Motor Mount Tech 101

Here's a tech contribution to the HAMB. After building several sets of these I decided to document it this time on Jeffery's (Moses) model A roadster. Although not traditional, I thought I would share anyway. They work real good in high-performance applications=Hot-Rods.....Hope someone can use it.

Please wait till I get all 20 pics up.

MAKE MOTOR MOUNTS FOR ALMOST ANYTHING
MOTOR MOUNT TECH. 101

1. Make plates that mount to the motor.


2. Bolt the plates to the engine.


3. Now, time to make some bushings. Randy’s Off-Road Supplied the DOM 1 ½” pipe and the 1 ¼” OD bushings for $5.00.


4. Out of the Dom pipe, I cut 1 ½” long sleeves on a band saw.


5. Then I cut the bushings down.


6. After the bushings fit, then I cut down the inner sleeves to fit the new bushing.

 

7. Now take the frame mount pattern and cut it out of ¼ - 3/8” plate. Four required.


8. This picture shows where we are going with this.


9. Now time for a quick tranny mount, to secure the rear of the motor and transmission.


10. Make sure everything is plumb, level and center.


11. After the transmission is secure and the engine is centered, find the center of the mount on the engine, measure and tack the frame mounts to the frame.


12. This is where it gets a little tricky, time to make a simple pipe wrap.

 

13. I found a piece of tubing the same OD as the pipe I will be using, or you can use a piece of the pipe that you will use for the supports and cut it shorter than the span of the motor plate to the frame mount. You do this so you can fit the piece of pipe in between the motor and the mount and so you can slide your pipe wrap.


14. Once I have figured out the angles I need on the pipe wrap, I trim it out and make sure it fits and then I tape another piece of paper around both wraps. This is the shape of the support pipe that you will need. Mark your support pipe, cut on the lines and grind to fit.



15. Here’s the right and left hand motor mount support pipes tacked into place.



16. Once all tacked together, remove and weld them up and finish welding on the frame mounts.

 

17. Once finished welded, bolt everything back together and the motor is mounted.


These mounts work excellent for high performance applications. Certified welders should do all welding. I’ve built at least a dozen sets of these mounts, and have never had any problems or broken motor mounts ever again.

Thanks for lookin’ ….Good Luck!!

 

If I followed that rule nothing would get done.

Very nice job.

 

Haha, Tryin to avoid law suits. Thanks, We are just using what we have to build a hot rod.

 

After breakin motor mounts from drag racin, we thought to do somthin different. So we tried this, and not had a failure since. And its been 16 years. I have 124K miles on the FE in my F-1, and its just like the first day. Used to break mounts once a year!......This works!!.......OLDBEET

 

That is super cool tech.

Thanks for posting this!

 

That paper wrap trick is, well trick. Gotta remember that one for sure.

 

Master.
I really like the rolled paper.

 

Thats almost identical to the way I make them for real engines SBC's of course... I imagine some guys are better at the rolled paper trick than others...However.

 

nice, I'll be using this for sure. thanks for the post

 

You can also buy the pre made bushing ends like the kind for 4 bar kits for around $12.00 bucks or so, but we like making as much as we can. Sounds like the pipe wrap could have been a tech on it's own. Paper is easier to cut than steel.

 

Yeah K,
That pipe wrap trick is super cool. I'm storing that one in the ol noggin for future reference!

Where can a fella get some of them $12 pre-made bushing ends? (probably a dumb question)

 

I know that Total Cost Involved TCI has them,they are used to make your own 4-links, but they are not as beefy as the DOM sleeves we made and bushings come in 1/2" and 9/16" we used the bigger. And the reson we cut ours down is because they are 4X4 leaf spring bushings and they were about 3" long and that just looks to goofy for a simple motor mount. I worked at a Rod shop where we had all kinds of TCI weld on bushing ends, thats what I used to make em with, and I know that they are good for at least up to 385 HP. We just did'nt want to wait for ordering and Randys 4X4 and off-road has various bushings in stock.

 

BTTT for the weekend patrol....if you guys ever wondered why I call k-member a RULER..this is just the start of his skills...

 

thanks for the BTTT I missed this one!

 

K-member that looks awesome. I am looking at finishing up the loose ends on the Buick and it should be running good.

 

"Although not traditional, I thought I would..."

That part throws me a bit. It's hand made out of necessity. Not a mail ordered fitzall. As purely traditional as it gets. And slick as hell too. Thanx for sharing.

 

Very cool thanks for the info!!!!!!!!!

 

very well done and useful.
was you a pipe fitter in a previous life (paper trick)?

Jim

 

Very sweet, thanks!

 

Ok.. have a question!
How do you go about Leveling, centering and plumbing your motor? Like where do you index your measurements on the frame, on the motor, tranny.... angles etc? Ive got two jobs, where I have to fabricate motor mounts right now, and Im not sure how to position my motor? one is a Model A, the other is a 52 Ford. Great tech, but am I out of line? I need more specifics!

 

On that older stuff simply find center off of a comon point on each side of the frame. Lay the motor at 4deg down at the rear, or until the carb mount is level. Figure a decent line to the pinion on the axle as in the drive shaft needs to go staright to it. Adjust/fine tune from there. The higher the motor the higher the CG. As long as you have room to do all need to do you're OK. The pinion angle is then figured from what ever the shaft ends up. For example, if the driveshaft also runs down 4deg to the pinion, and you want a 6deg pinion angle, then the pinion simply points down 2deg. I hope that was helpful.

 

Jim, Yes I was.
Oil Devil 13, Highlander hit it on the head, Thanks Highlander.
Good to see this one come back to life. Thanks fellas.

 

BTTT, for Seymour.

 

thats a good article keith, we think alike, i built the motor mounts on my model A very similar.