The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Front motor mount

I have a 53 chevy truck with a 235 in it . My front mount is touching tha top plate of retainer will I have problems ?

You may have some vibration issues. The manual has very specific tolerances for the front mount. I have also heard (but not first hand experience) that the reproduction oil/grease covers may touch or interfere with the timing cover plate where the two engine mount bolts attach.

If you are talking about the 3657522 plate if hitting the
368449 retainer, yes, you will not have any isolation and
you will get engine vibration transferred thru it to the
frame:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/141529223/large
The instructions for adjusting the clearance between the plate
and the retainer are in the service manual. They are rather
vague but the crux of it is that there need to be a small
amount of clearance between the two so there isn't any metal
to metal contact. There isn't very much movement of the engine
but it needs to be isolated. If you are looking at the old
rubber mount get rid of it, it's no doubt turned to mush.
If it's a new rubber mount then you may have tightened the
bolts that ties the two together too tight. They should only
be snugged up and then locked with a cotter pin. The bolts
that runs thru the steel support tubes that are vulcanized
into the rubber are bolted solid to the frame and are also
pinned with a cotter pin.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I bought a need rubber mount and put it in the vice tighten it down and found out that the plate hit the retainer , so I grinded the retainer down a bit . I restoring the truck so I haven't started the truck yet so the motor is already in . I tried looked at it yesterday I have Clearence in the back of the retainer but in the front it looks like it touches barley . Can I take out the retainer and the assembly with out pulling the motor ?

First off, if you clamped the mount down in the vice with more
force than the front of the motor will put on it, you could
easily compress it till the plate hit the retainer. The front
of the motor with the trans cantilevered off the back will only
put a few hundred lbs. on the mount. It does not compress all
the way down like you're doing in the vice.
And again, when you install it, don't tighten the bolts that are
in the front plate down tight, just snug them up and put the
castle nut. Only the bolts that hold the mount down to the
frame are torqued down tight.
And if you lift the front of the motor you should be able to
remove the mount. I'm made a wood saddle that supports the
engine at the pan and using a jack lifted the front of the
engine enough to replace the front motor mount. My truck is
a 3600 and does not have a mount on the back of the transmission,
you might not be able to do this with a 3100 with the rear motor
mounts still bolted solidly in place.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I have dealt with the same issues while changing engines in my 3100. Like many other critical moments which I have done twice (the first effort and then the right way) I was privileged to need to install the front motor mount twice. The second time, with the motor in place, I loosened the rear bell-housing mounts and the tranny mount, then lifted the front of the engine using the engine hoist and a single lift point at the front of the motor.
I'll be doing the same yet again when I change the front mount bolts which I have since ordered. My new 235 still has vibration issues. It was not so hard or time consuming to remove the front mount.
Karl

Karl is onto something. The easiest way to mess about with the front mount is to loosen the rear mounts and lift the front from a single point. The motor can be pretty easily positioned by hand from there.

I often heard the new rubber for the mount is smaller than the old but I didn't find this to be the case. The new rubber was more than enough to take the weight of the engine fully dressed with some left over.

To make things remarkably easy, remove the balancer. I don't know why this is never suggested. Instead of grinding front bolts and such to get them to fit behind the balancer and into the mount holes in the front plate, pull the balancer, install bolts, then reinstall the balancer.

This is definitely not for working on mounts with the engine in the truck but if the engine is out I would never again mess with the factory front mount, it sucks. My 37 Buick straight 8 is just a 216/235 with two more cylinders. Since we drive it many miles, last trip was a lap of the U.S., I wanted the front mount to do away with any engine rock/vibration and be super easy to work on. An ear off each side of the front engine plate that sets on flathead Ford mounts isolates all vibration, makes the engine super stable, and very easy to work on.
http://s32.photobucket.com/user/coilover/media/Straight%208%20a-c%20mount%20001.jpg.html
http://s32.photobucket.com/user/coilover/media/Straight%208%20a-c%20mount%20002.jpg.html

Question on the motor mount plate and retainer. I have lost or misplaced mine. I haven't been able to find it or find a replacement as of yet. Could anyone give me a hand with the thickness of the material on each piece. I have seen a few pictures and I think I can manage to fabricate the parts but would feel better knowing what the material thickness is.