor mount to frame bracket? Any tricks here?

 

i didnt have to

use some swivels and extensions

feel your way around

 

I just did it last night... It is a PITA, but take a wrench, and stick it in the cross member. The bottom bolt can be reached from the whole for the A arm. for the top 2, 1 can be reached thru the spring, and the other can reached through a whole in the cross member that is nest to the spring. I had to use a long screw driver to help hold the wrench on the nut but it worked for me. Oh, and in case you didn't already know the nuts are 15mm. Have fun.

 

Sorry to post so late, I was having issues with my activation.

I am in the process my self have been since or even before you posted. I just moved to something else.

I have found that by lowering the Lower Control arm it is easy. But I've haven't resorted to that yet. I'm figuring on one more shot at it. Lowering the LCA just seems like a lot more work.

Good luck if your not done let me know how it went.

 

Thats a really good 2 man job
I had the best luck reaching through that hole next to the spring with an extension and a swivel socket. I think the ratchet was actually inside the spring at that point but its almost a straight shot

A useful tip when reinstalling them
Put JB weld or gasket sealer of something sticky on the nut
tie a piece of string to a paper clip
drop it down through the bolt hole and then put the string through the nut so you can pull it up from the bottom thus stickiing the nut to the bottom of the bolt hole
let the sticky stuff dry a bit and then you can thread those bolts right into them when you put the mounts back on.

This saves you from dropping the nut down into the cross member

Unless your hand is small enough to fit through the A arm hole to hold the nut in place. or have fingers like E.T.

 

It may seem like a lot more work but there will be much less cursing and throwing tools when you take the LCA off to do it. Getting the bolts off is easy, but reinstalling them is a major pain if you don't have the LCA out of the way.

 

I would not drop the control arm. When I put mine in I put the bolts through the bottom and used a magnetic socket insert to hold the bolt in the socket. You can use a swivel and long extentions to get to them and stick the bolt through the hole from the bottom. I got the magnetic socket inserts from Sears for about 10 bucks. They are plastic inserts that fit into the sockets and you get one for about 10 socket sizes.

 

Just buy a Tubula K-member and be done with the B.S.

 

a regular old craftsman boxed end wrench will get you two of them. Doesnt seem possible but it is. Someone was really thinkin (or drinkin) when they put that hole in the crossmember.

 

I wouldn't say you "must" remove the A-arms, but it's easier than anything you can do to get to those nuts inside of the crossmember.

Since the engine is out, you'll need to compress the springs by some means other than a floor jack. A spring compressor will do the trick.

Not saying it's a piece of cake, but getting to those crazy nuts inside the crossmember is a royal pain with the A-arms still mounted. When they're out of the way, life is a dream...

 

Well I finally got my motor mounts out, but now I cant seperate the two metal brackets and get the rubber mount out. It seems like there is a rivit on each side, is this true?

Kevin

 

Use a Dremel to grind down the edges of the "rivets", then smooth the edges. I am currently putting in new Energy Suspension inserts

sand them down and repaint if needed, my shells had a little oxidation and light rust coating. A nice engine paint works and looks great.

 

Another trick we picked up for installing the washers/nuts to the bolts:

Stick the bolts down through the mount and through the K-member. Now get a good magnet-one for retrieving dropped nuts/bolts- one with a fair amount of pull really helps. After the bolt is resting in its position stick the magnet on the head of the bolt, this "magnitizes" the bolt so when your sticking the washer through to the under side of the k memeber it will naturally attract itself to the bolt and hold it's position when you manover it around to actually slide over the bolt, same with the nut, this will hold it into psoition until you can get the threads started. Very simple and one of those, "why did'nt I think of that" things

 

I did it for my engine, some nice polys will make it more worthwhile then putting crap rubber back in.

But we did it with A-Arms in place wheels everything just the engine out (duh) me and a buddy some swivels and extensions and beer. Good fun ... just glad im not doing it again

 

IHI:

I tried that. The washers were brass, didn't work.

I ended up taping my socket u-joint so it didn't flop around, spraying upholstry glue on the face of the nut and washer to stick them together a little, putting the nut in the socket u-joint, then using a long extension, worked them back up in there.

If/when I do this again, the a-arms will be dropped.

 

Well me and 2 of my buddies got them out finally and drilled out the rivits!! Now just waiting for the Spohn motor mounts, and for the PITA job it is gonna be to get them back in. Thanks to everyone on there imputs.

Kevin

 

the best trick of all is,

if you have the a-arms out, when you re-install everything, tack weld the bolts in place inside the crossmember.

GM should have done it from the factory, but that would have made replacing the motor mounts too easy.

That way in if you need to reaplace them in the future, you don't have to mess with them.

 

I can only add one more thing. Wear safety glasses or even better...a face shield. No matter how clean your car is there will be a enough dirt falling on your face to hurt your eyes. Trust me!!

 

No I didn’t have to I useed a good flex head ratchet and and good flexible extension and wen through the springs on the passenger side and can use the same combo or just a good exstendion and swivel on the driver side it is a pain though

 

Whoa there McFly! Better get some extra plutonium for that trip, you don't want to get stuck in 2003.

 

These work great. Still a PITA . But you can get it done.