[following based on 1990 245 with a stick shift tranny] I replaced all three motor mounts today- actually the two motor mounts and the tranny mount. They had not separated, but the right one was somewhat deformed as well as the tranny mount. I will say that this is not a job to tackle lightly because you will be working under the motor with (at times) little holding it in place. I did one side at a time- a fall-back to my climbing and rescue days when we were taught to always have three good holds at all times (pucker factor did not count). The job becomes more difficult as the existing mounts become more worn because they distort and place the drive train in an incorrect position, and moving it back into position to line the bolts up can be a real challenge. You NEED to have a floor jack to do this job (IMO). I placed a pair of ramps under the front wheels to keep the car in place. Jack stands could be a problem here because you need to jack up the motor and it can lift the car. If a jack stand unloads and you kick it, the car can come down leaving a stand imprint in a floor or rocker panel. The right side is fairly easy because the engine-mounted side of the mounting can be left in place. All you need to do is remove the engine-side mount nut and the three lower nuts that hold the mounting base to the cross member. jacking the motor up with a wood block as the oil pan flange at that side will suffice to tip the motor sufficiently. be sure to always place hands and fingers as if the motor could fall off the lifting jack! Using pliers to retrieve the loosened assembly is a good idea! The left side is another matter. This is where the floor jack and some Tetris experience comes in handy. There isn't much room to work and the entire mount (upper and lower with the rubber portion) needs to be removed as an assembly. That's not a problem- getting it all back in there is another matter. It takes some creative jacking to position the motor correctly to get the three upper bolts in place. The tranny mount is a piece of cake. Remove the rear nut holding the rubber mount in place. Support the tranny fully and remove the two bolts holding the cross member on the driver's side then loosen the two on the passenger side and the cross member drops away. A box end wrench can access the nut holding the rubber mount to the tranny bracket. Put it back together in the opposite order, and Bob's your Uncle, or maybe your aunt... ;-) __ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"
....snip Took the 240 for a nice drive today and what a difference the new motor mounts made! Even though the mounts were only slightly deformed (at least compared to a lot of pictures I have seen) and they had not at all separated, the (manual) tranny now shifts a LOT smoother and easier! Obviously, a little shifting of the drive train from its intended position puts a lot of strain on the external portions of the manual shift linkage. __ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"
