Upper motor mount

Have you done so much to the car today that it just doesn't fit into one section, or are you too damn lazy to split it all up? Either way, this is the section for you.

Moderators: kamzcab86, CalAltaDubber

Post Reply
sixsracing
Forum Niceguy
Posts: 1102
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2004 3:14 pm
What year is your cabby?: 1991
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes
Location: Bangor, Maine

Upper motor mount

Post by sixsracing »

Decided to tackle the upper motor mount that I discovered was bad when I did the timing belt. What a pain in the butt. If only I had known when I did the belt, I would have done it then. While I was at it I eliminated the A/C compressor, came out real nice, used the extended pulley that I got from FAE (Foreign Auto Electric) and re-used the A/C belt for the alternator. Retained the stock adjusting arm also. If anyone has any reservations about doing this I can attest to how easy it really is, just make sure you get the correct pulley. I think my steering actually got twitchy from losing all that weight up front. Thanks for all the advice I got a couple weeks back when I was comtemplating this, it really helped. The motor mount eliminated the low end buzz in the car completely. I think the vibration was bad enough that it was rattling things to the point that the knock sensor was retarding the timing, because it starts different now.
91 Cabriolet, red w/white
86 Cabriolet white/white (oldest daughter)
97 Golf, black (youngest daughter)
98 Beetle, red
94 Cabrio, dark green (oldest son)
Cogito Ergo Zoom
User avatar
PDX Cabby
The Living Bentley Manual
Posts: 523
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2003 12:51 am
What year is your cabby?: 1985
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes
Location: Portland, OR
Contact:

Post by PDX Cabby »

good deal

yeah replacing either side mounts can be a pain with the motor in place, but its often well worth the effort. I keep a spare set of mount brackets around so that if i find myself needing a new mount i can pick it up, get it pressed into place and just swap the brackets to make life easier.

As for the AC removal, i did mine a couple years ago and, yes, its very simple. Well, its simple if you know you are already out of refridgerant. Otherwise your a bad person for releasing all that R12 :mrgreen:

not sure why, but when i did mine, i didn't need to do anything with the pullies. removed all the bracketry and just but the altenator in and used the old AC belt... seems every one else hasn't been so lucky, even with the same pully setups... odd...
85 Cab - 1.9L 8v, g-grind, euro dual downs to TT race w/ Borla, VWMS fuel dizzy, 2H tranny with 5th gear swap, TT short shift, FK 60/40, 15" BBS RA, rear disks... begging for boost...
sixsracing
Forum Niceguy
Posts: 1102
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2004 3:14 pm
What year is your cabby?: 1991
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes
Location: Bangor, Maine

Post by sixsracing »

Luckily I have a press, so doing things as the feeling hits is easier. The new motor mount was powder coated for some reason or another and it was really mean going into the bracket. The reason for the pulley issue is this, there are factory A/C units, port installed ("port" being the port distributor the car is initially shipped to) and dealer installed (dealer is self-explanatory) If the car came with factory A/C I am assuming you would need to change pulleys. If the A/C is port or dealer installed then the bracketry would be engineered in such a way as to allow the installation to be as easy as possible. I do not know this for fact, but my experience with 90's Subaru's that were done this way leads me to believe this may be the case. There are also quite a few different alternators (3 that I know of) that could come as factory equipment and all are available in varying shaft lengths. All speculation but I can't explain it any other way.
91 Cabriolet, red w/white
86 Cabriolet white/white (oldest daughter)
97 Golf, black (youngest daughter)
98 Beetle, red
94 Cabrio, dark green (oldest son)
Cogito Ergo Zoom
Post Reply